Italy is Europe's second biggest manufacturing power after Germany, but with rigid labour laws, high taxes, a bloated bureaucracy and fierce competition, the country is struggling to stay on the production line. Italy may have lost as much as a third of its overall industrial production in recent years, experts say.
"I worked here for eight years," she says "And I really loved it."
Italy is haemorrhaging manufacturing jobs. Since 2007, 55,000 manufacturing firms have folded, taking more than half a million jobs with them.
Although workers like Firem's Simona only take home about 1,000 euros (£845) a month, her company has to pay the state about the same amount again in labour charges and taxes.
But weak demand at home and high labour costs are not the only factors prompting Italian companies to move to eastern Europe.
Carlo Carnevale Maffe, professor of business strategy at Milan's Bocconi University, blames a bloated and erratic bureaucracy. "Who wants to invest in Italy?" he says. "Even Fiat is looking to Brazil and the US. The application of law here, the regulations, it's totally inconsistent."
High-end manufacturing firms like the luxury brands Armani and Ferrari have managed to weather the economic crisis well.
But firms producing lower- and medium-cost goods, even internationally recognised firms such as the Italian arm of the domestic appliances manufacturer Whirlpool, have been unable to stay competitive in a market where the price of raw materials is rocketing and where cheaper goods from China abound.
Read more: BBC News - Italy factory jobs 'disappearing overnight'
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