Ciao from Rome on lockdown to all the friends of We the Italians.

Dear friends, I start this editorial from an Italy in phase 2 of the lockdown thanking you all again for the final outcome of our fundraising. Here you can find the video with which the General Director of the Spallanzani Hospital, Marta Branca, thanks us for this wonderful result: and here next to it there is also the official letter we received from the Hospital. Thanks again!

Our cover of this month's magazine is a tribute and thanks to all the health workers who saved and still save many Italian lives during this Covid-19 emergency. The photo comes from St. Anthony's Hospital of Padua, Veneto, a city that is also the protagonist of our Culture and History column in this issue: it is a mural created by street artist Alessio-b.

As many of you know, since the beginning of lockdown I started We the ItaliaNews, a daily videobroadcast that tells day after day the evolution of lockdown in Italy, the playlist with the videos is here. These are short videos in which you can not only daily be updated about the situation in Italy, but also, since here we are about two weeks ahead of the United States, some of the things that could happen in America. I'm waiting for you all on our YouTube channel, or on our other social networks.

It's May, and this is Memorial Day month. Usually here at We the Italians we celebrate it at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, but this year it won't be possible because of the restrictions due to the coronavirus: so I interviewed the superintendent of this place of peace and memory, Mrs. Melanie Resto, whom I thank for preserving and honoring our heroes, including many Italian Americans, who rest there. But our thanks for the American boys who liberated our country begin for us on April 25, which is the day on which we celebrate the liberation of Italy: we are the Italians who remember to thank the American soldiers, including the many Italian Americans, for our freedom. The prestigious Italian magazine Formiche asked me to celebrate this event, for those of you who also read Italian the article is here.  

Once again, the recommendation always remains the same: please stay safe, please stay healthy. Do not underestimate this threat, take care of yourselves and your families. We'll get out of this, we'll make it, and we'll come back to hug each other as Italians love to do. Italy and the United States will not stop being brothers, allies, friends. Please follow our daily video broadcasting and don’t give up on Italy. I won’t gonna stop saying this: the future’s so bright, we gotta wear shades!