Ah, the
life of a foreign correspondent.
Well, a
foreign correspondent in Italy, that is. I imagine the life of a foreign
correspondent in, say, Libya or Iran (at least these days) might be slightly
more dangerous and slightly less picturesque. But in Italy, can you think of a
more fantastic lifestyle? Ok, ok, I’m sure it involves a good deal of work, but, oh,
the payoff...
...well, you get the idea.
100
years ago, 14 foreign journalists living and working in Rome, got together in
their usual haunt, Gran Caffè Faraglia in Piazza Venezia, and decided it was
high time they had an official association to represent them. The Foreign Press
Association was born. Today its members are numbered at 443, and hail from over
50 different countries around the world. American correspondents are
outnumbered only by their German counterparts, and include one of my very
favorite expat bloggers, Patricia Thomas, (Rome’s own Mozzarella Mamma herself!)
Italy as seen by the world, a new exhibit at the Ara Pacis opened last week, celebrating this important
100-year milestone. It was thrilling to see snippets of articles, headlines and
magazine covers from around the world, all with the same subject: il belpaese.
Some articles dated back nearly a century; others covered news stories I can
well remember since my own arrival here eight years ago. 100 years of top news
stories, archeological discoveries, culinary culture, destination pieces,
social commentary: it’s all covered in this fascinating exhibit, the first big
opening of the season.
Here are a few images from the exhibition:
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| Historic Archive of the first headquarters of the association |
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| Association members in an audience with Pope John XXIII |
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| Hitler and Mussolini, Newsweek, 1936 |
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| Il Conchiglione (The Big Shell) in the conference hall of the Foreign Press Association © Chris Warde-Jones |
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| An article on terrorism in Italy, Der Spiegel, 1977 |
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| The death of Pope John Paul II, Paris Match, 2005 |
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| President and Mrs. Obama in an audience with Pope Benedict XVI (my photo of a photo) |
I
imagine it’s fascinating for Italians to witness how their country and culture
is portrayed to the world at large by the pen-armed foreigners who’ve made
their home here, but who nevertheless bring along their own perspective,
culture and experiences. As an expat I have learned so much about my own
country, simply by getting an outside look at it. This is not always pleasant.
In fact, I was surprised that the inauguration was packed with Italians. I
would have expected the majority of those in attendance to be the very same
foreign correspondents being celebrated in the exhibit, but I rarely picked up
on a foreign language or accent, although there were a few international
journalistic legends (whom I would never have recognized had the Maritino not
pointed them out to me).
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| Mayor Gianni Alemanno, Ara Pacis, © Tiffany Parks |
The
mayor himself was also in attendance, and I don’t mean to be mean, but this was the
first time I had ever seen him live and I couldn’t stop myself humming that
line from Annie (the Broadway
musical, eh, NOT the film!), “What other town has the Empire State and a mayor
five-foot-two?” Now, I didn’t get out my tape measure, but even standing up on
the podium of the Ara Pacis, he didn’t look a hair taller than me. Rome may not
have the Empire State Building, but a Fiorello Laguardia-look-alike we do have!
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I learned during the press conference that the "extras" in the last scene of Roman Holiday were the actual members of Italy's Foreign Press Association in 1959! (A shocking dearth of women...) This
exhibit is on for less than a month, so don’t miss it! Check out my exhibits calendar for times and dates.
PS After months of sporatic posting, I'm aiming to go two-for-two with a post about the new Vermeer exhibit at the Scuderie del Quirinale tomorrow, so stop by!
3-8 courtesy of Zetema Ufficio Stampa,
9-10 by author,
