On Friday, October 4th, the third print issue of ilNewyorkese was presented at the Italian Consulate on Park Avenue in the presence of Italian Consul-General Fabrizio Di Michele. Interviewees featured in the issue took part in the event through discussions with Founder Davide Ippolito.
Founded in January of this year, the young publication has become a point of reference for the nearly half a million Italian speakers living in NYC and the Tri-State area, winning over 350,000 monthly readers in its first months. The latest edition, themed “Made in Sud,” celebrates the accomplishments of entrepreneurs from the South of Italy and investigates the region’s future as it fights through its economic underdevelopment to achieve growth under the leadership of new Special Government Commissioner Giosy Romano.
In August of this year, Romano, who graces the front cover of the new edition, was appointed to the role of Special Commissioner for the United SEZ. “It’s a very complicated concept,” admitted Romano during his conversation with Davide Ippolito. SEZ, which stands for “special economic zone,” is an area “within which operational or newly established enterprises can benefit [from] ad-hoc tax benefits and administrative streamlining,” according to the Italian government website. The zone includes all of Southern Italy, including the region of Campania, where Romano is from.
Romano spoke about Southern Italy’s future with what he deems “humble ambition”. He highlighted the advantage presented by the South’s geographic position and the promise of its tourism industry and called for foreign investments. When asked what the South needs besides money, Romano replied “Competent minds.”
Thousands of these minds, however, leave the South in search of greater opportunities in places such as New York according to ISTAT, the Italian National Institute of Statistics.
“It would be unfair to ask them to go back,” said Consul-General Di Michele, who nevertheless was confident in his belief that young Italians can serve their country wherever they are in the world.
Umberto Lobina, a management consultant from Naples in his mid-twenties, built a career for himself in New York City after leaving his hometown at 17. “To go back now would mean giving up many of the privileges I have here,” he admitted to the crowd of roughly 50 attendants.
In 2022, Lobina founded 081 Stand for Naples, a group that supports young Neapolitan professionals under 35. In the future, he plans to repay the city that raised him: “I’ll definitely be back.”
Unlike Lobina, Ciro Iovine relocated to New York by pure chance. “It was supposed to be a vacation,” explained Iovine, who upon first visiting NYC had no plans of setting up a business. In 2015, he opened Song E’ Napule, a Neapolitan restaurant, on Houston Street. The restaurant found success, and Iovine opened two more locations: one in the Upper West Side and another in New Jersey.
Throughout his journey, Iovine never lost track of his roots and adopted authenticity as his guiding principle: “Each of our dishes has a story, and when we tell Americans about it they’re amazed.”
With Consul-General Di Michele expressing his trust in ilNewYorkese in an interview with Good Morning Italy, the publication’s editorial board looks forward to a bright future.
