I’ll start with the last few lines of a poem written by Giuseppe Ungaretti at Campo di Mailly in May 1918, during the First World War:


To enjoy

but a minute of life's

first life

I look for an innocent

country


In these few words the great 

twentieth-century Italian poet conveys 

all the anxiety of finding no country 

untouched by the destruction and 

suffering of the war. Unfortunately, 

not much has changed. We wanted 

nothing else but to begin this editor’s 

note with a simple “happy holiday” 

but couldn’t bring ourselves to do it. Instead we suggest taking a moment 

to reflect before the celebrations. 

From New York to Paris 

and the World 

We hope that the celebratory 

atmosphere, especially among families 

and regardless of ethnicity or religious 

affiliation, does not make us forget 

what humanity is going through in 

this historic moment. Many will not be 

able to celebrate, and post-9/11 New 

York continues to nurse a wound that 

no Freedom Tower can heal.

On the Cover 
As you can see from the cover, this issue celebrates creativity on the streets of Harlem, spotlighting three 

Italian artists’ contributions to the 

wonderful Audubon Project. And, as 

we do for every end-of-year issue,

we’ve also nominated a “Person of 

the Year.” Two people, actually, two 

women from Puglia, two rivals on the 

court and friends in real life—tennis 

players Flavia Pennetta and Roberta  Vinci, stars of the all-Italian US  Open women’s final. In our opinion, as people around the world tuned in to watch them play, the fact that these two female competitors were  also (and remain) friends bore an  important message. You’ll recall their spontaneous embrace, which may have trumped their sense of national pride at having “conquered America.”