With around 5.8 million Italians living abroad and 80 million people of Italian extraction, the Italian diaspora is one of the farthest reaching in the world. The truth is that Italy lives beyond its borders–all countries do, really–and it would be a disservice to limit ourselves to 302 square km, when so much Italian creativity and culture lives abroad.
The following is why we present to you our new vertical, ITALY SEGRETA ABROAD—dedicated to Italians living elsewhere, to those of Italian heritage, and to all those who have great respect for our country and are working to celebrate our culture no matter where they are in the world:
We like to take risks.
We like to innovate.
We like the past,
But we also like the future.
We like young people.
We like those who leave (816,000 in the last 10 years).
We like those who stay.
We like those who see the glass as half full.
We like those who still believe in this broken but BEAUTIFUL country.
We like Italy as seen by Italians,
And as seen by foreigners.
We like Italy around the world (because the reality is that we are everywhere!)
We like Italy that emigrated and has now created subcultures of our culture.
We like real Italy,
The one that doesn’t sell itself short (it doesn’t need to!)
We like the regions and their diversity.
We like the many realities and not a single, stereotyped vision (we are worth so much more).
We don’t like those who commercialize Italy,
An Italy of pizza, pasta, and mandolins.
To briefly turn to the former, we always wonder how tourists can be content eating gross versions of Italian food, when the good, regional stuff exists: how can someone extol the virtues of a restaurant that serves frozen pizza with mozzarella that is more rubber than cheese when a fluffy-crusted Neapolitan pie is just around the corner? Some could argue that this is a luxury limited to Italy’s borders, but we argue that Italian food is replicated everywhere: Italian cuisine is the most popular in the world, and pizza is the most popular food in the world, with over 5 billion eaten annually. In the end, you don’t need to book a plane ticket to Naples to get the good stuff. Wood-fired ovens are now commonplace, for example, in New York City, where pizzaioli both Italian and non dole out superlative pizzas. In Japan, the precision that characterizes the country’s cuisine has been applied to the foodstuff too, giving even those in Naples a run for their money.
Whether on domestic soil or abroad, we have always been innovators, disruptors, who have changed the world—did you know that we invented the telephone (Antonio Meucci was in Staten Island when he did so!), the radio, eyeglasses, the typewriter, and the piano (among many other world-changing inventions)? And yet, for a complex web of reasons, our image abroad has become somewhat trivial. It feels like Italy is being sold to the world, even by Italians ourselves, as a Venus with pizza in hand (*cough cough* the tourism board).
There are plenty of Italians and non-Italians around the world, however, who have wanted to understand us, discover us, and sometimes tell our story better than we in Italy do ourselves. There are people who carry our name high, tell our stories, represent us, and enhance our culture simply by following their passions around the world–from athletes like Sinner (who beats them all!) to restaurateurs like Alessandro and Pierluigi of Roscioli, who have made a mark in NYC. There are star bartenders like Maura Milia, who’s taking her skills to Mexico City, and singers like Måneskin, whose refrain “sono fuori di testa ma diversi da loro” (“I’m out of my mind but different from them”) was on everyone’s lips, even those who had no clue what it meant. There are wonderful actresses like Sabrina Impacciatore, whose White Lotus improv “Peppa Pig?” made waves, and writers like Elena Ferrante, whose musings on girlhood have struck hearts worldwide, and architects like Renzo Piano, who have transformed the urban landscape of non-Italian cities. There are all those whose names may not be recognizable, but whose small businesses show the world what it really means to be Italian.
All that’s to say… Here in the editorial office of Italy Segreta, we asked ourselves, “Why not tell all these stories of beautiful italianità abroad?” So, from here on out, with every new issue, you can expect a few stories on Italian realities from all corners of the world, whether South Korea or South Africa.
As critical Italians, who always have something to say, we know it’s not an easy task… So, please be kind : )
But we repeat: we like to take risks.
