Dear friends, since the beginning of the year, we have been working on a new version of our website, which will be online by the end of May. Our new We the Italians will be more innovative, faster, and more rational. There will be several new features, but the biggest change concerns the areas into which we have divided the United States from the very beginning. These areas will be reduced from nine to six.

From the start, in the first version of We the Italians and now in the current version (which will soon be replaced by the third version), the geographical areas we have divided the United States into have been as follows: New England, New York, East, South East, South, Great Lakes, Midwest, West, and California.

With the new version of the site, which will be online soon, these areas will be reduced to six due to three consolidations. The areas New England, New York, and East will remain the same; South and South East will merge into one area called South; Great Lakes and Midwest will merge into one area called Midwest; West and California will merge into one area called West.

The new areas, along with their respective states, will therefore be as follows: 1) New England (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island). 2) New York (New York State). 3) East (New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Washington DC, Virginia, West Virginia). 4) South (North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico). 5) Midwest (Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado). 6) West (Alaska, Hawaii, Washington State, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, California).

The newsletters will also follow the same changes, so there will be six instead of nine. Other updates will be shared soon, likely in the editorial of next month.

Many of you have contacted us, concerned about the decision made on March 28 by the Italian government, which has limited the ways in which Italian citizenship can be obtained. I asked my friend and our partner Marco Permunian, founder of Italian Citizenship Assistance, to reflect on this issue. Marco has been handling the dual citizenship section in our magazine for years. He is one of the leading Italian experts on the subject, an entrepreneur who employs many people in both Italy and the United States, and he has helped hundreds of Italian descendants, particularly Italian-Americans, over the years. I highly recommend that you don't miss his article in this issue of our magazine.

We are very pleased to be media partners for an event that will take place on May 2 in New York: Maestro Massimiliano Finazzer Flory, one of Italy's most prestigious and awarded theatrical artists, will return to Manhattan, specifically to Little Italy, for an event in which he will perform a theatrical reading of The Divine Comedy. For those who can attend, I assure you that you have never heard Dante interpreted quite like he does. I am personally very happy that We the Italians was invited to promote and support this wonderful Italian artist, and Dante holds a special place in my heart.

Speaking of Little Italy in Manhattan, the Italian American Museum also holds a special place in my heart. We the Italians will continue to support this extraordinary institution founded by the great Joseph Scelsa, who is like a brother to me. A great television report has just been published about the wonders of the museum, and I highly recommend it. You can find it here.

Let me remember you about “We the ItaliaNews: Italy in english,” and “We the ItaliaNews: L'Italia in America". The former talks about what is happening in Italy, and is in English language, with a new episode out every Monday; the latter talks about what is happening in the Italian Italian American communities in the United States, and it is in Italian language, with a new episode out every Thursday. You can find them both here. Two podcasts, Two languages, Two flags, One heart.

If you like what we do, let me remember you to please subscribe to We the Italians, here. Every month we give you 50 news excusive for our subscribers, at the cost of one single espresso, one for month. You can subscribe on our Facebook page. besides, as already announced, the eleventh book, the ninth annual yearbook, is available for you: twelve interviews from 2024 on twelve different topics that have in common Italy and the United States. On this page, you will find a preview and the link to purchase it.

The We the Italians family continues to grow wonderfully, and today I am particularly delighted to welcome two new Ambassadors.

Richard Leto is our Ambassador in Columbus (OH). Rich currently lives in the Capital City of Ohio, Columbus. Rich was born and raised in the Little Italy enclave of South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is a proud third-generation Italian American and is associated with several Italian American clubs/organizations. Rich has authored multiple articles regarding his Italian immigrant grandparents and his upbringing within the Italian American experience.

Ilaria Serra is our Ambassador in Boca Raton (FL). Ilaria is originally from Venice and is a Professor of Italian and Comparative Studies at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL. Ilaria has published essays on cinema, culture, and Italian emigration to America. She coordinates the digital projects “Italian American Oral History Archive,” “Italian American Memories Documentary Archive,” “Floritalians,” and the website “Strade Dorate. Observatory of the Italian Diaspora and Italian-Speaking Culture.” She organizes the international symposium “Italy in Transit” and she is the founding director of the successful FAU summer study abroad program in Venice, Italy.

Last but not least, I am pleased to announce that, starting this month, thanks to our Editorial staff, our magazine has two new columns, or better… on and a half. The first new column (a comeback) is Italian Traditions, Each month, we will tell the story of one of the countless traditions, festivals, legends, and events that represent the history of every part of Italy: ancient tales, local events of great importance, passed down from generation to generation. We begin this month with the Giostra del Saracino of Sarteano, in Tuscany.

The second "half" of the section is dedicated to another Italian tradition: however, it won't be a monthly article, but something a bit "smaller." Each month, we will highlight an Italian proverb, part of the popular wisdom with which all of us Italians grew up, quoting these sayings without necessarily knowing their exact origin, but only their meaning. We begin with a particularly famous proverb: "A caval donato non si guarda in bocca" (Don't look a gift horse in the mouth).

And it doesn’t stop there! That’s why we ask you to subscribe to We the Italians.

It’s all for now. Please stay safe and take care, and enjoy our magazine and our contents on our website. Stay safe and take care: the future’s so bright, we gotta wear tricolor shades! A big Italian hug from Rome.