We will not go into the merits of Massimo D’Azeglio’s famous phrase: “We made Italy, now let’s make Italians”, but the idea of Italians that we see every day on social media makes us understand how our country is perceived not only by Italians in Italy, but also by Italians abroad. A perception that confirms the idea that foreigners have of our country.
With the explosion of the internet we have seen the creation of countless pages dedicated to Italians, both in Italy and by Italians abroad. In the case of Italians abroad, these pages are dedicated both to “Italians” in general and to specific countries and regions.
Naturally many users express their pride in being Italian through memes, which then have comments from other users, often to their liking, but just as regularly, the comments are not at all favorable towards the message of the post/meme.
Unfortunately, these memes have the effect of trivializing our common Cultural Heritage which includes every aspect of our lives and not just High Culture.
And the reason is very simple, the posts/memes almost always express stereotypes which have the effect of making the image of our country not only banal, but often illusory, if not downright false.
Every day we see posts that say “Only a true Italian recognizes this image”, or “Today is Sunday, who started preparing the sauce for lunch/dinner?”, as if every Italian had the same traditions, the same customs.
This concept of a “national” culture that does not change from province to province is totally false and the funny thing about all this is that even Italians in Italy make the same mistakes, because they have not seen enough of the country to understand the vastness of the customs , traditions and history of a small peninsula but full of local differences.
And the paradox is that Italians abroad have often maintained traditions and customs that disappeared in Italy in the decades after their departure.
Traditions that have crystallized over time thanks to the creation of colonies of Italian emigrants abroad. In fact, we often left to “test the waters” of a certain place and then call relatives and friends in the new country.
These emigrants met regularly, and in the first generation marriages were almost exclusively between fellow countrymen, so the children grew up in an environment surrounded by people who spoke the same dialect, so for the children, and then the grandchildren of these emigrants, “the Italian” that they heard at home was not the national language but the dialect. Just as the traditions and customs were those of the place of origin.
In fact, in the United States the word “peasano” includes all Italians, while in reality in its original meaning it means “people from the same town or hamlet”.
For these reasons in the Italian communities abroad, even in the absence of availability of Italian products, over time our emigrants have revived traditions and customs of their territories of origin, without knowing that in the meantime Italy was changing and therefore the Our relatives and friends abroad have an image of a country that no longer exists.
And these perceptions are the basis of the posts and memes that we see and which, unfortunately, attract the attention of Italians in Italy who often do not realize that the traditions shown in these posts are truly Italian, but from the past, or from other regions about which they know little or nothing, and consequently write rude comments.
A regular example is the use of cheese on fish. Of course, in large areas of the country cheese is not used, but in some areas, particularly Sicily, it is normal for cheese to be used with fish. And, like this example, there are many others that demonstrate the ignorance of many Italians in Italy about the great differences within the country in which they were born and raised.
In fact, all this shows that there is no “typical Italian”, but different versions that change from north to south, from region to region and even more so from village to village. Just call an Emilian “Romagnolo” to see the speed of the correction.
Furthermore, these posts/memes have negative effects that administrators/moderators of Italian social pages, both in Italy and abroad, should consider.
In fact, it would be their task to limit negative and therefore divisive comments, because they do nothing but worsen relations between Italians in Italy and those abroad, rather than encouraging the rapprochement of our communities abroad with their territories of origin. Instead, and sadly, we see all too often useless battles of Italian “purity” on the two sides that hurt everyone.
The second is to understand that certain posts/memes, particularly the use of images of criminals, whether real or from cinema or television, do nothing but promote the most harmful stereotypes for us Italians.
The vast majority of Italians, no matter where, are honest, have worked hard to rebuild their lives, and in many places, not only in Italy, have had to fight the negative effects of the gangs, often paying for this commitment with their own lives, for whose “giving honor” to criminals is an offense to those who believe that society must be based on the law and not on the will of these criminals.
Massimo d’Azeglio was wrong in his comment because there is NO “typical example” of any nationality, but we are also wrong when we think that banal or even misleading posts/memes can show the true greatness of our Cultural Heritage, the most largest in the world, rich in a great variety of customs and traditions.
We will not enter into the merits of Massimo D’Azeglio’s famous saying “We’ve made Italy, now we must make the Italians”, but the concept of Italians we see every day on the social media makes us understand how our country is perceived not only by Italians in Italy, but also by Italians overseas. A perception that “confirms” the opinion of foreigners of our country.
With the explosion of the internet, we have seen the creation of countless pages dedicated to Italians, both in Italy and overseas. In the case of Italians overseas, these pages are dedicated to both “Italians” in general, and to specific towns and regions.
Of course, the means used by many users to express their pride in being Italian is through memes that then have comments from other users, often agreeing, but, just as regularly, the comments are not at all favourable to the post/meme’s message.
Unfortunately, these memes trivialize our common Cultural Heritage that includes every aspect of our lives and not only High Culture.
And the reason is very simple, the posts/memes almost always express stereotypes that have the effect of making the image of our country not only trivial, but often illusory, if not downright false.
Every day we see posts that say, “Only a real Italian will recognize this image”, or “Today is Sunday, who has started making the sauce for lunch/dinner?”, as if every Italian has the same traditions, the same habits.
This concept of a “national culture” that does not change from province to province is totally false and the funny thing is that even Italians in Italy make the same mistakes because they have not seen enough of the country to understand the vastness of the habits, traditions and history of a small peninsula that is full of local differences.
And the paradox is that often the Italians overseas have kept traditions and habits that have disappeared in Italy in the decades after they left.
Traditions that crystallized over time thanks to the creation of Italian migrant colonies overseas. In fact, people left to “test the waters” of a determined place and then called over relatives and friends to the new country.
These migrants would see each other regularly, and in the first generation the marriages were almost exclusively between villagersso the children grew up in an environment where they were surrounded by people who spoke the same dialect, so that for the children, and then the grandchildren of these migrants, the “Italian” they heard at home was not the national language but the dialect. Just as the traditions and habits were of their places of origin.
In fact, the proof of this behaviour is in the USA where the word “villager” is used for ALL Italians, instead of its original use for people from the same town, hamlet, etc.
For these reasons, in the Italian communities overseas, even in the absence of Italian products, over time our migrants reintroduced traditions and habits from their territories of origin, unaware that in the meantime Italy was changing, and so our relatives and friends overseas have an image of a country that no longer exists.
And these perceptions are the basis of the posts and memes that we see and that, unfortunately, attract the attention of Italians in Italy who just as often do not realize that traditions shown in these posts really are Italian, but of the past, or of other regions about which they know little or nothing, and consequently they write impolite comments.
A regular example is the use of cheese with fish. Of course, in vast areas of the country cheese is not used, but in some areas, particularly in Sicily, cheese is normal with fish. And, like this example, there are many others that demonstrate the ignorance of many Italians in Italy of the great differences within the country in which they were born and raised.
In effect, all this shows that there is no “typical Italian”, but different versions that change from north to south, from region to region, and even more from small town to small town. You only have to call someone from Emilia a “Romagnolo” (both parts of the same region) to see the quickness of the correction.
Furthermore, these posts/memes have negative effects that the administrators/moderators of the social media pages, both in Italy and overseas, should consider.
In effect, their task should be to limit the negative, and therefore divisive, debates because they only worsen relations between Italians in Italy and those overseas, rather than encourage bringing the Italian communities overseas closer to their territories of origin. Instead, and sadly, all too often we see useless battles of Italian “purity” on both sides that hurt everyone.
The second task is to understand that certain posts/memes, especially the use of images of criminals, whether real or from the movies or television, only promote the most damaging stereotypes of we Italians.
The overwhelming majority of Italians, no matter where, are honest, worked hard to build their lives, and in many places, not only in Italy, have had to fight the negative effects of the gangs, often paying for this effort with their lives, so “honouring” criminals is an offence to those who believe society should be based on Law and not on the will of these criminals.
Massimo D’Azeglio was wrong in his comment because these is no “typical example” of any nationality, but we too are wrong when we think that trivial or outright false posts/memes can show the true greatness of our Cultural heritage, the greatest in the world, rich in its great variety of habits and traditions.
