Ciao from Rome!  

I wrote my last editorial right before the week when the Italian Parliament would elect the new President of the Republic. We dedicated the cover of the January issue of our magazine to the President who was ending his 7 years, Sergio Mattarella, to thank him for his wonderful service. In that very weekend we also decided to ask some Italian Americans who would they want as President. In the United States, those with Italian origins and American citizenship are used to voting (almost) directly for their President. So, We the Italians selected a few thousand Italian Americans and asked them who they would like to be in the Quirinale for the next 7 years, if they could vote directly in Italy. We selected, without any preference on our part, 10 names that could contain among them the name that would be voted by the Italian Parliament. The poll was absolutely anonymous, and almost 3,000 Italian Americans responded, 2,884 to be exact. The result was as follows, in order of preference by the Italian American community: MARIO DRAGHI – 35,5%. SERGIO MATTARELLA – 29,2%. SILVIO BERLUSCONI – 13,9%. MARIA ELISABETTA ALBERTI CASELLATI – 5,3%. PIERFERDINANDO CASINI – 4,5%. MARTA CARTABIA – 3,9%. ELISABETTA BELLONI – 2,7%. PAOLO GENTILONI – 2,4%. GIULIANO AMATO – 1,4%. GIANNI LETTA – 1,2%. What happened next is that President Mattarella was reelected by the Italian Parliament, and a survey among the Italians living in Italy showed that they too would have chosen Sergio Mattarella or Mario Draghi as President, but reversing the ranking, preferring Mattarella in first place and Draghi in second. These two polls show that on important matters Italians who live in Italy and those who live in America do not have such different opinions.

There is a change in our magazine. Our friend Sabrina Penati takes over a new column, dedicated to Italian books and literature, called Italian books. From this month, among the Italian excellences that we describe in our magazine, there will also be literature.

Our We the Italians’ family keeps growing, with a surprise. We have a new Ambassador in one of the United States: we’re at 43 States out of 50+1 (Washington DC). Robert Fierro is our new Ambassador in Virginia, the Old Dominion. Robert did his undergraduate work at Saint Bonaventure University in upstate New York and his medical school at the University of Ottawa in Canada, and then served in the US Army medical Corps and then did a residency and fellowship (obstetrics and gynecology, infertility) at Virginia Commonwealth University. Then he went into private practice and retired in 2008. He and his wife have two children and three grandchildren. Robert has been associated with the Italian American Cultural Association of Virginia for approximately 30 years.

But the surprise is about another new Ambassador, one we’re very happy about. This is not a “geographic” Ambassador, she will not represent us in an American State or in an Italian region. We decided that it would be interesting to have “thematic” Ambassadors, too: professionals who have dedicated their life to a topic, a work environment, who can help us dealing with this topic and – on that topic - to help us shortening the bridge on the Ocean that links Italy and the United States. This is why I’m very happy, proud and honored to welcome on We the Italians Margherita Ganeri as our new Ambassador to the Academic world. Margherita is Full Professor of Contemporary Italian Literature at the University of Calabria, where she founded and directs the Seminar “Italian Diaspora Studies” and the course CLIA (Italian American Culture and Literature), operated through an annual Fulbright Lectureship. She has a wide record of publications and directs the book series “Italian Diaspora Studies” for Italian publisher Rubbettino.

Let me remember you that the yearbook of We the Italians is available with the 24 interviews of the past year, both in Italian and English. This is our eighth book: one in English, one in Italian, and six yearbooks like this one, in two languages. In this first month the edition of 2021 has sold much more than the editions of previous years in their first months of release, and this makes me very happy because it rewards the work of all of us. I hope more of you will want to purchase the volume, which you can preview and buy here.

Please don’t forget our virtual store, the perfect place where to buy gifts for your family, your friends and – why not – for yourself! 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!

Well my friends, once again it’s all for now. As you can understand by the content of our We the ItaliaNews podcast, things are getting better in Italy, the fourth wave of this pandemic is ending and everybody hopes it will be the last. Hope is in the air, Spring is coming, but we gotta continue to protect ourselves. Please stay safe, please stay healthy. The future’s so bright, we gotta wear shades! Stay safe, ciao from Rome