L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2018 www.italoamericano.org L'Italo-Americano 2 W e cannot simply say "thank you," even if it's the first thing we really want to do. Nor we're doing it out of mere politeness or to keep appearances. We're talking about substance and emotions, the same we put into every edition of L'Italo-Americano. When you decided to take part in the "Crazy about Puglia" raffle, which put up for grabs a holiday for two in a 5 star resort in the "heel of Italy," you didn't simply give yourself the opportunity to win a holiday in a wonderful land, surrounded by crystal clear sea and filled with history, culture, folklore and renowned culinary traditions. With 12 dollars, you helped sustain a cultural and linguistic project that has been going on for 110 years! And this is exactly why we want to say "thank you." Because the effort we place to preserve, spread and make the Italian language and culture known couldn't continue without your commitment, participation and support. You, who subscribe to our bimonthly edition so you can keep alive the ties with your family roots; you, who read us online or flick through our paper edition; you, who are subscribed to our newsletter and learn new Italian words and expressions through our bilingual articles. You, who share our posts on social media and write to tell us about the events you organize or seek for a space in our pages to make your business known. Every single one of you, by doing so, give us priceless support. Many of you may not be aware that L'Italo-Americano is a non-profit organization and, as a consequence, it goes on with limited finances. Yet, we are able to keep up with our mission, to inform you in real time about all the most important events involving Italian American communities, to tell you about modern Italy by bringing to you current news. We are able to lead you through a magnificent tour of il Belpaese, disclosing its history, secrets and anecdotes. We try, with every article and every page, to be ambassadors of Italy's language and culture, of its popular wisdom and immaterial heritage. And to keep on doing it, we do need your invaluable help. Every donation makes a difference not only financially, by allowing us to survive, but also because it bears witness to how you appreciate our work. Every renewed subscription brings great satisfaction to us, it is the "Grazie" because with our raffle you keep supporting L'Italo-Americano From the director best reward to our dedication. The cultural project we carry on edition after edition, a project aimed at giving a deeper, better knowledge of Italy, has been conceived as an experience to share. With every story we tell, every landscape we describe, we want to share our love for Italy and its people with each and every one of you, nevermind if you are Italian, Italian-American, American or from anywhere else in the world. It is with this very same spirit we decided to get you involved in the raffle. Even though we can't give a prize to all of you, who always support the passion, commitment and effort we put in every page of our publication, we wanted to show how much we care. This trip is our way to offer you a dream, to give you the opportunity to travel to Italy, whether it is the land of your ancestors or not. Giving you the possibility to follow an Italian language course cut on your on necessities, that you can take at home, with mother tongue teachers supporting your every step, means we can fulfill a wish of many: how many times did you tell us that simply listening to "La Bella Lingua" is a pleasure like no other? This is one of the reasons we decided, a few months back, to listen to the many requests we had been receiving and propose a bilingual version of the paper: it is hard work, yet necessary to keep up with what the supporters of the longest running Italian American publication in the US want. A fable-like holiday, spent in a trullo surrounded by olive trees, fruit orchards and vineyards, sleeping in suites named after the land's most famous grape varieties: an experience like no other. And once home, a sip of intense, generous Primitivo, of fresh Aglianico or of fruity Negramaro will bring you back to that week in Italy. This trip wants to be an invitation to take an Italian voyage made of emotions: the same voyage, you can take article after article when reading our paper. Dear readers, we would truly love to shake hands which each of you to say thanks, because every little thing you decided to give us has been - and is - a crucial contribution to keep L'Italo-Americano's mission going. Not only we couldn't continue without you, but we would interrupt a history of cultural promotion bound to carry us together into the future. Simone Schiavinato, Director NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS

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