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# 69 • OCTOBER 5 , 2015
how our readers can contribute to it
If you look at my personal
and professional journey
so far, I have been extremely involved with the local Italian and Italian American communities. This is
in part due to my work, but
it is also a passion I have
developed since becoming a young immigrant
myself, when I moved to
the United States in 2008,
at the age of 26.
Continuing on this path,
some months ago I started sensing a new and different energy surrounding
anything Italian. Boston is
a city that is growing very
rapidly at the moment,
and there seems to be a
lot of money going into
construction and restaurants. Mario Batali’s Eataly
is coming here in early
2016, for example.
The trend is the same in
the North End. This neighborhood is also changing,
but we are seeing an increasingly stronger presence
of Italian restaurants, cafès
and pastry shops. When
visitors or locals come
36 | WE THE ITALIANS
www.wetheitalians.com
to the North End today, I
think there is a big part of
the Italian way of life that is
missing. I’m talking about
a place that can give a
sense of the Italian spirit,
of the country’s culture.
That is why I am working
to open I AM Books, an
Italian American bookstore in the North End (www.
iambooksboston.com).
From what I know, it would
be the first of its kind in the
country. We’re not talking
about an Italian bookstore
(although we will also be
selling books in Italian),
but a cultural hub where
we can contribute to the
conversation on what it
means to be Italian American in this day and age.
We’ll sell books, of course, but we will also feature
many gift items and also
some snacks and beverages — all Italian or Italian-inspired. One of the
sections I’m most excited
about is our Children’s
section. That’s where we
will feature books for children, learning material,
games and toys for the
little ones. Being a parent