Four months ago, following a rather direct provocation from our ambassador Matteo Cerri, we decided to do something that - on paper - didn’t feel urgent at all: launch a Substack page for We the Italians.
Not because we lacked an audience. Between our website, Facebook, LinkedIn, and newsletter, we already reach more than 100,000 Italian-Americans every day. Which made the obvious question even more relevant: do we really need another channel?
The answer wasn’t obvious. And we didn’t take the easy route.
We didn’t duplicate content. We adapted.
We stepped into a different ecosystem - editorial newsletters - with a curated selection of content, choosing from the dozens of articles we publish daily. No shortcuts. No forced growth. Just consistency.
At the same time, in that very same space, ITS Journal - also led by Matteo - was already one of the most relevant players globally in the “international” category, with over 75,000 subscribers on Substack.
So yes, the benchmark was clear. And quite high.
We started slowly. Then 1,000 subscribers in two months. Then 1,500. Organic growth, nothing more.
Then something shifted.
On Sidestack - one of those places where someone actually tracks and surfaces newsletters worth noticing - we were selected as “Newsletter of the Week.”
And that’s when the system kicked in.
In just seven days 6,000 new followers.
Not a vanity spike. An opening.
Because many of these readers had never heard of us before. They came from across the United States. Many from Italy. And with them came something more valuable than numbers: new connections.
American journalists based in Italy.
Expats.
Readers living exactly in that in-between space we’ve always tried to represent.
This is not just growth. It’s positioning.
It proves that even in a crowded, highly competitive ecosystem like Substack, there is still room for editorial projects built on consistency rather than noise.
And maybe it says something else, too.
In the year marking 250 years of the United States and 80 years of the Italian Republic, We the Italians quietly managed to get noticed in one of the most selective and self-referential editorial environments out there.
That wasn’t the original goal, but it’s a signal.
And yes - this time, we’ll take it. A bit of well-earned, slightly narcissistic satisfaction is allowed.
Credit goes to the daily work of all the We the Italians Editorial Staff and our Substack partner-in-crime, Matteo Cerri.
One day at a time.
One article at a time.
And, apparently, one newsletter at a time.
