Dear friends, today I start this editorial with a good news about me and I want to share it with you: I received the first dose of anticovid vaccine, and next April 2 I will have the second one. I believe that for me it was fate that a wonderful Italian nurse, Celeste Radatti, inoculated me with an American vaccine. Two flags, One vaccine! On this occasion, while thanking Celeste Radatti, I would like to thank all the Italian health workers who have saved and continue to save so many lives.

And we’re very happy to strongly support the initiative of Lisa Clark, an American Nobel Peace Prize winner who lives in Tuscany, who nominated Italy's doctors, nurses and healthcare workers for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of their efforts in battling the covid-19 pandemic.

And, in this regard, we point out the initiative of the friends of the Association Cultura Italiae together with RAI Cinema, the video "Io sono Italia" launched on March 18, on the occasion of the Italian National Day in memory of the victims of Coronavirus. It 'a beautiful little tribute to these our heroes, you can find it here.

A few days ago We the Italians crossed a not trivial goal, not at all simple, for which we want to thank all of you: today we have more than 50,000 likes on our Facebook page. We are happy for your consent, which pushes us to improve every day. Thank you!

There are two partnerships we are announcing today. One is a return, with our friends at Italian Citizenship Assistance, a leader in Italy in services to help those who want to have an Italian passport. Their articles are back in the magazine, starting with this issue; and soon there will be a page of theirs on our website. We are pleased to offer a 5% discount valid until May 31 2021 to all We the Italians readers, who can take advantage of it by quoting the code ICAWTI2021 and email [email protected] The second partnership was a very successful experiment involving the teaching of the Italian language. We decided to partner up with Davide, an amazing Italian teacher that could help you with your Italian. Davide has been teaching Italian on his Instagram page, where he reached more than 2000 students with his courses. We knew that learning Italian has been a dream for many of you, and we at We The Italians decided to help you make it a reality. Davide created two video courses, that could allow you to learn Italian at your own pace according to your own schedule. We opened and closed registration for just three days, and there was a real boom in enrollment. We are working to make sure that we will open the registration again in the future, for the moment we are very happy with the great success we had together with Davide.

Our family continues to expand, and here at We the Italians we are very happy and proud about this. Five new friends have joined us this month, two representing us in the US, and we’re now in 18 American States, and three in different parts of Italy, and we’re now represented in 6 Italian regions. They will help us bringing more Italy to the United States, and vice versa. We’re building up a formidable team, we’re so blessed for these fantastic friends who joined us.

Maria Arancio Berry is our Ambassador in New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment State. In 2012 Maria Arancio Berry was elected Board President of Italian Festivals of New Mexico (501c3) and took over the directorship of the annual New Mexico Italian Film & Culture Festival. Since then she has devoted her professional talent in administration, project development, and marketing to the mission of celebrating and promoting the richness of Italian culture in the Land of Enchantment. Maria is a creative writer and speaker who is passionate about all things Italian.

Elissa Ruffino is our Ambassador in Washington, District of Columbia. Elissa currently works as an adjunct instructor at Marymount University School of Business and Technology. She also teaches communication courses and is a visiting professor in marketing for John Cabot University in Rome, Italy. For more than 23 years, she served as chief brand officer, director of communications and public relations for the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF). In 2020 she published her first children's book “Dream Big Dream Small", both in English and in Italian.

Alessandro Tapparini is our Ambassador in Veneto. Born in Verona, Veneto, by profession first a civil lawyer for almost twenty years and then a tourism entrepreneur, and by passion an independent Americanist on various publications including Wired and Forbes. In 2012 and 2016 Alessandro was on SkyTg24 as a commentator and analyst of the American presidential election. Since 2014 he is co-author and co-host of Country Nation, one of the few Italian radio shows dedicated to country music.

Pietro Viola is our Ambassador in Sicily. Pietro is an accountant and auditor, with more than twenty years of experience, specialized in business, tax and fiscal issues. Member of the Study Group on the Internationalization of Businesses and Professional Activities at the Order of Chartered Accountants of Palermo, he deals with business support and development of international strategies. Owner of Studio Viola Specialists in International Trade and more recently founding partner of the BID Department(Business Innovation Development) which assists clients in internationalization projects, through the innovative philosophy of valorization abroad of the company's culture, identity and traditions.

Giuliana Poli is our Ambassador in Marche. Giuliana is a journalist and a researcher in cultural anthropology. She writes about traditions and monographs and texts on works of art. She is also an analyst and expert in iconography and iconology of works of art, semantic research of the language of art and words. She also works on strategic communication.

Last but not least, in this very rich issue of our magazine we are honored to be able to offer you the description of a beautiful initiative by our President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, who honored 28 young Italians naming them "Ensigns of the Republic". They are young Italians who in 2020 have distinguished themselves for their commitment and courageous actions and solidarity, and represent, through their testimony, the future and hope in a year that will remain in history for the tragic events related to the pandemic. They are the best of Italy, Italian excellences, they are the smart, beautiful and courageous future of Italy, and we’re very proud to welcome them on We the Italians,

Please keep following We the ItaliaNews, the video and audio podcast about what happens in Italy at the time of the coronavirus. It has now become a real news program on Italy in English, each episode of which is seen by more than 1,500 of you. We have reached 197 videos. It's a big effort, but we care about it and it's part of the service we give to all of you, everything for free.

Also, please remember that our new book is available: the 2020 Yearbook of We the Italians. It contains 23 interesting interviews – both in English and in Italian - that touch on many topics regarding Italy and the United States: trust me, you won't be disappointed. You can buy it here: please, buy the book! For you, as a gift for friends and family. Please check a preview here. Thanks

And please, check our virtual store. Now you can find more than 20 products in different colors: t-shirts, tank tops, hoodies, onesies, mugs, notebooks, pillows, totes, tapestries, pins, laptop and smartphone cases, magnets, stickers, masks. Buy We the Italians!

Well my friends, once again it’s all for now. Please stay safe, please stay healthy. I won’t gonna stop saying this: the future’s so bright, we gotta wear shades! But please, protect yourselves and wear the mask, too. Ciao from Rome