Cari amici, dear friends
four years have flown. It is time to leave San Francisco. What a great ride it has been. When I landed in California in 2012, I had heard great things about the Italians of the Bay Area, but I would have never imagined to receive such a warm embrace, from them and a legion of Italophiles. We worked together to promote il Bel Paese. We had great fun together. We have seen the prestige of our country rise, as projects have multiplied, new networks have been created and extended, ambitious goals have been achieved.
I have selected 12 pictures and 3 videos that portray some of the milestones in our common walk. Let them be seeds for new achievements to come.
DECEMBER 2012: THE YEAR OF ITALIAN CULTURE STARTS WITH A BANG
At the San Francisco City Hall lit up with the colors of the Italian flag, the leaders of the Italian community gather with Mayor Edwin Lee and California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano to kick off a year of major cultural events (December 12, 2012). A display of unity that bodes well for the future.
FEBRUARY 2013: GIOVANNI SOLDINI SHATTERS THE WORLD RECORD SAILING TIME FROM NEW YORK TO SAN FRANCISCO
The sailing time is 47 days, 42 minutes and 29 seconds, nearly 10 days faster than the previous record. Giovanni celebrates with the Italian community at the Consulate (February 13, 2013).
OCTOBER 2013: SAN FRANCISCO AND NAPLES COME TOGETHER FOR A HISTORICAL VERDI REQUIEM
Thanks to the initiative of Maestro Nicola Luisotti and to a fund-raising campaign that brings together Italians and Italophiles in the Bay Area and beyond, San Francisco Opera and Teatro San Carlo from Naples join forces for a historical joint performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem. 350 musicians perform together at the War Memorial Opera House, illuminated with the Italian colors (October 24, 2013). Luisotti will bestow upon us another invaluable musical gift by launching a new successful Italian opera in San Francisco, Two Women (La Ciociara), in June 2015.
FEBRUARY 2014: ITALIANS RALLY TO LAUNCH ‘WE LOVE ITALIAN’ CAMPAIGN
February 13, 2014, the Italian community in the Bay Area pays heed to our cry for support to the Italian language. In three separate events in San Francisco they come together to proclaim their commitment for the bella lingua and to donate generously for a turnaround in the teaching of Italian in Northern California.
The concrete results of these effors
in December 2015
are summarized in the video above produced by Cut Canvas.
SEPTEMBER 2014: ITALY’S PRIME MINISTER MATTEO RENZI VISITS SAN FRANCISCO
For the first time after 32 years, an Italian Prime Minister visits San Francisco and Silicon Valley. 40 y.o. Matteo Renzi brings his message of change in the temple of technological innovation. He is met with enthusiasm (September 21-22, 2014).
During his visit, Renzi inaugurates the new campus of La Scuola International School together with his wife Agnese. In the past four years La Scuola, based on the Reggio Children approach, has soared to become the first International Baccalaureat k-8 school in San Francisco. Kudos!
APRIL 2015: ITALIANS ELECT YOUNGEST COMITES EVER
With an average age of 40, a woman as President (Elisabetta Ghisini) and as Vice President (Francesca Morabito), members from academia and from Silicon Valley, the new Committee of Italian Abroad elected on April 17, 2015 (here in its first meeting at the Consulate on May 5) truly reflects the vibrant Italian community of Silicon Valley.
SEPTEMBER 2015: THE FIRST ITALIAN-FOUNDED STARTUP BECOMES A ‘UNICORN’
Thumbtack is an online marketplace for local professionals founded by Marco Zappacosta (right in the pic above), an Italian citizen based in San Francisco. On September 28, 2015, the company announces that it has raised its fourth round of funding, reaching the valuation of $1.25 billion. Marco’s rise happens as a growing number of Italian startuppers pursue success in the Silicon Valley. Every year, the Italian Innovation Day, lately expanded into a European Innovation Day, showcases the best of our technology.
SEPTEMBER 2015: ITALY AND CALIFORNIA COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE TOGETHER
(Italy’s Environment Minister Gian Luca Galletti (left) and California Governor Jerry Brown)
On Sept. 24, 2015, Italy is the first country to officially endorse the so-called Under2MoU launched by California’s Governor Jerry Brown to combat climate change. The document is signed in New York on the eve of a historical United Nations summit that adopts the post-2015 development agenda. Also two Italian regions, Emilia-Romagna and Lombardia, will sign the document. Moreover, confirming the strong affinity between California and Italy on values and several policy issues, California is the first US State to sign the Charter of Milan on food sustainability in November 2015, which is the policy and cultural legacy of Expo Milano 2015.
OCTOBER 2015: NORTH BEACH EXPERIENCES LARGEST ITALIAN HERITAGE PARADE OF RECENT TIMES
Under a dazzling blue sky filled with the soaring Blue Angels, on October 12, 2015, the Italian Heritage Parade electrifies downtown San Francisco as never before in recent times, all the way from Fisherman’s Wharf to the streets of North Beach as Italophiles and the city at large gathered in droves: an unmistakable sign of the vitality of the Italian communities in the Bay Area.
OCTOBER 2015: POET LAUREATE LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI INAUGURATES THE NEW ITALIAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE
At 97, Poet Laureate Lawrence Ferlinghetti (second from the left) does not cease to show his passion Italy and Italian. A few days after launching his travel memoirs, on October 28, 2015, Ferlinghetti opens the new location of the Italian Cultural Institute at the very center of San Francisco, together with California Senator Mark Leno (second from the right) and Institute director Paolo Barlera (right) and mints a new Italian word: fluxare. With new Italian cultural initiatives popping up in the Bay Area, some speak of an “Italian Spring” in the making.
JUNE 2016: ‘ITALY IS THE NEW COUNTRY’ SAYS LEADER NANCY PELOSI ON REPUBLIC DAY
“Italy is the new country,” says Congresswoman and Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi at the celebration of Italy’s Republic Day in San Francisco on June 2, 2016. There is no best possible way to see the dramatic process of modernization that is sweeping our country recognized, and to conclude four magnificent years in San Francisco. Here are her precise words:
As my term in San Francisco has come to an end, let me give a special word of thanks to Paolo Barlera, the director of the Italian Cultural Institute, and to my invaluable staff that has worked hard with loyalty and integrity to provide consular, commercial and educational services over these years: Anna Maselli, Stefano Mancini, Corrado Camminante, Massimo Maresca, Paola Ebranati, Silvia Vendettuoli, Giorgia Efficace, Antonella Picchio, Elisabetta Pagani, Aldo Mura, Lydia Klenova, Alessio Cei, Taylor Luscutoff, Federico Brocero and, in the past, Felice Zagaglia, Gianpaolo Iuliucci, Sergio Barbieri, Paola Lari and Giuseppe Penzato My warmest wishes to my successor here, as of September, Lorenzo Ortona. My heartfelt thanks as well to all Italians, Italian Americans and Italophiles in our consular jurisdiction for their constant friendship. San Francisco will always have a special place in my heart. Let me conclude with an extra video, Pink Martini’s version of “Auld Lang Syne” the renowned farewell song by Robert Burns: arrivederci a tutti!