Dear friends, another year ends and looking back we realize how many things we have done (many), how many things we would have liked to do (too many) and how many things we are planning for the future (so many!)

A few days ago, on behalf of all of us at We the Italians, I had the honor of receiving at the American Consulate in Florence the prestigious Premio Giornalistico Amerigo (Amerigo Journalism Award), along with other extraordinary journalists honored like us by Associazione Amerigo. It is an award that goes to the entire We the Italians team, which continues to grow. My thanks go to Amerigo's friends and American Consul Ragini Gupta who hosted us. Here are some photos and the video of my acceptance speech.

Another event, also in Florence, featured our Ambassador for Tourism, Edoardo Colombo, who was in a panel at BTO - Be Travel Onlife, the benchmark event in Italy dedicated to the connection between innovation and tourism. In a very innovative formula set in the Metaverse, Edoardo spoke with Giovanni Maria De Vita, head of the project on Roots Tourism of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2023 will be very important on this matter, expect very big news from We the Italians.

We the Italians has decided that starting this year we will name the Italian American of the year. This year there was little time to survey all our 100,000 newsletter subscribers; we will do that from next year. So this year 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. Here are the result! Congrats to the winner!

Since being present on 8 different social media was not enough, as of this month we also added the ninth: here you will find our Telegram channel, with all the content we produce. Please sign up!

I would also like to point out that in this issue of our magazine you will find the abstract of the report of Censis, the most important Italian study center, which has been taking an extraordinary picture of Italian society for more than half a century. It is every year the most complete and timely description of the changes happening in our country, and in English you can find it only in We the Italians. My advice is to read it very carefully.

Our We the Italians’ family keeps growing. This month we welcome two new friends: the first is Cecilia Goletti, the young expert who will be in charge of the Italian art column from this month; the second is Maurizio Mancianti, our Ambassador for the Tuscany region.

Cecilia Goletti is an Art Historian who graduated with a 110 cum laude with the chair of Medieval Art History at La Sapienza University in Rome. During her time as a student, she did her training internship as a guide at the Quirinal Palace. Before finishing her university course, she won a six-month internship grant at the Max Plank Institute - Bibliotheca Hertziana in Rome. In 2022 she began her PhD in Art History with a fellowship at La Sapienza University in Rome.

Maurizio Mancianti is a certified public accountant with offices in Florence, Rome and Milan. He works in corporate, financial and labor consulting. He is member of the board and Secretary General of the Teresa & Luigi De Beaumont Bonelli Foundation for Cancer Research. Maurizio is President of Associazione Toscana-Usa, councilor of the Chianti League and member of the Medici Civic Order. In 1978 he was awarded Honorary Citizenship of New Orleans, LA.

As Christmas is coming, let me remember 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!

Last but not least, soon the 2022 yearbook of We the Italians will be available, with the 23 interviews of this year, both in Italian and English. It will be our ninth book. Stay tuned!

It’s all for this month, better: it’s all for this year! Please stay safe and take care, enjoy a wonderful happy Christmas and a gorgeous beginning of the next year, easy and safe, happy and beautiful. The future’s so bright, we gotta wear shades. A big Italian hug from Rome!