I had the opportunity
to come into contact with a group of very special kids, the members of
the Fieri Association, in the city that the Italians sometimes define as
tentacular or, more frequently, the Big Apple. Whoever has some information
about the organisations of Italo-Americans in the United States knows it
very well. I had the pleasure to be invited to the Carnival Celebration
organised by the New York group last February. I don't want to be rhetorical
but the thing that mostly struck me was an overwhelming atmosphere of friendliness
and Italianism. The Italo-Americans are very often seen - even in our homeland,
unfortunately - in a general and collective image, as some movies showed
them to us over the past few years. Coming into contact with the various
communities, on the other hand, makes it possible for people to realise
immediately that this kind of representation is rather far from being real.
The Italian community abroad, thanks to the things it managed to achieve
over the past years, can represent the jewel of the homeland in many respects,
or, as they say in Italy, the “flower in the buttonhole”. A flower that
never forgets the plant that sprouted it and that feels strongly linked
to its roots. Hence the birth of various associations over the decades
that developed also because there was the need to defend the common values.
Among them the Fieri Association has the peculiarity of being a unique
organisation that is explicitly directed towards the young, that is that
part of society whose task is to keep alive the bond with the land of their
fathers even in the future. It is not an easy task but it is carried out
in the best of ways.
During the evening, in fact,
I realised how strong the blood relationship among those young was and
how useful it could be if many Italians learned from them to appreciate
a culture that is unique in the world. Besides the various and interesting
initiatives that the association carries out and sets up, I think that
its most striking plus, that also guarantees it a continuous and growing
success, is the Italo-Americans' feeling their state as a starting and
not arrival point, that is the common fundamental that allows them to build
something meaningful. A way of being and of thinking that can bring them
together more than they could have ever imagined. (For further information
on the Fieri Association visit their website: www.Fieri.org) |
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