L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2026 www.italoamericano.org 4 2 026 is a special year for Italy, which will find itself exposed to both its own history and the gaze of the o u t s i d e w o r l d . T h i s i s b e c a u s e o f t h e s o m e h o w unusual convergence, within the same twelve months of several long-planned mile- stones, each asking a differ- ent version of the same ques- t i o n : w h a t k i n d o f country is Italy today , and what story is it choosing to tell about itself? A rapid glance at the cal- endar is sufficient to see how rich in events the next twelve months are going to be: on J u n e 2 , I t a l y w i l l m a r k eighty years since the 1946 referendum that ended the monarchy and gave birth to the Republic; earlier in the year, the country will host t h e W i n t e r O l y m p i c Games in Milan and Corti- na, followed shortly after by the Paralympic Games; one of Italy's more recogniz- able symbols of resilience and strength, L'Aquila, will serve throughout the year as Italian Capital of Culture. Last but not certainly least, we will also celebrate the eight-hundredth anniver- sary of the death of Saint Francis of Assisi, with a wide-ranging program of initiatives. It's difficult to shed the feeling that Italy is almost caught between honoring its past and putting on a show f o r t h e w o r l d , t h i s y e a r ; between looking inward to reflect and looking outward t o s h a r e i t s s t o r y . T h e anniversary of our Republic provides perhaps the most obvious point of entry into this reflection: the referen- dum of 1946 didn't only mark a broad redefinition of political life after fascism and war by abolishing the monarchy, it also elected the Constituent Assembly and, for the first time, included women as full participants in a national election. The country – the Republic – t h a t e m e r g e d f r o m t h a t process was built on ideals o f p a r t i c i p a t i o n , s o c i a l r i g h t s , a n d d e m o c r a t i c accountability that would later be formalized in our Costituzione. But what about today? E i g h t y y e a r s l a t e r , t h o s e i d e a l s r e m a i n , w i t h o u t a doubt, formally intact, but their everyday meaning is less straightforward. And if t h e w o r d " R e p u b l i c " s t i l l carries symbolic weight, its practical translation into cit- izens' experience often feels uneven, because access to services, trust in institu- tions, and political partici- pation vary widely across regions and social groups. For this reason, the 2026 anniversary matters less as a commemoration of the past than as a test of the present: it can either settle into a rit- u a l i z e d c e l e b r a t i o n o r become an occasion to ques- t i o n h o w f a r r e p u b l i c a n p r i n c i p l e s a r e a c t u a l l y reflected in our lives today. The difference is in whether w e a r e c e l e b r a t i n g o u r R e p u b l i c a s a f i n i s h e d achievement or treated as a f r a m e w o r k t h a t r e m a i n s open, contested, and incom- plete. T h i s t e n s i o n b e t w e e n i m a g e a n d s u b s t a n c e becomes even more evident when the focus shifts to the Winter Olympics, which are taking place from Febru- ary 6th to 22nd across a net- work of cities and mountain v e n u e s , w i t h M i l a n a n d Cortina at their symbolic center. The Paralympi c G a m e s w i l l f o l l o w i n March, extending the inter- national spotlight for several additional weeks. For Italy, t h e G a m e s o f f e r a m a j o r opportunity to present itself as modern, efficient, and c a p a b l e o f m a n a g i n g a n event of global scale; they are not, however, a neutral stage, because they bring along expectations around infrastructure, sustainabili- ty, accessibility, and long- t e r m l e g a c y . T h e M i l a n - C o r t i n a m o d e l , s p r e a d a c r o s s m u l t i p l e r e g i o n s rather than centered on a single city, highlights Italy's territorial diversity, but it a l s o t u r n s c o o r d i n a t i o n itself into the real test, one w h e r e d e l a y s , u n e v e n investment, and post-Games uncertainty risk becoming as visible as the event they are meant to support. The Paralympic Games shift t h e f o c u s i n a d i f f e r e n t direction: accessibility and i n c l u s i o n m o v e f r o m t h e m a r g i n s t o t h e c e n t e r o f attention, becoming key cri- teria by which the event – and the country hosting it – will be judged. In a place where architectural barriers and uneven access are still p a r t o f e v e r y d a y l i f e , t h e Paralympics act as a practi- cal test and bring progress into view, but they also risk e x p o s i n g g a p s a n d t u r n international visibility into a direct question of whether Italy in 2026: a convergence of celebration, global attention, and cultural self-assessment FRANCESCA BEZZONE NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS CONTINUED TO PAGE 6 2026 we don't only celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Republic, but also the first time Italian women voted (Image created with DALL-E 2)

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