Articles by: Marina Melchionda

Who killed Joe Petrosino? What were the circumstances of his murder? For a century or so these questions were left with no answers. All the documents concerning the investigations on the homicide had been kept secret in the State Archives. Today they were revealed thanks to the efforts of the Province of Palermo and if justice can not be done anymore, at least a due homage can be offered to the Italian-American policeman who was gunned down in Palermo in 1909 while investigating the connections between the Italian and the Italian-American Mafia and Public Institutions.
 

Just this summer an exhibit featuring unpublished documents, reports and testimonials was held in Palermo during the whole month of August. It received huge attention by the local population and the media. On the occasion of the Italian Cultural and Heritage Month, it was brought here and will be hosted at the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute throughout the middle of November. 
 

The exhibit documents Petrosino’s visit to Palermo and the complex investigations following his homicide. It opens with a series of documents describing the moment in which his body was found and continues with a collection of evidence, as it was assembled by the Italian Carabinieri and Police, that fully describes his journey from New York to Palermo.

The display goes on to show documents concerning his funeral and the transportation of his body from Palermo to New York. Finally, the consistent correspondence between the NY Police Authorities and the local police in Palermo informs us about how the complex unsuccessful investigation, which was archived shortly after, evolved.
 

The exhibit “Joe Petrosino, a 20th Century Hero - A documented account of his assassination in Palermo” was inaugurated on October 16 at the Calandra, together with the presentation of the book “Documenta Joe Petrosino” by Anna Maria Corradini, 800 copies of which will be available for free for the visitors to the exhibit.

The event was one of great success, and received great public attention. The Dean of the Calandra Institute Prof. Anthony J. Tamburri introduced the distinguished guests who were present and who followed each other onto the podium to give their speeches and greetings.
 

Consul General Francesco Maria Talò talked about Petrosino as of a hero of our century. “It is important to understand the figure of Petrosino and realize how he was perceived at that time. When he was still alive, he was already a hero for his people. He started his career in the Sanitation Department and became lieutenant in a very short time. This is also a demonstration that the NYPD, which was led by the President of the United States to be Theodore Roosevelt, was working well and gave the right responsibilities to the people who deserved them. Shame on Italy and Sicily for what happened to him”.
 

The Province of Palermo was represented by its President Giovanni Avanti and a good number of the members of the City Council. By defining Petrosino the “first martyr of the Mafia”, Hon. Avanti explained to us that the idea for the exhibition was first conceived during the Columbus Celebrations of 2008 in New York.  “When we got back to Palermo we realized that in Italy very few people knew about this person who was very important for the relationship between the United States and Italy. He came to our country to die, so we felt we had to do something to praise his efforts to defeat the Mafia. That’s when we started collecting all the documents from the Regional Public Library and the National Archives in Palermo. Nobody had done it before and we decided to organize them in this important display.”
 

Petrosino was not only the first of a long number of Public representatives to be killed by the Mafia, but most of all he was an Italian, who like many other Italians and even more, contributed to the growth of American society, as Mr. Avanti continued. “He represents in the eyes of Americans the people of Italy, which is one, unique, and unified. And that’s why the Province of Palermo has found strong support in the city of Padula, his birth town, for the organization of this exhibit”.
 

The mayor of Padula, Giovanni Allegria, was also there : “I am here to pay homage not only to Petrosino, but also to the Province of Palermo that is doing so much to keep his memory alive. This book and the exhibit displayed here are only two examples of a major effort that has been carried on in the last period that aims to spread the principles and values of legality well outside the mere borders of Sicily.”
 

After the official remarks delivered by the Chief of the New York Police Department George Grasso and the director of the Central Library of the Sicilian Region Gaetano Gullo, “the institution called to preserve and spread the culture of the region”, Joe Petrosino’s great-nephew Nino Melito gave his very personal speech, and told us how important the presence of such a figure in his family has been to him.  He is proud to live in Padula, where the only House / Museum in Italy dedicated to a policeman, his ancestor, is located. He personally collaborates with the museum, and openly invited all of us to visit it. He usually accompanies the tourists through the rooms of the house, telling the story of his family to all those interested.
 

The conference was also enriched by the speeches of two eminent representatives of the Italian-American academic world, the Vice-President of Saint John’s University Prof. Cav. Joseph Sciame and Professor Fred Gardaphe.

Himself a Sicilian, Cav. Sciame insisted on the role Petrosino should have to unite Italian and American people. Saint John’s University, as he told us, is strongly committed to the preservation of the memory of Petrosino and to the teaching of the basic principles of law to its students. As the President of the Italian Heritage and Cultural Committee, Cav. Sciame also showed us the poster portraying Petrosino that has been widely diffused throughout the city of New York in all those venues in which  Italian culture is studied and promoted at different levels, and in all the centers directly committed to the promotion of legality.
 

Prof. Fred Gardaphe, finally, gave us a retrospective on the representation of the Italian Mafiosi in the history of Italian-American cinema. He reconstructed the historical and social circumstances in which the stereotype of the Italian man as “gangster” was first created, and the way it has evolved in decades of Hollywood cinema. He finally wondered what direction this path will take: “Will Italian American culture develop to the point where Mafia men will be buried for good?  Up until this point, Italian America has often been defined by the  mafia, but in the face of contrary evidence, what we do in response to the myth of Mafia men will define us and determine the future of our community and identity as Italian Americans.  If we seriously invest in education and the arts this could be the end of Mafia men, and the beginning of a renaissance of Italian American culture.”, he concluded.
 

The conference at that point was about to be end. But there was a final surprise, a moment of great joy for the small town of Marineo (Sicily), represented on this occasion by its former mayor Ciro Spataro. Cosimo Sanicola, who emigrated from Marineo at the age of 13 when his father died and settled in New York, was given by the Consul General Francesco Maria Talò the title of Knight of the “Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana”.

A short time after his arrival in the US, Cosimo bought and ran a bakery, and quickly became a very successful business man. But he never forgot his hometown and he financed with great generosity the reconstruction and modernization of some of its landmarks, such as the Church of Saint Anna. Besides assisting the poorest families of Marineo, this year he also financed the “Dimostranza”, the four-yearly festival organized by the town in honor of its patron Saint Ciro. With a very touching speech in which he expressed all his gratitude towards the President of the Italian Republic represented by Consul Talò and his hometown, Cosimo ended the conference allowing all of us to take a tour in the exhibition gallery.

While enjoying a full and satisfying Italian banquet, we had a chance to take a look at the incredible number of  documents displayed and, of course, to grab a copy of Anna Maria Corridini’s book “Documenta Joe Petrosino”.

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 From Gruppo Abele to Libera, from CNCA (Coordinamento Nazionale Comunità di Accoglienza - National Network of Welcoming Centers) to LILA (Lega italiana per la lotta contro l'Aids-Italian League for the Fight Against HIV) your movement has become a vehicle for civil and social mobilization. Why put so much at stake, both as a man and as a priest?

I want to clarify that the movement is not “mine,” but that it belongs to all those who have and continue to contribute their ideas, energy, and passion. Only “we” counts in social causes, not “I.” Secondly, these efforts began in northern Italy, in Turin where Gruppo Abele took its first steps in 1965. It spread on a national level as a result and that which “we” had always believed in came to fruition: “we” as in collaboration, the relationship between public and private, between institutions and citizens. It started in the early 1980s with CNCA (an association of communities committed to helping drug addicts), then with LILA when it came to time to address to the AIDS epidemic, and with Libera in the mid-1990s.

Why get involved? Because it’s the very same freedom that allows us to ask why. One cannot be free by oneself: one is free along with others in a collective effort and involves many people who are still denied freedom and dignity. Certain places and people in my life have obviously played a decisive role in this choice. I was lucky enough to have parents who loved each other very much and who loved me and my sisters very much, friends with whom I shared many life experiences, joys, and difficult times and with whom I learned to listen and appreciate the value of relationships. Of course faith has been fundamental in my life, a precious gift from meeting people like the cardinal of Turin, Michele Pellegrino.

When I was ordained a priest in 1972, Pellegrino, who simply called himself

“Father,” assigned “the road” to me as my parish with a warning: go on the road to learn, not to teach. The road, with its faces and its stories, its struggles and its vulnerabilities, its needs and hopes has remained my point of reference, a compass of faith that seeks to unite the heavens and the earth, to recognize the figure of Jesus in the many faces of human frailty.

If you could quote a biblical passage that explains the “why” of your work, what would it be?

I am a priest; my life is Christ, the gospel, the proclamation of his word. To seek God is to meet people. At the same time, my experiences allow me to say that you can seek man to find God. I speak of “seeking God” because you cannot obtain it automatically. God, for me, is the goal, the objective that puts me to the test everyday; it is research into the concrete articulation of life, in earthly choices.

I’m fearful of anyone who has understood everything and knows everything, who takes everything for granted. In this sense, the episode recounted in chapter 22 in the gospel according to Matthew remains crucial for me. Some people come to Jesus asking whether it is permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not. They don’t go to meet with him, to talk to him; they want to pose a trick question. We know how the meeting goes. Jesus does not allow himself to be made fun of, he recognizes their wickedness, he makes them give him the money, and he asks the image and the inscription to go back to its rightful owner. But if the saying is clear, “Render onto Caesar that what is Caesar’s” what does “Render onto God what is God’s” mean? What is the image of God? Man is created – as we read in Genesis – in his image and likeness. And so it is our duty to give the money back to Caesar, but it is also our duty to give man, God’s creation, back to God.

Here’s the catch: we cannot return half-people or desperate people to God, or people who are used up, enslaved by poverty, loneliness, marginalization.... We must bring back whole persons who are free. This is the great challenge that I feel as a Christian: to bring about the right conditions so that all are free. And I’m not thinking solely of people who are rejected, exploited, crushed, those who are poor inside. In our society there are forms of immaterial poverty that are undermining the social body from the inside: indifference, resignation, the race for power, success, and money. The poor are also those who have lost a sense of life though they are able to live comfortably on this earth.

Can you talk about an incident that struck you as concrete proof of the practical effectiveness of your work that has encouraged so many... and the sort of obstacles you have encountered?

I don’t like to talk about “my” work. At the risk of repeating myself, I reiterate that only by working together can we ensure that people may live in freedome and with dignity. There are certainly many obstacles. Any change takes effort, and it also brings with it resistance, prejudice, and selfishness. Perhaps the most direct and explicit barriers, such as those posed by organized crime, is the corruption and intimidation they use to let us know that our commitment to confiscated assests is a nuisance. A great judge who coordinated the team for Falcone and Borsellino, Nino Caponnetto, once said that “the mafia fears the school of justice most of all; education cuts the grass from under the feet of the mafia culture.”

Libera is active in schools all over Italy, promoting education and training young people. Its mission is also to administer those assests that once belonged to mafia gangs, and it manages the cooperatives brought together under the consortium “Libera Terra.” It offers real jobs and life opportunities to many young people, and in this way it demonstrates that change is possible and eradicates the resignation and fatalism on which the mafia bases its power. 

At the end of the film “I Cento Passi,” Peppino Impastato’s best friend says: “We Sicilians want the mafia because we are the mafia.” Thirty years after this young man’s death, do you believe that this phrase still reflects the mentality of the average Sicilian citizen?  

In Sicily, as in other parts of the South, there are situations and opportunities that were unimaginable up until 15 to 20 years ago. There are many who like Peppino Impastato spread hope and found other people willing to get together and continue on his path. But it is a serious mistake to associate the mafia only with Sicily.

Certainly there are more marks of mafia oppression on our land than on others, but criminal organizations no longer operate on a local or national level but rather on an international level, one that is closely linked to the dynamics of economic and financial globalization and the expansion and deregulation of the markets. Libera was born out of our experience with FLARE (Freedom, Legality, and Rights in Europe), a network of associations that currently has a membership of more than thirty countries. 

On May 9, 1993 in Siracusa John Paul II was the first pope to speak out against the mafia, calling it a “civilization of death.” Do you think this helped to awaken the public’s awareness of this issue?
 
The Pope’s condemnation remains a remarkable page in history that has certainly shaken the public’s conscience and marked a turning point within the Church, bringing to light some excessively cautious policies. It was a turning point foreshadowed by the document prepared for the Italian Bishops’ Conference in 1991 on Educating Lawfulness. “A Christian,” reads the document, “cannot be content to state the ideal and to affirm general principles. He must enter into history and deal with it in its complexity, promoting the gospel and human values of freedom and justice.”

Unfortunately, the mafia’s retaliation came quickly: the murderers of Father Puglisi first and then Don Giuseppe Diana, in Palermo and at Casa di Principe, soon followed John Paul II’s condemnation, one that arose from a breach of protocol. The Pope “surrendered” to the cry for justice after meeting the parents of Rosario Livatino, the judge killed by the Cosa Nostra in 1990 at only 38 years of age. Livatino was a believer who lived his faith in a radical way, combining the spiritual dimension with a commitment to social justice. These beautiful words were found in his notebook: “It would not have been asked if we had been faithful believers.”

You have written books dedicated to various social and civil issues, from drugs and prostitution to the mafia. You are still a journalist and columnist for several newspapers, including the monthly “Narcomafie” which you founded. Going beyond print media and facing the growing phenomenon of digital information, are you using the web and the tools it offers (such as social networks) to expand the promotion of your initiatives?  

As with print media, even the ‘net is an excellent method that is recognized for its potential as well as its limitations. We should, however, look between the lines at the large numbers: quantity does not always mean quality, and as such, accessibility can be synonymous with superficiality.

The quality of content remains a key point. We must learn to use technology not be used by it. For this reason, technological progress must be focused on the cultural and ethical growth of mankind, to help us to become a stronger community in terms of proximity and justice, to compel us to better understand situations so that we can improve them. If such awareness is lacking, there is the risk that navigation in the virtual world becomes an escape and an opportunity has been lost.

I still firmly believe in this new frontier, and as with Gruppo Abele and Libera we feel the importance of having a presence there with a three-fold mission. The first: to help a user who is familiar with technology to ward off the illusion that telecommunication can replace face-to-face contact. The second: to promote and practice a culture that involves the discipline of research and depth. The third: to broaden interest in and passion for causes that are currently ignored, obscured, or understood superficially through trivializing stereotypes.

Dal “Gruppo Abele” a “Libera”, dal CNCA alla LILA, il suo è diventato un vero e proprio movimento di mobilitazione civile e sociale che dal Sud oggi abbraccia tutta l’Italia. Perché mettersi così tanto in gioco, come uomo e come sacerdote?

Voglio precisare che il movimento non è “mio”, ma di tutti quelli che ci hanno messo e continuano a metterci idee, energie, passione. Nell’impegno sociale è il “noi”, non l’ “io”, a contare. In secondo luogo queste realtà sono nate nel nord Italia, a Torino, la città dove il Gruppo Abele nel 1965 ha cominciato a muovere i suoi primi passi. La diffusione nazionale è però venuta di conseguenza, frutto di proprio di quel “noi” in cui il Gruppo ha sempre creduto: “noi” come collaborazione, come relazione tra pubblico e privato, tra istituzioni e cittadini. E’ avvenuto all’inizio degli anni 80 col Cnca (Coordinamento delle comunità di accoglienza impegnate per le persone tossicodipendenti), poi con la Lila quando si trattò di dare risposte alla tragedia dell’Aids e poi con Libera a metà degli anni 90. Perché mettersi in gioco? Perché è la nostra stessa libertà a chiedercelo. Non si può essere liberi da soli: si è liberi insieme agli altri, in uno sforzo collettivo e rivolto ai tanti a cui la libertà e la dignità è ancora negata. In questa scelta una parte determinante la giocano ovviamente i luoghi e le persone con cui sei vissuto. Io ho avuto la fortuna di avere genitori che si sono amati e hanno molto amato me e le mie sorelle; amici con cui ho condiviso tante esperienze, gioie e momenti difficili, con i quali ho discusso e dai quali ho imparato l’ascolto e il valore della relazione.

Poi certo nel mio percorso è stata fondamentale la fede, un dono impreziosito dall’incontro con persone come il cardinale di Torino, Michele Pellegrino. Quando mi ordinò sacerdote, nel 1972, Pellegrino, che si faceva chiamare semplicemente “Padre”, mi assegnò come parrocchia la strada con un avvertimento: andrai sulla strada ad imparare, non a insegnare. La strada, i suoi volti e le sue storie, le fatiche e le sue fragilità, i suoi bisogni e le sue speranze, è rimasta il mio riferimento, bussola di una fede che cerca di saldare il cielo e la terra, di riconoscere la figura di Gesù nei tanti volti della fragilità umana.    

 
Se dovesse citare un riferimento biblico che spieghi il “perché” di quanto sta facendo quale sarebbe?
Sono un sacerdote: la mia vita è Cristo, il Vangelo, l’annuncio della Sua Parola. È cercare Dio per incontrare le persone. Allo stesso tempo, le esperienze vissute mi permettono di dire che è possibile cercare l’uomo per incontrare Dio. Parlo di “cercare Dio” perché non Lo si possiede in modo automatico. Dio, per me, è meta, obiettivo, è mettermi in gioco tutti i giorni, è ricerca nell’articolarsi concreto della vita, nelle scelte terrene. Ho paura di chi ha capito tutto e sa tutto, dà tutto per scontato. In questo senso l’episodio narrato nel capitolo 22 del Vangelo secondo Matteo resta per me fondamentale. Alcune persone si recano da Gesù chiedendogli se sia lecito pagare il tributo a Cesare oppure no. Non vanno da Lui per incontrarlo, vogliono coglierlo in fallo. Sappiamo come prosegue l’incontro: Gesù non si fa prendere in giro, conosce la loro malizia, si fa dare la moneta e domanda di risalire dall’immagine e dall’iscrizione al suo legittimo proprietario. Ma se è chiaro il dire  “date a Cesare quel che è di Cesare” cosa significa “date a Dio quel che è di Dio”? Qual è l’immagine di Dio? È l’uomo, creato – come si legge nella Genesi – a Sua immagine e somiglianza. E allora è un dovere restituire a Cesare la moneta, ma lo è anche restituire a Dio l’uomo, la sua creatura. Ecco il punto: non possiamo restituire a Dio delle mezze persone, ossia persone disperate, usate, rese schiave dalla povertà, dalla solitudine, dall’emarginazione… Dobbiamo restituirGli persone intere, libere. È questa la grande provocazione che sento come cristiano: creare le condizioni perché tutti siano liberi. E non penso solo alle persone respinte, sfruttate, schiacciate, a chi è povero dentro. Nella nostra società esistono forme di povertà immateriale che stanno minando il corpo sociale dall’interno: l’indifferenza, la rassegnazione, la corsa al potere, al successo, al denaro. Povero è anche chi ha smarrito il senso del vivere pur disponendo di tutti i mezzi materiali per vivere comodamente su questa terra. 

Ci parli anche di un episodio che l’ha colpita, una dimostrazione 
concreta dell’efficacia del suo operato che l’ha incoraggiata… E di ostacoli ne ha incontrati? E di quale tipo?
Non mi piace parlare di “mio” operato. A costo di ripetermi, ribadisco che solo insieme possiamo far sì che la vita delle persone sia più libera e dignitosa. Ostacoli certo non ne mancano. Ogni cambiamento porta fatiche ma anche resistenze, pregiudizi, egoismi. E magari ostacoli più diretti ed espliciti, come quelli posti dalle organizzazioni criminali, le intimidazioni e i danneggiamenti con cui ci avvertono che il nostro impegno sui beni confiscati dà fastidio. Un grande magistrato che coordinò il pool di Falcone e Borsellino, Nino Caponnetto, disse un giorno che “la mafia teme più la scuola della giustizia, l’istruzione taglia l’erba sotto i piedi della cultura mafiosa”. Libera è attiva nelle scuole di tutta Italia, promuove percorsi educativi e formativi, anima strumenti d’informazione, ma anche l’impegno in quei beni appartenuti alle cosche mafiose, le cooperative riunite  nel consorzio “libera Terra”, è cultura: offre lavoro vero e opportunità di vita a tanti giovani e così dimostra che un cambiamento è possibile, sradica la rassegnazione e il fatalismo su cui le mafie fondano il loro potere.
 Alla fine del film “I Cento Passi”,  il migliore amico di Peppino 
Impastato dice: “noi Siciliani la mafia la vogliamo, perché la mafia siamo noi”. A distanza di 30 anni dalla morte del giovane, crede che questa frase rispecchi ancora la mentalità del comune cittadino siciliano?
In Sicilia come in altre zone del Sud, ci sono realtà ed esperienze impensabili fino a 15-20 anni fa. Esperienze nate anche da chi, come Peppino Impastato, ha seminato speranza e trovato persone pronte a raccogliere e proseguire il suo cammino. Ma è un grave errore associare le mafie alla sola Sicilia. Certo ci sono nel nostro paese terre segnate più delle altre dall’oppressione mafiosa, ma le organizzazioni criminali non sono più un fatto né locale né nazionale ma internazionale, strettamente connesso alle dinamiche della globalizzazione economica e finanziaria, all’espansione e deregolamentazione dei mercati. Anche per questo da Libera è nata l’esperienza di Flare (Freedom, legality and rights in Eurpe), una rete di associazioni che attualmente conta l’adesione di realtà di trenta paesi diversi.
 
Il 9 maggio 1993, a Siracusa, Giovanni Paolo II è stato il primo Papa a denunciare apertamente la mafia, definendola “civiltà della morte”. Crede che abbia contribuito a risvegliare la coscienza popolare sulla questione? 
La denuncia del Papa resta una pagina memorabile che ha certamente scosso le coscienze e segnato un punto di svolta anche all’interno della Chiesa, sgombrando il campo da qualche precedente eccesso di prudenza. Una svolta che era stata preparata dal documento della Conferenza episcopale italiana Educare alla legalità del 1991. «Il cristiano» recita il documento «non può accontentarsi di enunciare l’ideale e di affermare i principi generali. Deve entrare nella storia e affrontarla nella sua complessità, promuovendo tutte le realizzazioni possibili dei valori evangelici e umani della libertà e della giustizia». Purtroppo la risposta delle mafie non sarebbe tardata: gli assassini di Padre Puglisi prima e di don Giuseppe Diana poi, a Palermo e a Casal di Principe, avvengono a ridosso della denuncia di Giovanni Paolo II, una denuncia che nacque da una rottura del “protocollo”. Il Papa si “arrese” a quel grido di giustizia dopo aver incontrato i genitori di Rosario Livatino, giudice ucciso da Cosa Nostra nel 1990, a soli 38 anni. Livatino era un credente che viveva la fede in modo radicale, coniugando la dimensione spirituale all’impegno civile per la giustizia. In suo quaderno furono ritrovate queste bellissime parole: «Non ci sarà chiesto se siamo stati credenti ma credibili». 

Lei ha scritto libri dedicati alle più varie problematiche sociali e  civili, dalla droga alla prostituzione, alla mafia. Ancora oggi è 
giornalista ed editorialista per diversi giornali, tra cui il mensile  “Narcomafie”, fondato da lei stesso. Al di là della carta stampata e di  fronte al crescere del fenomeno della digitalizzazione dell’informazione, che utilizzo fa e/o intende fare del web e degli strumenti che offre (ad esempio i social network) per ampliare promuovere le sue iniziative?
Come la carta stampata, anche la rete è un mezzo formidabile che va conosciuto nelle sue potenzialità ma anche nei suoi limiti. I grandi numeri vanno letti in controluce: non sempre quantità significa qualità, così come accessibilità può essere sinonimo di superficialità. La qualità dei contenuti resta un punto fondamentale.

Dobbiamo saper usare la tecnologia, non farci usare da lei. Per questo il progresso tecnologico deve essere finalizzato alla crescita culturale e etica dell’uomo, aiutarci a essere comunità nel segno della prossimità e della giustizia, spingerci a capire meglio la realtà per migliorarla. Se manca questa consapevolezza c’è il rischio che la navigazione nel “virtuale” diventi una fuga, un’occasione persa.

Credo tuttavia molto nell’importanza di questa nuova “frontiera”, e come Gruppo Abele e Libera sentiamo l’importanza di esserci con un impegno a tre livelli. Il primo: accompagnare a un uso consapevole delle tecnologie, scongiurare l’illusione che la telecomunicazione possa sostituire la relazione faccia a faccia, la fatica del confronto e del reciproco riconoscersi. Il secondo: promuovere e praticare una cultura che implichi la disciplina della ricerca e della profondità. Il terzo: allargare il campo degli interessi e delle passioni, parlando di pezzi di realtà ignoti o oscurati o conosciuti solo attraverso stereotipi banalizzanti. 

 The outstanding quality of “Made in Italy” makes  it a “brand” that can easily sell itself. The most talented fashion stylists, the most popular foods, the fastest race cars, and a huge number of other excellent goods are produced and exported from Italy throughout the world.

But the government still feels that more can be done to internationally promote Italy’s exports and, more important, to fight the expansion of counterfeit products that financially damage Italian exports in the order of millions of euro.
 

On September 28 the Italian Minister of Economic Development Claudio Scajola gave a press conference at the Hearst Tower in New York City right a cocktail reception organized by the Italian Trade Commission and Hearst Magazines  to announce their joint upcoming promotional campaign dedicated to Italian fashion.

 Sitting with dozens of Italian reporters and journalists, he talked about the current status of Italian exports and foreign commerce, and announced the principal measures taken or to be adopted by the government to promote “Made in Italy” abroad, and in particular, in the United States. The General Director of the Italian Trade Commission Umberto Vattani, the Director of its North American Branch, Aniello Musella, and the Consul General Francesco Maria Talò, accompanied the Minister.
 

A good promotion of “Made in Italy” abroad, according to Minister Scajola, depends on an efficient advertising campaign that must be planned on a national level. “I have heard of promotional campaigns organized by regional or local governments that have often done nothing but damage our image abroad. In fact, sometimes when delegations are sent abroad on a smaller level than the national one, it can happen that no one fluently speaks the host’s language or they don’t have the capacity of providing accurate and correct information on what they are promoting.

Foreign entrepreneurs are often disoriented by such disorganization and do not know who they are dealing with…and why should they? The government I represent is taking measures to act against local initiatives of this kind. Personally I am going to ask our Embassies and Consulates throughout the world to somehow obstruct the organization of commercial events in their areas that are not backed by a government agency or channeled into a broader and wider national initiative”.

From words to facts: the Italian government is supporting a huge advertising campaign throughout the world, focused on “traditional” sectors, such as the food and fashion ones, but also on “new” (less popular) fields of excellence, such as technology and chemistry.” “In the current global economic crisis situation, the amount of Italian goods being exported has not significantly changed, at least when compared to the other countries’ export levels. Given their exceptional quality, in fact, our products are generally more expensive, thus targeting wealthier consumers that have not been excessively influenced by the current negative financial trend.(…) Nonetheless, Italian exports in the US have  dropped about 15% in the last semester. That’s why we have decided to spend more than 10 million euro for a huge advertising campaign in the United States, being that Americans are still our principal customers.”

Minister Scajola suggested that the government is also committed on another front which in a more indirect way can help enhance of our production, both in terms of quality and quantity - by attracting a greater amount of Foreign Direct Investments in the country. “Many do not even know that in Italy we have a government agency created specifically to fulfill this mission. The efforts made by Sviluppo Italia, indeed, are sometimes nullified by our slow and lengthy bureaucratic procedures that discourage most foreign entrepreneurs interested in the Italian market being used as they are in their home countries to a slim and fast public administration”.

In order to help and encourage foreign investors, the government is  redesigning the structure of the Italian Trade Commission, transforming it into an organization that not only is committed to the promotion of Italian products abroad, but which can also become a channel of communication between foreign and Italian entrepreneurs and private and public institutions operating in the economic field.

On the Foreign Direct Investments front, much must also be done to induce Italian companies to produce abroad and to start joint ventures with foreign partners. “The Fiat-Chrysler deal can become a good example for our entrepreneurs. Not only has this transaction allowed us to export some Fiat models in the US, the Cinquecento first of all, but it has also opened our borders to Chrysler production facilities. The former, in fact, is going to open three new manufacturing plants in our country, giving work to thousands of our citizens.”
 

Before leaving the press conference, Minister Scajola finally made his point on an issue that has been engaging the Italian governments for decades: the fight against the expansion of counterfeit products, a phenomenon that more than anything else is damaging Italy’s international commerce and interests. “My government is pushing the European Union to promote a law that enforces the protection of property rights and certificates of origin throughout the countries within the economic region. Since many of our fellow members in the Union are obstructing the enhancement of this legislation, we decided to start introducing the measure within our borders. The policy of “labeling” our products protects both the consumer and the producer: it is important to provide the consumer with the most possible correct and complete information on the product chosen, and it is equally fundamental to protect the producers from fake imitations”.
 

Given the current phenomenon of “delocalization of production”, Minister Scajola, finally stated that “Made In Italy” will be transformed into “Made By Italy” in many different fields. This will make it even easier to promote our exports and protect our national Excellencies from “savage” imitations. This, he suggested, can not prevent imitations from being made but it encourages us to defend our original products better.