Dear friends,
As I write this editorial, the second survey prepared by We the Italians as part of the Italia America Reputation Lab is currently underway. This time, we are receiving valuable help from three Italian American organizations: the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations, the Italian Sons and Daughters of America, and the Italian American ONE VOICE Coalition. We are truly grateful to them, and we hope that other associations will soon join us in helping to strengthen the voice of Italian Americans - a voice we intend to bring to the attention of Italian institutions.
The second survey focuses on Columbus Day, and the question is very simple: Do you think Columbus Day should be retained as a federal holiday? By the time this issue of the magazine is published, Columbus Day will have passed and the survey will have already closed. We will share the results through our communication channels.
We’re getting used to our new, beautiful website - and we hope you are too. There’s so much to explore, and we’d like to give you a quick overview to help you navigate and discover all the rich content available. Please note that the U.S. regions we use have been reduced from nine to six. New York, New England, and East remain unchanged; Great Lakes has been merged into Midwest, South East into South, and California into West.
Here’s a quick tour of the site’s main sections:
- Latest News – Updated daily and divided into eight geographic subcategories: the six U.S. areas, a general American section called From USA, and another with the news from Italy.
- Podcast – Features our three AI-assisted podcast series: Italy in English (weekly, 8 news stories from Italy, in English); L’Italia in America (weekly, 6 news stories about Italy in America, in Italian); The Interviews (monthly, summarizing the monthly interview).
- Interviews – Includes all 331 interviews published so far, in both English and Italian.
- Magazine – Hosts all 192 issues of our monthly English-language magazine dedicated to Italian excellence.
- Books – Offers previews and purchase options for the eleven books published so far by We the Italians.
- We Love Columbus – Contains three subsections: Columbus Day 2020, featuring the virtual celebration we organized five years ago during the COVID emergency; Italian Columbus Day, with the official text of the 2014 proclamation in which the Italian government designated October 12 as Columbus Day in Italy as well; News on Columbus, gathering all articles tagged “Christopher Columbus” – the most comprehensive collection on Columbus available anywhere, online or offline.
- Team – Presents everyone involved in We the Italians: from our daily collaborators to our magazine contributors, and our Ambassadors in the U.S., in Italy, and across thematic areas.
- Events – Showcases events we have organized or participated in, divided into Events in Italy, Events in the USA, and – fortunately now inactive – the Online Events section, dedicated to the COVID period.
- Gala – Features descriptions, journals, photos, and videos from the three editions of our Gala, which will return – better than ever – in 2026.
- IARL – Dedicated to our spinoff, the Italia America Reputation Lab, developed in collaboration with our friends at Reputation Research and the Il Newyorkese
I’m about to leave for Washington, D.C., where I’ll be happy to meet old and new friends during the celebrations – more meaningful than ever this year – of the National Italian American Foundation. My dear friends at NIAF are celebrating their 50th anniversary, and there will be many exciting events in addition to their famous Gala, which I’ll have the pleasure of attending. It’s important to thank NIAF for these first 50 years and to celebrate this milestone together with them.
After that, I’ll be in New York, where – at the legendary Red Sauce Studio in Little Italy – I’ll have the pleasure of launching a new collaboration, together with other Italian journalists in the Big Apple, with our friends from the remarkable Italian American Podcast.
This month we welcome a new Ambassador to our to the We the Italians team.
Stephen Alfieri is our new Ambassador in Tennessee. Stephen is a proud Italian American and dual citizen of Italy and the United States, who is committed to celebrating and preserving his heritage. He is engaged in initiatives which allow him to share his love for his Italian Roots. Stephen believes in honoring tradition while encouraging modern thought, dialogue, cultural pride and connection to our Italian heritage. Through his service, he looks for ways to share his passion for the Italian heritage so that the Italian American identity continues to thrive in America and beyond.
Last but absolutely not least, I’d like to highlight another milestone anniversary, which we discuss in this month’s interview with Colonel Scott Horrigan, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF), and former Commander of the U.S. Army Garrison Italy in Vicenza. This month marks 70 years of the American presence in Vicenza, and we at We the Italians want to celebrate it by sincerely thanking all the American service members currently stationed there – and, through them, all those who have served in Vicenza over the past seven decades. Thank you for your service, and for defending Italy.
Seventy years of Two Flags, One Heart.
And it doesn’t stop there! That’s why we ask you to subscribe to We the Italians.
It’s all for now. Please stay safe and take care, and enjoy our magazine and our contents on our website. Stay safe and take care: the future’s so bright, we gotta wear tricolor shades! A big Italian hug from Rome.
