This summer, Italy and the United States are honoring important historical milestones: the US turns 250, and Italy is getting ready to celebrate eighty years since the birth of the Republic. There is something very distinctive, however, connected to these two anniversaries, because they are not developing in parallel, but together.
For the first time, Italy entered the American commemorative framework as an official participant, thus becoming part of how the United States wants to tells its own national story. The American semi-quincentennial is developing on a very different scale from all previous anniversaries, as it extends well beyond the usual idea of a “date circled in red” on our calendar, to embrace a nationwide cultural and institutional programs involving states, museums, universities, civic organisations and international partners.
