Dear friends,
in September I had the pleasure of attending two events in the United States, both very interesting, which saw me together with a friend with whom we are forming a beautiful business partnership, Davide Ippolito.
We were in Detroit, guests of the wonderful Italian Consul Allegra Baistrocchi, for the new edition of LoveItDetroit: a fantastic month-long initiative that promotes the best things about the newest, coolest and brightest Italy. We presented a report from the Italian American Reputation Lab, commissioned by the Consulate of Detroit, which demonstrated the enormous positive impact of LoveItDetroit for Italy's reputation in Michigan. The presentation took place in the context of a new edition of the Italian American Future Leaders, in which again I had the privilege of being able to mentor some young Italian American boys and girls, thanks to Basil Russo and John Viola, facilitators of this extraordinary conference that began in January in Florida, and which has a very exciting future. Here are some photos from the event, while here is a description of the Italian American Reputation Lab report.
Davide and I then moved on to New York City, where a large audience attended the first American screening of Davide's documentary, "New York Solo Andata," in which I also participate - along with several other wonderful Italians living in New York - telling a few things about the Italian American community and Christopher Columbus. The hall at the Italian Cultural Institute in New York was full, in fact we had registration requests twice as many people as were allowed in. Everyone was treated to a wonderful surprise, the live performance of an Italian musical talent as young as he is exceptional, Cristiano Cosa, who sang the final theme song of the documentary: you will hear more from him, believe me. Here are a few photos of the event, while here is the trailer for the documentary, which from October you can also find on Amazon Prime, both in Italy and the United States (with English subtitles). It's really worth watching!
But the things to tell you about do not end here. A very interesting volume entitled "...E Dante sbarcò in America" written by Maria Teresa Cannizzaro and Fiorella Operto and published by Fondazione Migrantes with the supervision of Delfina Licata (one of the most important Italian experts on emigration, and also Ambassador of We the Italians on this very topic) has just come out in bookstores, for the moment only here in Italy. I had the pleasure and honor of writing the preface of the book. In my position as President of We The Italiansand as the representative in Italy of the Italian American Museum in New York, I have been following the book since its origin since I participated in the presentation of the Exhibition “Dolce colore d'oriental zaffiro” (Sweet color of oriental sapphire) organized by the Italian Museum of the Bijou of Casalmaggiore (Lombardy) and curated by the Authors of this book. On that occasion, talking about the importance of Dante for the community of Italian Americans and for American culture as a whole, a research on the influence of Dante in the United States promoted by the Italian emigrants - whether they were the educated patriots of the nineteenth century or the masses of poor exiles of the early twentieth century - seemed important. Dante’s language was for our emigrants to America a means of keeping alive the connection with Italy and a reason for identity pride.
Last but not least, once again this year We the Italians has decided to nominate the Italian American of the Year. Last year there was no time to ask all of you. So we decided to ask our team, our family. And so the Italian American of 2022 was decided by us, internally. 80 members of our team voted. 35 of them live in Italy, 45 in the United States. In 2022, Stanley Tucci won. This year we are asking you to vote. You can vote for anyone you want: a famous person, the President of your club, anyone who is Italian American and deserves for you to be elected Italian American of 2023. Please vote filling out the form here. We will announce the results in December.
Once again let me remind you that the 2023 yearbook of We the Italians is available, with the 23 interviews (in Italian and English) published during 2022. You can find a preview and buy a copy here. Also, please use our virtual store to buy gifts and gadgets, where you can find more than 20 products in different colors: t-shirts, tank tops, hoodies, onesies, mugs, notebooks, pillows, totes, tapestries, pins, laptop and smartphone cases, magnets, stickers, masks. Buy We the Italians!
It’s all for now. Please stay safe and take care, and enjoy our magazine and our contents on our website. The future’s so bright, we gotta wear shades. A big Italian hug from Rome!
