Empoli native Enrico Cecconi, coordinator of Italian language studies at University of Bath, UK, and my former Italian professor at Accademia Europea di Firenze, expressed this pride in Italian to me. “Speaking Italian is more than the pleasure of producing beautiful and musical sounds or using gestures and more than just a linguistic skill.

It has the magical power to allow you to inhabit Italy’s history and culture that the language shapes. We Italians live in the piazzas between tradition and modernity, having conversations in front of historical cathedrals or during an aperitivo al fresco. Our culture flows, changes, and so does the language.”