Washington - The journey of La Stampa USA has found another port of call. After New York, the next stop is the nation’s capital: Washington. And here, our publication has received the embrace of NIAF, the National Italian American Foundation, the largest organization representing the Italian American community in the United States.

The 51st annual NIAF Gala, returning this year after last year’s successful celebration marking the historic 50th anniversary of the organization, provided the perfect setting to salute the handshake and partnership between La Stampa USA and NIAF.

Inside the Hilton Hotel on Connecticut Avenue, the SAE Group took another step toward strengthening the ties between the two sides of the Atlantic, while giving a voice and a platform to the stories and experiences of Italian Americans and Italians alike. John Calvelli, NIAF’s chairman, was also in attendance.

Robert Allegrini, NIAF’s CEO, stressed the importance of having a platform such as La Stampa USA available to the community.

He highlighted in particular the fact that the publication is in English, noting that the “desire for Italy” remains strong among younger generations — the children, grandchildren and even more distant descendants of the first waves of Italian immigration, many of whom do not speak the language of their ancestors.

English, therefore, becomes the vehicle and the bridge, helping ensure that lost in translation does not become either an excuse for, or a cause of, growing distance between Italian Americans and the land of their great-grandparents.

It is a familiar and deeply relevant issue for the roughly 20 million Italian Americans living in the United States.

Alberto Leonardis, president of the SAE Group, briefly retraced the origins of the project and recalled that, from the moment La Stampa USA was first conceived, “we decided to move forward with this project together with NIAF.”

“You,” he told an attentive audience in the Jefferson East Room, “will be our point of reference for getting to know the Italian American community and the United States better. We will seek to tell the story of our country better, but above all to showcase our country’s business community.”

The roadmap is already clear, as are its goals and milestones.

“We will organize three major events each year, which will help strengthen synergies among everyone involved.”

Supporting those efforts — and the investments that will make them possible — is the agreement signed Tuesday evening in New York, during the official launch of the online publication, between SAE and SACE, Italy’s export credit agency, which provides financial guarantees to support the export and growth of Italian companies.

“This partnership will also support investments by Italian American entrepreneurs in Italy,” Leonardis said.

He then announced the creation of a training school dedicated to the “Journalism of the Future,” aimed at young Italian Americans.

“Some of them will also become our future journalists,” the SAE Group president said in closing.

Maurizio Molinari, editorial director and editor-in-chief of La Stampa USA, reiterated the vision behind the project, supported by Intesa Sanpaolo and Bonifiche Ferraresi.

He described it as “a window onto the United States for Italians” and, at the same time, a stage for Italian Americans who want to tell their stories to America in English — sharing the stories of their communities, their values, their history and their dreams.

As images of the website and newsletter played across the large screen — both available to anyone free of charge, with open access to the portal — Molinari also underscored that the project will operate through two editorial offices, one in Turin and one in New York.

Just days earlier, the group’s management team had visited the La Stampa USA offices in Manhattan, which were inaugurated with a toast at the United Nations headquarters. Valeria Robecco serves as bureau chief.

“I am very happy, as NIAF president, to have this partnership with La Stampa,” Allegrini said in closing.

The reason, he added, is straightforward: “Unfortunately, the majority of Italian Americans never had the opportunity to learn the language, but they have always maintained a strong interest in Italy.”