August 30 was entirely dedicated to Italian American stories. Meeting with the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy Mrs. Kathleen Doherty, in the morning I attended a couple of events, with the showing of a very well done documentary called “Le ragazze di Ellis Island” (The girls from Ellis Island). After the lunch break, in the afternoon I’ve been honored to give a lecture about We the Italians and the journalism of the future, together with my good friend Andrea Mancia, and then then to attend an interesting panel by our friend Gaetano Pellicano about startup and innovation technology. Next I was part of another panel in the beautiful Alvito Castle, discussing some interesting facts about Italy and the Italian Americans togehter with some other We the Italians friends like Massimo Veccia (founder of LearnItaly, the ones in charge of the Italian language column of our magazine) and Renato Cantore, author of “Il Castellosull’Hudson”, the story of Charles Paterno).
After the lovely dinner prepared by the Italian American chef Cristina Bowerman, during which our friend Paolo Battaglia presented his book “Explorers Emigrants Citizens”, in its Italian version called “Trovarel’America”, we spent the night listening to the incredible story of Ralph Minichiello, the Italian American Vietnam veteran who inspired the storytelling of the Rambo movies, interviewed by another friend of ours, Massimo Veronese; we felt proud and glad to be able to celebrate a great Italian sport champion of the past, the awesome Sara Simeoni; and we ended the night listening to “That’s Amore”, the astonishing concert of the last but not least friends of us, Francesco Durante,who together with his band sung more than 2 hours of music straight from the Little Italies of the beginning of last century. A feast for the heart, the mind and the ears of We the Italians who love the Italian American culture.
So stay tuned, fasten your seat belt and enjoy the ride, because we’re just getting started … Thanks for your time and appreciation, take care. Ciao!
by Umberto Mucci
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