There was a season in which we thought (we deluded ourselves) that we could make up for Italy’s chronic digital lag one person at a time; infecting with our enthusiasm those who looked with distrust at these “new” technologies; sharing the knowledge of those who knew with the curiosity of those who were left behind. If there is a day that recounts that season, it is May 5, 2014.
That day in Friuli Venezia Giulia the first Italian Digital Day was held, Go On FGV !, a citation of a successful formula applied a few years earlier in the United Kingdom (Go On UK!) To bring digital culture where it had not yet arrived. . At the time I led a formidable association of enthusiasts, WIkitalia, and in that capacity we launched the idea of organizing mobilization days on a regional basis in which to promote, activate, dozens of free events in every small town to talk about digital opportunities. The first region to respond was Friuli Venezia Giulia, at the time led by Debora Serracchiani; and there we arrived with our camper on the morning of May 5th, ready to tour the whole region to participate in as many events as possible.
112 had been organized: 112 events in a single day. But it was no coincidence: in those regions there are several exceptional people who combine a rare competence with a sincere civil passion (I am thinking among others of Paolo Coppola and Simone Puksic). At the end of the day we found ourselves in the Palazzo della Regione in Trieste and breathed “an authentic enthusiasm” as Serracchiani said. There was also the Minister of Education Stefania Giannini who obviously said that the school would be the fulcrum of this movement. I remember a photo outside, on a meadow, with dozens of volunteers, all lined up in front of the Wikitalia camper as a football team, a standing row (the elderly) and a row kneeling (the young). We had the gaze of those who feel they have done something good for their country.