On 4 July this year, the same date on which Independence Day is celebrated in the United States, the Fondazione Italia USA is 20 years old. It was 2005 when it was officially constituted, with the stated goal of promoting the friendship between Italy and the United States, and to do so independently and apart, on both sides of the Atlantic. At the constitutive act, which was held in Rome, the American Embassy also participated, represented by the Minister for Public Affairs.
In these two decades, the Foundation has set up a rather wide range of cultural, educational and institutional initiatives. The most famous is probably the “Premio America”, delivered every year at the headquarters of the Chamber of Deputies to Italian and American figures who have distinguished themselves for favouring dialogue and relations between the two countries. Among the winners were, over the years, Andrea Bocelli, Alberto Angela, Ennio Morricone, Ilaria Capua, but also the president of CONI Giovanni Malagò and journalist Alan Friedman.
Another initiative that has had ample participation is the “Premio America Giovani”, designed to support particularly worthy Italian graduates. Every year a thousand students are selected, to whom a scholarship is offered to attend an online master’s degree in “Leadership for international relations and made in Italy”. Among the teachers of the master, in the various years, there were also known names of Italian politics and journalism, such as Stefania Giannini, already a Minister of Education.
In addition to the awards, the Foundation has sought to build concrete bridges between the two cultures. He organized conferences, internships and collaborations with Italian and American universities, such as John Cabot University and Loyola University Chicago. A significant part of the work has focused on promoting exchanges between students, with projects designed to make Italians better acquainted with American culture, and vice versa.
There was also room for editorial initiatives. Among the most symbolic, the Italian translation of Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy – a book awarded with the Pulitzer in 1957 – and other central texts to understand the political history of the United States. One way, according to the Foundation, to make the complexity and wealth of American tradition more accessible to the Italian public.
For the 20th anniversary, the Foundation created a short video, entitled “Vent’anni in five minutes”, in which it retraces the main activities carried out and relaunches its commitment to the future. “To promote the friendship between Italy and the United States and to spread our values towards the new generations,” they explain, “because it is from them that the future passes”.
L’articolo The first twenty years of the Fondazione Italia USA proviene da IlNewyorkese.
