Italy in the heart: a correspondent in the Italian heart of America.
The city of Buenos Aires is a huge metropolis. For many the most European city in Latin America. It is the city of tango, art, nightlife, skybars and much more. For the eyes of enthusiasts, there is beauty everywhere: in the ancient constructions and historical buildings, in the green parks, in the monuments, in the streets. Buenos Aires is a city full of life where normally people walk in a hurry to go to work and the means are always full of people, so sometimes you have to wait and wait a long time to get the bus and go home.
Many who know it and live there if they think of Buenos Aires immediately think of its symbol: the obelisk. It is an iconic, unique, characteristic monument located on the avenue largest in the city: 9 de Julio Avenue. The Buenos Aires obelisk was inaugurated in 1936 to commemorate the first foundation of the city, which took place four hundred years earlier by the hand of Pedro de Mendoza. An interesting fact is that in the same place where today we see the obelisk rise, a national monument par excellence, centuries ago there was a church in honor of San Nicola di Bari, which was then demolished to give way to Avenida 9 de Julio. And it was precisely on that church, the church of San Nicola, that the Argentine flag was raised for the first time in Buenos Aires. Hence, the importance of the Obelisk for the citizens: it marks where for the first time theirs flamed in the sky flag.
Today that city we know - cheerful, lively, euphoric, beautiful, energetic - has had to go out. Around the world, nations are fighting an enemy called Covid-19. A virus that is hitting us hard and keeping us closed at home, with our worries and fears, but also with our strength, our patience and our hope. In Italy this enemy arrived first. Sadly, he hit the nation without giving our Italian brothers time to understand how to move and how to behave in order to defend themselves calmly. In Argentina, however, it arrived a few weeks later. Here we knew what to do and the authorities immediately declared mandatory quarantine throughout the territory. We Argentines are also fighting today, like you. With you.
Buenos Aires was one of the cities that welcomed the largest number of Italian migrants over the past century. In Argentina today more than half of the population has Italian origins: "We are Italians, born in Argentina". And we are proud of it. We carry in our veins the blood of our parents, of our grandparents, who came to Argentina to make their fortune with a baggage of dreams and nothing else.
This is why on March 20, on the initiative of the Italian ambassador Giuseppe Manzo and with the contribution of the Ministry of Public Space and Urban Hygiene, the obelisk of Buenos Aires was illuminated with the colors of the Italian flag: green, white and red. To communicate to our Italian fellow citizens the support of the Argentine people and of all Italians abroad.
Personally, I myself grandson of Italians, I can say that March 20 will remain in my memory, I felt close to my roots in such a difficult moment. Seeing the symbol of the city where I was born dressed in the tricolor - the colors that represent the country I carry in my DNA - warmed my heart. An emotion that I shared with many other Italians and Italo-Argentines residing in Buenos Aires and Argentina for which Italy represents and will forever be our beloved home away!
#italianinheart
