© Reuters. June 2, our Stars and Stripes Republic Day
Today there is a lot of talk about artificial intelligence, energy transition and many other megatrends that will condition our future. Tomorrow we will be able to say how much these issues have conditioned us and which ones we have not managed to achieve, a bit like we can already do today by looking at that June 77 years ago
Imagine you are there.
You have just closed the cabin curtain behind you. Pencil in hand, in front of the open card showing Italia Turrita on one side and the symbol of Savoy on the other. Maybe you already have clear ideas, or maybe not. Perhaps you will leave your seat more relieved, perhaps hopeful, or perhaps worried.
A few days later you will know for sure: 54.27% of Italians and – for the first time – of Italians, voted for the Republic.
In a fragmented Italy, dazed and wounded by the bombing holes of the Second World War, the the referendum of ’46 brings a new level of awareness to our country: a moment in which we realize that we are entering a modern era, where the so-called “long century” can leave behind their weapons – more or less – and think instead of the Beatles , miniskirts, and denim shirts.
But before all this there was an Italy that found itself living with still fresh remorse desire for changeas well as with a spirit of renewal also driven by those who were not exactly 100% Italian.
FROM CARBONARA TO NEWSPAPERS
If you are a kitchen purist, you better skip a couple of lines. If, on the other hand, you are reckless, or simply curious, go ahead this way: there carbonara may not be Italian. The conditional is a must, given that the most distinguished authors of the 40s in that period were more involved in recording the facts of war, rather than what happened in the lunch breaks of American soldiers. Yes, there are those who swear that they took their bacon and combined it with some country housewife’s pasta and eggs to create a dish that was quite successful. And who knows if it’s true that it was the Americans who created carbonara here. What is certain is that they got on so well that they stayed in our country, some because they fell in love with Italy, some with an Italian woman, and some stayed because they were assigned to the PWB. This acronym stood for Psychological Warfare Branch, an American military body created in collaboration with the British that wanted to help countries emerge from Nazi occupation. Of course, it wasn’t just dispassionate altruism, as the PWB effectively took control of our country’s media. And okay: in a situation where the alternatives were the news agencies of a decaying Nazi-fascism, or clandestine partisan newspapers, maybe relying on the Anglo-American networks wasn’t so bad after all…
** This article was written by FinanciaLounge