October is a special month for Italian-Americans, dedicated as it is to their heritage and history. October is also the month remembering the coming of Christopher Columbus to the New World and, regardless to one’s personal view on the event, the figure of the Italian explorer is deeply rooted with the history of the United States and of the whole American continent. America: the harmonious name of a land that, to we “European-Italians,” remains synonym with freedom and dreams, a name inspired by another Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci. 

In the years of the Renaissance, the years of great geographical discoveries, Italians led the way, inspired as they were by their innate yearning towards knowledge, powerful motor of many a trip into the unknown and countless history-changing encounters. A real thirst for knowledge, those Italians had, but to be truthful to history - and to my country’s people - knowing, learning, indeed exploring, remained dear to their hearts throughout the centuries.