There are now over 20 million Italian Americans in the U.S.. Many of them have helped to make history – in science, politics and the arts – and have perfectly integrated our creativity, taste and spirit of adaptation with American pragmatism and dynamism. The National American Foundation (NIAF) was launched in 1975 as a national organization based in Washington D.C., in defense of Italian cultural heritage and to encourage interaction and exchange between Italy and the US. Its mission is to ensure that Italian Americans continue to keep alive their values and cultural traditions. But it is more than that.
The NIAF finances national conferences and congresses on issues related to Italian culture and language and gives study grants for American students to study in Italy. To celebrate the great heritage of this large community and the goals that have been achieved, every October the NIAF organizes an Anniversary Gala in Washington D.C., at which the important figures in the political, cultural and financial world – renowned Italian Americans - speak. During this special evening, honors are given to eminent Italian and Italian American figures who have especially distinguished themselves in their professional and civic roles.
The NIAF has honored people such as Antonin Scalia, the first Italian-American judge on the United States Supreme Court, 20 Frank Sinatra, Joe Di Maggio, Lee Iacocca, Liza Minelli, Henry Fonda, John Travolta, Al Pacino, Robert de Niro, Nicolas Cage, Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio and George H.W. Bush, as well as significant Italian figures such as Luciano Pavarotti, Sofia Loren, Andrea Bocelli and significant businesspeople and entrepreneurs such as Giovanni Agnelli, Cesare Romiti, Giorgio Armani, Paola Fendi, Miuccia Prada, Giovanni Ferrero, Roberto Colaninno, Sergio Marchionne and Alessandro Profumo.
The Anniversary Gala, presided over by NIAF Emeritus Chairman Joseph V. Del Raso, also includes a charity auction. For many years NERO Lifestyle has sponsored the auction with its tours, as an all encompassing symbol of “Made in Italy” quality and classic Italian hospitality with its charm and human warmth. Andrea Delfini, Founder and Chairman of NERO Lifestyle, was elected a member of the NIAF Board of the Directors on 28 October 2022, and since 2015 has been Vice President of NIAF Italia, the “subsidiary” chaired by Professor Paolo Catalfamo. NIAF Italia’s goals are similar to those of the American foundation, and additionally it provides intermediation services in bilateral Italy-USA relationships, making available to its associates a network of contacts in the United States that can address and assist in starting up entrepreneurial and professional work, or in strengthening trade that has already begun in the US.
INTERVIEW TO ROBERT E. CARLUCCI., NIAF CHAIRMAN
What is NIAF for you?
My dad always said, “Never forget where you came from!” NIAF is the vehicle that reminds me that I am a part of a great culture that has enriched our nation tremendously. NIAF is also the home where my children, and hopefully their children, can return to learn about their heritage. NIAF also is the voice in our nation’s capital that advocates for 20,000,000 Americans of Italian descent and finally NIAF is the forum that allows me to stay connected to today’s Italy. We are committed to honoring and preserving all that our ancestors have given us, but we are equally focused on moving forward and serving as an effective bridge between the Italian Americans ancestral homeland and this great country.
Which Italian values do you want to preserve in the United States and which values should Italians pursue and export?
What I admire most about Italians is their great sense of humanity. They are emotional, they are passionate and they are tolerant and accepting of others They are also the most family oriented of people. It may be a cliché but I believe in the old adage “Italiani Brava Gente” (Italians are good people) Italians are also great lovers of beauty in all its various manifestations. The Italian appreciation of art and music and cuisine are all worthy of preservation as is their strong faith. Italians should continue to pursue and export a unique sense of creative genius which has been evident from ancient Rome through the Renaissance and into the present.
Italians in America. In your opinion, what have Italians brought to the US in economic, political and cultural fields?
Throughout their experience in America Italians and their descendants have brought an incredible work ethic that has translated into impressive accomplishments in every realm of human endeavor. Economically Italian Americans have been responsible for literally building much of our country from our cities to our railroads and our agriculture. Some of our most important corporations such as Bank of America have Italian American origins. Politically Italians from the time of the Revolutionary war like Filippo Mazzei have been contributing to the fabric of the nation. Some of our greatest mayors from LaGuardia to Giuliani have been of Italian descent as have famed governors like Mario Cuomo Speaking of the Italian cultural contributions, we simply can’t be beat as an ethnic group. We’ve inspired Americans as to how to eat, drink and dress. We’ve provided them with fabulous musicians, artists and entertainers. In short, we’ve provided America with all the elements of “la dolce vita” thereby making it a much better and happier nation.
Which are NIAF’s aims and projects for the future?
NIAF aims to continue protecting, preserving and promoting the Italian heritage while simultaneously working to achieve a greater understanding and appreciation of the important rapport between Italy and America. We just sponsored a position paper that was presented by the likes of the 70th U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the recent Ambrosetti conference on the “Strategic importance of the Italy-US Relationship” The position paper demonstrated that Italy deserves to be counted among America’s most important, steadfast and capable allies. Not only is the country a cultural and lifestyle superpower that uses its soft power to advance a common Italo American agenda, but it is also a country with the considerable hard power assets of a formidable military and a first-rate defense industry that have consistently served to strengthen the interests of the West. In every possible way, we at NIAF will continue to point out the many great benefits of a close partnership between the US and Italy. Such a partnership is truly a win-win scenario for both countries.
INTERVIEW TO JOSEPH V. DEL RASO, ESQ., CHAIRMAN EMERITUS OF NIAF AND THE WASHINGTON, DC GALA CHAIRMAN
What are the aims of NIAF Washington Gala?
For almost half a century the NIAF Gala has served as the most important and prestigious annual gathering of Italians, Italian Americans and Italophiles. It is an opportunity to demonstrate our shared love for Italy and the United States and to draw the two countries closer together. Traditionally high representatives of both the American and Italian governments are in attendance as well as leading figures in business, entertainment and academia. Each year we recognize several outstanding honorees who have excelled in their respective fields. This year we are honoring The 70th U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo in recognition of his service to our country; Congressman serving the 9th Congressional District of New Jersey and Co-Chair and Dean of the Italian American Congressional Delegation Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr.; Chef & Emmy award winning television personality Giada De Laurentiis known for her Emmy award-winning series Everyday Italian on the Food Network; Visionary automotive designer, strategist, innovator and disruptor Jason Castriota; A trailblazer in the pharmaceutical industry Chief Operating Officer for the International division of Walgreens Boots Alliance Ornella Barra; and Paolo Scaroni Deputy Chairman Rothschild & Co, Chairman of Giuliani S.p.A and Chairman of AC Milan – a premier Italian football team and championship winner of the 2022 Serie A. Every year the NIAF Gala also celebrates and honors a different region of Italy.
What does it represent for the Italian American community?
The Washington Gala represents a celebration of our Italian heritage as well as the celebration of our success as Americans. Seven U.S. Presidents have attended NIAF Galas to pay tribute to the Italian American community and its many achievements as have several Prime Ministers of Italy. Most importantly, the Gala serves as a tangible manifestation of how NIAF continues to serve the voice of people of Italian descent in this country in the very heart of our nation’s capital.
You have held the most important roles in the organization. What have you received from this experience?
I am actually a second-generation supporter of NIAF. My parents were among the foundation’s founders. In the five decades I’ve been involved in the foundation it has been my privilege to hold many roles including President, Chairman and now Chairman Emeritus. Throughout all those years and all those roles, one thing that has never changed is the satisfaction I have received from my involvement in NIAF. It is a satisfaction that comes from the knowledge that I am not only protecting, preserving and promoting the illustrious culture of my forefathers but I am also building on that foundation to create a relationship with contemporary Italy. We honor our heritage, but we don’t look backward. We look “sempre avanti” (always forward) into a future where Italy and the U.S. grow closer as two of the primary pillars of Western civilization.
As an American, what is your point of view on Italy?
I have a profound love for Italy and all that it has given the world including this country. Many of the precepts of our American democracy can be traced back to Italians such as Gaetano Filangieri and the Italians have not stopped contributing to the fabric of America ever since. Italy is rightfully known all over the world for food, fashion, furniture and Ferraris but it produces and contributes so much more. I have always looked to be able to help Italy be better understood as a great country with many unknown excellencies. This is one of my goals in working with NIAF-to see Italy receive the credit it deserves. It is remarkable to think how this small country with a fraction of the world’s population has produced more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than any country in the world and has produced a culture that US News and World Report just ranked the most influential in the world. Thankfully, Italy and the United States are great friends and allies and NIAF is happy to serve as the glue that binds that friendship ever closer together.
INTERVIEW TO MR. ROBERT ALLEGRINI, NIAF PRESIDENT
What is your link with Italy and how would you like to develop the one between NIAF and Italy?
I have had the pleasure of growing up in an Italian American family and visiting Italy regularly since the age of 5 years old. During my college years I spent a summer at the University for Foreigners in Perugia and then won a graduate fellowship to study Foreign Affairs for a year at the University of Florence. I acquired Italian dual citizenship more than 20 years ago and have been involved in Italian American affairs through numerous organizations since the mid-1980s. I desire to use NIAF grants and programs to make Italian Americans more aware of the full richness of their culture and thereby draw them closer to Italy. As an ethnic group we need to do a better job of letting our youth know that there is more to their Italian American identity than food and faith which are the two elements of the culture that are best known. I want Italian Americans to be aware of the history of Italy, and of all that the country has given the world. This is why I am a big believer in NIAF’s Voyage of Discovery program which brings college students who have never been to Italy before on an all-expense paid two week trip to the country to visit the land of their ancestors and to learn their true heritage as opposed to the fictionalized one foisted upon Italian Americans by Hollywood and the popular media.
What is, in your opinion, the strength of American and Italian cultures? What are the consequences of the encounter between the two?
The strength of the Italian culture is great. So great in fact that U.S. News and World Report just ranked it as THE most influential culture in the world. Civilized people all over the world want to live as Italians do with a great appreciation for beauty in all forms and with a passion and humanity that is often absent from our Anglo Saxon dominated culture here in America. However, there are many elements of the American culture that the Italians would also do well to adopt. For example, the Italians would benefit from a greater civic sense and from more American style patriotism. I am a strong believer that America needs more Italy and Italy needs more America. The fact that Italian Americans embody the best elements of both cultures makes us truly exceptional and gifted people.
You have held important positions in the tourism sector. How strong is people desire to visit Italy and explore the land and culture of their ancestors?
Generally speaking, Americans love Italy and that love is understandable given all that the country offers including more UNESCO world heritage sites than any other country in the world. But that love could grow deeper if Italians did some things different. The service mentality has much to be improved upon in Italy. There is also far too much tolerance for blights like graffiti and trash which mar the incredible beauty of Italian cities and shock many American visitors. How important is the Made in Italy for the American culture? The Made in Italy brand has had great success in America and this should be a great point of pride for both Italians and Italian Americans. Italian food has now overtaken French food in popularity, Italian fashion has overtaken French fashion in popularity and Italian style and design have become synonymous with desirability. But Americans still need to learn that Made in Italy is not only food, fashion, furniture and Ferraris it is also things like robotics, aerospace, pharmaceuticals and life sciences. Italy has always been a font of creativity and innovation and it continues to be today in both expected and unexpected ways.
INTERVIEW WITH PAOLO CATALFAMO, NIAF ITALIA PRESIDENT AND MEMBER OF THE NIAF BOARD OF DIRECTORS
What is NIAF for you?
For me, NIAF is a group of friends who have in common an incredible love for Italy. They are Americans by third, fourth, fifth generation, they often have reached great success in their job and public life but they have never forgotten their roots. It is a wonderful organization of people that continuously pay tribute to their grandparents and grand grandparents, who have faced many risks and difficulties to grant their children and grandchildren a better life. Being part of NIAF makes me feel proud to be Italian and to share the stories of those remarkable Italians of America.
NIAF is also a powerful organization of lobbies. Which effects does it have on American politics?
It is true that NIAF is an important and respected organization in Washington, and it carries out a politic role, but it’s rigidly nonparty. Representatives of both the Democratic and the Republican parties are members of the Foundation, but inside NIAF they are all involved in the protection and support of the interests and the exposure of the Italian community in the United States, regardless their political orientation.
Which are the advantages of the work done by NIAF for Italy?
NIAF has always carried out an important work of connection between the Italian and the American institutions. In the recent years, this role has furtherly been boosted together with the Italian embassy in the United States as well as with the American embassy in Italy. We should not forget that many members of the Congress Gala and several representatives of the American Administration are affiliates of NIAF, and this is a great mean of communication for the Italian institutions.
We have talked about the advantages for the Italian institutions, but how could the Italian firms benefit from the affiliation to NIAF?
For many Italian firms the American marketplace is one of the most important if not the most important at all. There are over 20 million of Italian Americans in the United States. It is understandable that no Italian firm should neglect the huge potential this community with such a strong emotional and affective bond to Italy represents. As the main representative of this great group, NIAF could definitely facilitate the connections between the Italian and the American firms and provide an important guideline to understand the American marketplace in general.
For which reason NIAF Italy has been created?
Precisely to strengthen the cooperation with NIAF and the Italian American community and to be an aggregation point for all the Italian firms with businesses in the United States.
What is the relationship between NIAF and NIAF Italy?
The relationship is very close. I am not only NIAF Italy President, but I have also been part of NIAF Board of Directors in the US for many years. To furtherly strengthen this cooperation, important members of NIAF Board of Directors joined NIAF Italy Board of Directors as well. Being a member of NIAF Italy means being part of the NIAF family by all intents and purposes.
INTERVIEW WITH ANDREA DELFINI, VICE PRESIDENT NIAF ITALIA AND MEMBER OF THE NIAF BOARD OF DIRECTORS
As an Italian, how did your relationship with NIAF begin?
It occurred a decade or so ago when my dear friend Professor Paolo Catalfamo introduced me to NIAF. I was both very impressed and interested, and also had the chance and the good fortune to attend the Anniversary Gala in Washington D.C.. I found that experience unique and unforgettable: over those days I felt an intense pride in being Italian, in a way that perhaps I had never previously experienced. It was a pride that stems from the importance that this community gives to the values of our culture, which are so normal for us, and we take so much for granted that we don’t see the importance and power they have any more. These are simple values, such as the family, whether seen as kinship and a union of various generations, or as a community of friends who get together and share the humanity that is typical of our origins.
As well as this strong pride I have discovered a community of American citizens, one that is very united and that has a very strong affectionate bond with the country of their forefathers, and with their origins. It is a link that is strong and alive, which they are trying to pass on from father to son, and which is all the more fascinating when it comes out in people who no longer speak our language, and have been American for several generations, and who have become successful in their country, but who, in some way, perhaps “would like” to be Italian.
Something that comes out very clearly is the wish to preserve not just the memory of people’s origins, but also the culture and values that emigrants have taken with them, and which are amongst the things which have contributed to their success, and that of their descendants in the United States of America. And that special link to our country has immediately turned into affection and sympathy in relation to those who, as “real” or “authentic” Italians, find themselves inside this family, something that has happened to me.
And now, beginning in 2022 you have joined the Board of Directors of NIAF USA. What does that mean to you?
I have to be honest and say that this very important role, which was completely unexpected and not something I had been looking for, is the crowning of a dream, the completion of something so big that it wasn’t even one of my goals. Serving the Board of Directors at NIAF is a source of pride and great gratification, and also motivation to endeavour to do still more to contributing to the spread of awareness of NIAF, of its values and projects, especially in Italy, as well as supporting initiatives and events in the US. Regardless of the importance of this role at a formal and institutional level in the US, and also regardless of the role as Vice-President of NIAF Italia that I have held for over seven years, in reality I feel part of the NIAF family, to which I have always tried to bring my own contribution.
What is the relationship between NERO Lifestyle and NIAF?
This is the tenth year that we have sponsored, with great satisfaction and success, the NIAF events, especially the Anniversary Gala held in Washington D.C. and the New York Gala in springtime. This is in addition to the events organized with the Italian American community, at for example Il Circolo in Palm Beach. As a sponsor we promote the NERO Lifestyle Hotels collection, and as publishers, especially with the production of the special edition of our magazine, we spread awareness of NIAF and its values through all of our readers in Italy and in other countries.
How has your relationship with NIAF changed your own relationships with the US? Do you have development plans in the US?
I now feel and see the United States as a country that is very close to Italy, a country in which a large community of friends of Italy and Italians live, a family that a lot of Italians still don’t realize they have overseas. When I go to the US, whether for business or pleasure, I feel at home, and I know that I have a lot of friends. With the Blastness Group that I founded in 2004 and which is now the leading firm in Italy in providing technological platforms for the hotel sector, we started an internationalization project with the aim of becoming a global player. Of course one of the first countries in which we will open an international office, is the United States, not only because of the opportunities that we have researched in the market, but also because it is the homeland of our main technological and strategic partners, Microsoft and Google, as well as being a country in which companies are more used to accepting solutions which - like our own - are based on big data and artificial intelligence
