“Italian emigration played a fundamental role in the growth of the United States. We will strengthen the cultural ties between our two countries.”

Italy’s Education Minister, Giuseppe Valditara, outlined the purpose of a memorandum of understanding signed on Oct. 12th with the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF). Under the agreement, Italian schools will teach the history of Italian emigration from 1880 onward.

Valditara also defended Christopher Columbus’s historical legacy and criticized New York’s Mayor Zohran Mamdani for skipping Columbus Day celebrations, calling his decision a “woke choice” that “offended the Italian American community.”

Minister, why is it important to teach the history of Italian emigration in schools?

“It is important to help students understand this major phenomenon, which involved millions of our fellow citizens and embodied important values: the hard work, resilience and courage of our emigrants, qualities appreciated everywhere. Italian emigration played a fundamental role in the growth of the Americas. In the United States in particular, the focus of yesterday’s meeting and our agreement with NIAF, Italian Americans played a decisive role, including in the war of liberation.”

When will it be introduced into the curriculum?

“It will become part of the high school curriculum starting next school year and, eventually, will also be introduced in technical institutes.”

The agreement recognizes Italian emigration’s cultural contribution as well as its role in economic development.

“The entire agreement is designed to strengthen cultural ties between the United States and Italy, based on a shared commitment to Western values. Italian emigration helped spread, advance and consolidate the values that are part of Western civilization.

“We should not forget that in 1492, an Italian, Christopher Columbus, discovered America. Without the discovery of America, Western values — democracy, freedom, respect and the centrality of the individual — would never have been brought to the Americas. From this perspective, Columbus is a figure we remember with great pride.”

Christopher Columbus remains a controversial figure in the United States. How do you interpret New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s absence from the Columbus Day celebrations?

“His decision has a clear political meaning. The Italian American community expressed its strong disappointment and felt offended by his absence. It is an ideological choice that follows the same path as the removal of statues and the erasure of Western history from school and university curricula. It is a woke choice.”

“Yesterday’s agreement and the statements by NIAF’s Robert Allegrini point in the opposite direction: restoring meaning and value to the great universal principles of a civilization.”

Italian Americans continue to help make the United States great. Dario Amodei leads one of the world’s AI giants and is the son of Italian immigrants who settled in San Francisco. Will the project also highlight Italians’ contributions to recent history?

“The project will cover the history of Italian emigration from 1880 onward. It will also examine Italians’ contributions to cultural life — including film, music and opera — as well as to politics and the economy.”

How will the agreement be put into practice in the United States?

“The agreement provides for raising awareness in the United States of the importance of Made in Italy, as well as the beauty and quality of Italian products. It is intended to strengthen the already high regard in which Italy and the Italian economic system are held in the United States.

“This is a central aspect of the initiative: with NIAF’s help, we will engage with schools and take part in public debate to showcase the beauty, quality and importance of Italian products.”

Italy was once a country of emigration and is now a country of immigration. How do you reconcile this initiative with the 30% cap on foreign students in certain categories of schools introduced by the latest education decree? Doesn’t that risk creating a double standard?

“Absolutely not. Just today, Andreas Schleicher of the OECD — its Director for Education and Skills — presented me with studies that we discussed here in Rome. They indicate that when more than 40% of students in a classroom are foreign-born and do not have an adequate command of the national language, academic proficiency drops sharply, making it impossible to provide an adequate education for either those students or their Italian classmates.

“The measure is intended to help these young people integrate into our productive system and society. Let me add something.”

Please do.

“This issue is connected to our own history of emigration. Italians have always stood out for their strong desire to integrate into the communities that welcomed them. They have always wanted to contribute to the growth of the societies that took them in.”