WASHINGTON D.C - X EDITION OF THE ITALIAN EXCELLENCE AWARD
Excellence and sustainability are the watchwords for learning about the most beautiful stories of companies, professionals, and associations, in the name of those values. which makes Italians a "model that makes us unique in the world and a cultural superpower". In fact, reading the names of the winners one is taken by the pleasant surprise of seeing Italians represented in less than twenty stories, Italians are capable of standing out in the world: there are researchers, scholars, entrepreneurs, and professionals who come from many different parts of the USA in the name of a story of Merit and Competence; just as from Italy, there are surprising cases of foundations, associations, companies that try to offer the original contribution that comes from the small yet innovative size, although familiar and anchored to the territory. And there are young people and women.
I am honored to have received the prestigious "Italian Excellence" award. A recognition that represents an important affirmation of the efforts of Renaissance Evolution, known as the international think-tank and official promoter of the Italian language and culture for the Southeast United States and the Caribbean. I thank Massimo Lucidi and the entire organization of the award for taking my work into consideration and believing in its value. The award you have given me is a great motivation to continue on this path. I would also like to express my gratitude to John J. DeGioiaci and the team at Georgetown University who organized this event. I feel obliged to thank Minister Antonio Tajani for his words: "A cultural diplomacy is a strategic tool at the service of the national interest, on which we must focus to fuel Italy's attractiveness and its ability to influence the world". I also thank the Consul General and the Vice Consul of the Consulate General of Miami, and our wonderful team who, with great dedication, increased the number of Italophiles every day. I conclude by once again expressing my gratitude to Massimo Lucidi, the Honorable SDS Giorgio Silli, and Tim Phillips, President of our Leadership Committee who I consider "Renaissance men" for their intuition and passion in describing the best of Italy, comments on Dr. Roberto Masiero, Founder and President of Renaissance Evolution.
«It is the model of excellence and sustainability unique in the world that Philippe Daverio had intuited when he competed with Santo Versace to induce me to take the first steps», recalls Massimo Lucidi. Now I am grateful to Ermete Realacci, Edo Ronchi, and the environmentalist Confindustria Association ASSO.IMPRE.D.A. They stand out for marking the path to follow with field research and example, but also with listening to the territory. Many times "those who do it" feel alone, and we need places and moments to talk about ourselves and build a network. I have to thank two fantastic Italian Americans who supported the idea of the Award, bringing two fundamental values: the choice of place and time. Franco Nuschese's Cafè Milano is not only an excellent DC restaurant, but it is a formidable embassy of our lifestyle, in which the Presidents of the United States recognize themselves; yet it manages to make the numerous families and young people who live in Georgetown, one of the most prestigious universities in the world, feel at home. The second person is the extraordinary Amy Riolo who, when the world stopped and closed due to Covid, led me to create two national ceremonies united by television. Rai Italia, which has always followed us, was joined by América Oggi with a live television broadcast and you can imagine my emotion in requesting and obtaining hospitality at the Palace of the Holy See San Carlo ai Catinari in Rome. For three years, the Friends of Washington DC and the Friends Riuniti in Rome continued to demonstrate how a different and more “cohesive” narrative of our country was possible. And so we come to today where reading the names of the Friends who have accepted our invitations fills our hearts with joy."
The Award, supported since its first edition by the patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and included in the Emigration Days organized by Asmef, also represents in this edition a true crossroads of stories.
A physicist, Giuseppe Torri, who stands out in research in Hawaii but who is present 24 hours a day in emergencies in his country to study our supercells and our drugs, collaborates with Ileana Pirozzi, a researcher at Stanford University and the University Brown's father, who now supports the development. of new medical technologies with Exor Venture Capital. If in Italy there was no space for research, in the United States they have found it and are building it: like Eugenio Zuccarelli, who works in New York for
the giant CVS in the delicate world of artificial intelligence; like professor Pasquale Nesticò, a cardiologist appreciated not only in Pennsylvania but also as a point of reference for many in the Filitalia Foundation and the other Italian doctor also famous for his social commitment, professor Antonio Giordano, researcher, professor at the University of Siena and president of the Sbarro Health Research Organization, Temple University of Philadelphia.
Joe Tacopina, a famous lawyer but sportsman and president of Spal, was awarded in Georgetown like Francesco Secchiaroli, a manager who is now as vice president of Poltrona Frau USA truly deserves to occupy the presidency. You are developing a brand that conveys an idea of excellent quality and sustainable luxury. Lots of research, innovation, and specialized professionalism, but Italian food couldn't be missing. And what food! The Marra family, already awarded for having produced Neapolitan pizza ovens in Maryland and for promoting training with the activities of the Pizza University, is engaged in full catering, also distinguishing itself in the catering of our Embassy in Washington DC. And if you are in Chicago you can't miss a visit to the Tempesta Salumi laboratory. What awaits you? A Calabrian 'nduja made with the best meats of the Midwest but with the centuries-old traditional Calabrian recipe. Seeing is believing. And you can find Tempesta Salumi well distributed even in the wildest places in America. An example of "Made in Italy in the USA", is innovative to be proud of. To confirm that the story that Italians tell us is really different from what we would expect, we must mention the reality of Rocco Lo Stimolo's Meccanotecnica Riesi, with headquarters in Riesi in Sicily and offices in Boston, represented by his son Giovanni with his wife Rosy Trovato, business development manager. Healthy family businesses that join the great, extraordinary, and unique reality of the Italian Scientific Community of Miami and its president Fabio De Furia. You are left speechless reading the profiles and that's not all. From Washington DC Renaissance Evolution, the foundation chaired by Roberto Masiero focuses on Culture, as a training center for the Italian language in Miami and joins the Music and Lifestyle factor: Corrado Rizza and Diego Ciaramella are in fact expected in Georgetown. When we say that "Italians do it better" we think of DJs... Corrado and Diego, after having distinguished themselves in Italy, have established themselves in Miami in the most important luxury hotels and the requests to host them throughout the United States are countless, for high-quality music... The list of winners could end like this, so rich is the trip to America. However, there are winners who come from Italy, icons of excellence and sustainability, of extraordinary value for the history they represent. This is the case of Aceper, the association of consumers and producers of renewable energy which is a model of how small businesses of excellence, often family-run, are companies of extraordinary value because continuous green innovation makes them more competitive and cohesive compared to the competitors. Aceper will be present in Washington DC with its president Verónica Pitea and its secretary general Simone Ruffinatto. Atelier Fragranze Milano with Marco Maffei and his children Luca and Martina is another exemplary reality of how to manage a quality family business with an extraordinary vocation for international markets, laying solid foundations for certifying the Italian "perfume" supply chain: another asset in which it is easy to say "Italian", falling into the aggressive branding policy of its cousins from beyond the Alps. With more than a thousand employees, Innovaway Spa is a solid and internationalized reality but fully associated with the "Italian model of excellence and sustainability", because it was born in the South, in Naples, from a family, the Giacominis, who decided to keep their heads and lots of staff in the area; yet expand around the world without selling to multinationals. Remember the vision of Giorgio Armani. The Italian model has an ancient culture and has always been inherent to the "best Italy that knows how to compete and win when it is Italy", in an expression dear to Ermete Realacci, president of the Symbola Foundation, which will be rewarded for its research and communication capacity of positive values precisely in the name of excellence and sustainability. Manuela Rafaiani, member of the board of directors and of the scientific-technical committee, speaks on behalf of Symbola in Washington
Last but not least, two extraordinary Italians who represent two exemplary institutions for the pursuit of what here, at the World Bank, is called a "public-private partnership": both Romans, the lawyer Ezio Bonanni, president of the National Asbestos Committee Observatory, and Prof. Fabrizio W. Luciolli, president of the Italian Atlantic Committee. "The great lesson that comes from America, land of freedom and opportunities, is not to expect what the State can do for us citizens - says the lawyer Bonanni - but what we citizens can do for others, for the territory, for the State. And these organizations, ONA and the Atlantic Committee, although so different and distinct, I feel that they are united by the strength of the message of Freedom: we are willing to offer the United States our experience and our model to make the earth opportunities. "
Here is the list of winners according to the E-Novation Foundation protocol:
1) Eugenio Zuccarelli, Data Science Manager presso CVS Health (New York)
2) Ileana Pirozzi, ricercatrice presso l'Università di Stanford (California)
3) Giuseppe Torri, Fisico dell'Università delle Hawaii (USA)
4) Diego Ciaramella e Corrado Rizza, Musica e Lifestyle (Miami)
5) Marra Forni, Marra Family Pizza Università del Maryland e Washington DC
6) Francesco Secchiaroli, VP Poltrona Frau USA (già presidente del Cambridge Investment Fund)
7) Pasquale Nesticò, presidente della Fondazione Filitalia (Filadelfia)
8) Antonio Giordano, Presidente del Barro Institute (Filadelfia)
9) Joe Tacopina, avvocato di New York (USA)
10) Rosy Trovato, Meccanotecnica Riesi srl (Boston)
11) Verónica Pitea, presidente ACEPER (Italia)
12) Roberto Masiero, presidente di Renaissance Evolution (Washington DC)
13) La Fondazione Symbola allontana Manuela Rafaiani (Roma)
14) Antonio Giacomini, presidente di Innovaway spa (Napoli Milano Italia)
15) Fabio De Furia, presidente della comunità scientifica italiana di Miami
16) Agostino Fiasche, Tempesta Salumi (Chicago)
17) Atelier Fragranze, Milano (Italia)
18) Ezio Bonanni, Avvocato – Presidente Osservatorio Nazionale Amianto (Roma)
19) Fabrizio W. Luciolli, Professore - Presidente del Comitato Atlantico Italiano
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