Sebastiano D'Angelo, director of Ragusani nel Mondo, has worked for years to keep alive the thread that unites the Iblean province with its descendants scattered across the globe—a thread of memory, pride, and roots. Over time, the Ragusani nel Mondo Award has become much more than a ceremony. It's a moment when a community recognizes itself, looks each other in the eye, and celebrates what it has given to the world.
We met Sebastiano D'Angelo To understand how, year after year, an event is built that unites past and future, local and diaspora, talent and belonging.
Director D'Angelo, for years the Ragusani nel Mondo Award has been telling the stories of Ragusans who have forged their own paths far from their homeland. What have the Ragusan emigrants you've met on this journey taught you, on a human level?
Having met so many successful Iblei people has made me realize that there is a Ragusan ethnic group throughout the world that has distinguished itself for its great ability to adapt to new territories, without severing its ties with its land of origin. Ragusan emigrants, like Sicilians, have distinguished themselves by a strong attachment to their traditions, customs, and habits, which they have always sought to pass on to their children and future generations.
Among the many stories of emigration you've learned through the association, which values recur most often and which, in your opinion, best represent the identity of Ragusans around the world?
Common values emerged: imagination, ingenuity, resilience, industriousness, resourcefulness, dynamism, and above all, love and pride in one's origins. A set of values that nourish the Iblean identity wherever it finds space to express itself.
Over the years, the Ragusani nel Mondo Award has become an important event for the Iblean community, combining memory, talent, and a sense of belonging. What was your vision in growing this event to its most recent editions?
First and foremost, the tenacity in pursuing a project that strengthens pride in our shared identity through the sharing of positive stories shared by fellow countrymen around the world; the desire to make people understand, especially the younger generations, that nothing is impossible, that any goal is achievable, provided we pursue it with a positive spirit.
Then, a big heart, a desire to dedicate themselves to promoting their local area, shared by all the Association's leaders, with a pure spirit of volunteerism, free from any personal interest.
It has been a constantly growing journey, fueled by growing recognition and attention from the wider public. The Iblei, the Sicilians, with the great figures of their ethnic group, gather in a collective celebration that also serves to promote their heritage, attract tourists, and explore avenues for economic development. It connects the various international realities of this Sicilian community.
This is an event that has now undeniably marked the evolution of the Iblean summer, eagerly awaited and attended by large segments of the public. It has captured the public's attention for its simple and immediate style, without frills but with the pure power of feeling and heart. A major event of which the entire Province and Sicily are proud, because it celebrates the genius of Iblean and Sicilian people around the world. It's a day of pride, a time when examples and life stories full of positivity are highlighted and presented to the public. It's an event that celebrates the region, its beauty, and its people.
The award belongs to the entire Region, and has significant promotional implications for the entire Sicilian territory, transcending the localisms of individual municipalities, which too often have limited cultural horizons, and engaging the people in their various expressions, both individual and collective, as confirmed by the overwhelming number of new CVs received from every corner of the Ragusa public sector and the galaxy of emigration associations around the world.
In this thirtieth anniversary edition, you've given even more space to the connection between Ragusa and the world, with two evenings, new sections, and an even broader narrative of the region's excellence and the diaspora. How important is it today to transform an award into a true bridge between those who left and those who stayed behind?
I would say this is one of the primary goals of the event, which aims to promote the Iblei region by sharing the success stories of its fellow countrymen. Today, the province of Ragusa is known worldwide thanks in part to the event and the strength and impact of the testimonies given by the various award recipients over the thirty years of the event. They have often served as ambassadors for their homeland, conveying the joy and pride of recognition bestowed upon them by their birthplace or lineage. All this has often created a positive and growing flow of visitors, supporting return tourism, a central theme of national debate in shaping a modern and updated relationship between Italy and its foreign communities.
The thirtieth anniversary edition also gave centrality, for the first time, with the "YOUTH" Award, to stories of achievements by young people who, despite being at the beginning of their respective professional careers, have been able to interpret the Iblean values in the new territorial contexts in which they were called to express themselves, demonstrating the fact that TALENT is independent of age.
After so many events organized and so many personalities awarded, which moment remained closest to your heart because it best expressed the emotion of returning, of belonging and of the pride of being Ragusans in the world?
IGenerally, every story told in the Award, across 30 editions, has left strong and consistent emotions, tied to the expression of pride in one's origins. There is one particular aspect I would like to highlight, linked to the consolidation over the years of a true and cohesive community, that of the Awardees, which has not only maintained ties with our Association, but has also engaged among its members and has often dedicated itself to serving the local area, meeting the needs and requirements expressed and addressing them.te. Today we can safely say that there is a community of Iblei talents around the world, which interacts with the Iblei territory and its various human and institutional articulations. This represents one of the most interesting facts about an event that has become one of the most eagerly awaited moments by the Iblean and Sicilian public.
For Sebastiano D'Angelo the Ragusani in the World Award It is a story to be preserved, and each edition is a new page written together with those who, from near and far, carry the Iblean land in their hearts.
