Sassoferrato plans the future with new ties with its descendants in America thanks to some 'illustrious sons' such as Albert Santoni.
August and September are the holiday months in which the Italian towns gives the best of their beauty and attract millions of tourists. And if this September was an intense month for the Marche region, and in particular for the municipality of Sassoferrato which suffered a devastating flood, some Italian Americans have returned to their village of origin after almost three years.
In fact, Covid had interrupted direct contacts and imposed a forced distancing between the people that only a few fearless ones had dared to challenge.
Shortly before Covid, together with the municipality of Sassoferrato we had awarded the Town Ambassador award (www.townambassador.org) to Albert Santoni and we promised to meet all together as soon as possible.
Finally, at the beginning of September the mayor Maurizio Greci, together with Claudia Bettiol of the Town Ambassador Award and the Sassoferratesi in the World association, organized a meeting with the municipality to officially confer the award to Albert Santoni and to brainstorming on opportunities to be grasped together.
Albert is an American citizen of Sassoferratese origin who lives in Iron Mountain (Michigan - USA), the twin city with Sassoferrato where many emigrants from the Marche have gone. The bond between the communities has always been very strong thanks to the work of the association that publishes a monthly magazine to make known the stories (https://www.sassoferratomia.it) of the Italians, but also of the Americans who have Sassoferrato in their hearts.
The Town Ambassador is an award from Discoverplaces publishing house that is awarded to Italian descendants who have maintained an active relationship with their towns of origin. The award has had the patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Enit. The Foreign Ministry has declared 2024 the year of Roots Tourism.
After the usual photographs all together, we illustrated the Felicita Back Home project, the television format that is the natural continuation of the Town Ambassador Award. In the format of the reality show, three young Italian representatives of Sassoferrato will compete with three young descendants residing in the USA and Canada on themes of local culture, environment and cuisine.
Now it will be Albert's task to find young descendants of Sassoferrato who want to challenge each other on their town of origin and to commit to building bridges between young people across the ocean.
The television project will be presented as part of the "Return Tourism 2023-2028" program organized by "Rete Destination Sud", which the municipality of Sassoferrato has also joined.
Good work Albert Santoni!
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