Ciao from Rome to all the friends of We the Italians! Things are going great here at We the Italians: another month full of wonderful things happened and news to be announced.

Last October 25^th I had the pleasure to participate in the presentation of the Rapporto Italiani nel Mondo 2019. Once again Delfina Licata and her team have put together an exceptional work: more than 500 pages of data, stories and information indispensable to describe the Italian emigration in the world. It was an honour to write a paper for this edition, and once again to be part of the team that created this fantastic publication by Fondazione Migrantes.

Between October and November I had the pleasure of attending some events on the East Coast of the United States. On October 30^th I gave a lecture entitled "Christopher Columbus: an Italian perspective" at the prestigious Columbus Citizens Foundation in New York. Thanks to the new Executive Director Lisa Ackerman, to the new President Marian U. Pardo and to my dear friend Joseph Scelsa, it was an honor to tell the point of view of We the Italians about Columbus to an audience full of many friends who gave me an exciting and beautiful evening. It was truly amazing!

On November 1^st I was part of the fantastic literary festival Idea Boston, organized by Nicola Orichuia in Cambridge, MA. Together with our friends Stefano Salimbeni and Mike Pilla and in front of an audience where there were several guests and three friends like Stephanie Longo, Anthony Riccio and Laura Caparrotti, we described the Italian media that tell the story of the Italian American community.

On November 2^nd I moved to Washington DC, where I briefly greeted our friends of the National Italian American Bar Association led by Francis Donnarumma, and then I attended a few events and the Gala of the National Italian American Foundation, where I met and greeted so many friends, all great supporters of We the Italians. As always, NIAF has done a fantastic job in organizing such a beautiful promotion of the Italian American community and in improving the relations between our two countries: a sincere thanks to all those who work so hard for NIAF to organize the event of the year.

Then, we have a big announcement! We the Italians and Magnifico Food, now partners to bring excellent Italian products in the United States with reasonable prices and an exclusive 10% discount for We the Italians’ readers using the code WTI2019, have decided together to donate one dollar for each product sold through this code from now to the end of the year to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.

The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund treats the Invisible Wounds of War: Post-Traumatic-Stress (PTS) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). They do extraordinary and concrete actions that save the lives of soldiers who served the Country in defense of all of us: Italy too, in fact, has always benefited from the service and sacrifice of American soldiers, and for this we must always be eternally grateful. Helping soldiers is something that We the Italians feel as very, very important: so when my friend Elizabeth Bettina told me about this opportunity, I thought it was perfect to commit ourselves as much as possible to give back. And Alessio Gambino, founder of Magnifico Food and protagonist of the interview just published in We the Italians and now also in this issue of our magazine, immediately agreed with me. So please: buy Magnifico Food products, taste the real Italy, and help us donating to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund and helping the US soldiers who deserve all our respect and gratitude for their service.

Last but not least, we are very happy that the family of We the Italians is still growing! We now officially have a friend in Detroit and throughout Michigan who represents us: it’s Sandra Tornberg, a person who all the Italian and Italian American community in those areas loves and knows. Welcome to Sandra, and thank you for everything you do for Italy in Michigan!

We remind you that you can take advantage of a 5% discount on the services of our partner Italian Citizenship Assistance, reserved only for our readers, by writing an email to [email protected] and quoting the code ICAWTI.

Finally, the Italian proverb. This month the letter is “M” and the proverb of the month of November 2019 is: Mal comune, mezzo gaudio ("Misery loves company"). It means that if something goes bad, but it goes bad for everybody, maybe it’s not that bad.

That’s all for now. So stay tuned, fasten your seat belt and enjoy the ride. The future’s so bright, we gotta wear shades!