There are entire areas of Italy that have been depopulated since the Second World War. Hunger and the destruction of vast territories led many young people to leave their towns and their families in search of fortune.
Young, handsome boys, often with a diploma in hand (in some countries you could enter immediately if you had a certain level of education) had barely filled a suitcase and had gone into the unknown.
I don't want to be too pious, but often the most enterprising people left, those who were able to overcome their fear of the unknown and who wanted social redemption.
And they got it.
Thanks to the Town Ambassador Award, I have the chance to interview many emigrants and the stories they told me were always about the struggle to survive, to integrate and to improve the condition of their families. Most of them succeeded and build a better future for their children, getting them educated to put down roots in their new community.
But these 'youngsters', who are now over 70 years old, have always been very careful to keep alive their ties with Italy, or rather with their town of origin. The ties have evolved over the years, taking on other forms but never losing intensity.
The real difficulty has been to actively involve the 3rd and 4th generation in the preservation and promotion of the intangible cultural heritage of their town of origin.
As Kenny Palazzolo, originally from Sciacca, told us, if in Boston there were twenty or so events that recalled the Italian ones and lasted more than a few days, today only four survive.
But in Canada the descendants of Settefrati are more active than ever and are studying new forms of cooperation with their town of origin.
Settefrati is a beautiful village in the Comino Valley, in the Lazio side of the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise, and is known for the Sanctuary of the Madonna di Canneto and the procession that attracts over 60,000 people every year.
Thanks to the work of Tony Malizia (Town Ambassador of Settefrati) and other 'youngsters' who, like him, had left the Comino Valley, today the Canneto Society NFP involves over fifty young people who want to re-establish ties with their town. And planning has begun with the municipality and the mayor Riccardo Frattaroli for their active involvement in the PNRR regeneration of Settefrati.
But that's not all.
The Italian community in Canada does not have our problems of parochialism and the members cooperate a lot in protecting their history and in telling the story of Italian emigration.
In nearby Fontechiari, a charming little village at the beginning of the Comino Valley, Caroline di Cocco has collected the whole story of the emigration of the valley's inhabitants and in particular the dynamics that took place in a country in Canada. Caroline has been a minister in Ontario and has written several books on the subject collecting very precious material and collaborating with the descendants of all the other towns.
This is our history, the history of Italy.
And the idea of reassembling it in a live project that comes from common roots, binds the present with a 'feasible' dream and builds a foundation for the future is really exciting.
We will keep you updated. In the meantime, visit the new site www.townambassador.org
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