Corriere Canadese welcomes new Consul General Bertozzi
TORONTO – Our news team was pleasantly surprised by the unannounced visit of the new Consul General of Italy, Andrea Bertozzi. That it might have been unexpected is not entirely true. He was early and the publisher (me) was not there to greet him. Our bad.
Mr. Bertozzi turned out to be a most delightful guest, showing genuine interest in the operations of the Corriere and the work of its editorial staff, although five of its staff were on off-site assignments. Even more so, despite his consummate diplomatic efforts to maintain an appropriate distance from the subject of his visit, firsthand of the only daily Italian language newspaper in the Western Hemisphere, he revealed a latent deference for the undying adherence to the Italian ethos that the masthead’s survival represents.
The Consul General, undoubtedly schooled in the dynamics and synergies of the environment into which he/she is assigned, expressed a thirst for the experience of the vastness of the territory and the numbers of citizens for whom he has responsibility. It would overwhelm anyone to learn that the Ontario component of the Consulate, excluding the Ottawa area component) is three times larger than the Italian peninsula. But it does not end there; Manitoba and Nunavut fall into his Consulate’s district, as do the combined one million Canadian citizens of Italian origin who call this home.
He was equally interested in the minutia of the Diaspora’s history locally and beyond. This was not a topic so quickly dispatched, answered or elaborated. So, after a brief intro, we moved to the Boccaccio restaurant close by to continue the exploratory meeting.
Luckly, Chef Luciano Schipano, who is also president of Heritage Calabria, was ably disposed to join the conversation on the transgenerational experiences of Italians in Ontario. Apart from serving excellent dining experiences, Luciano Schipano is a partner with Italian authorities, CIBPA, ItaliaLinguaCultura and the York Catholic District School Board in the delivery of the Italian component of the International Languages integrated program.
We joined them in bidding the Consul General a warm and satisfying personal and professional experience here in Canada.
In the photo below: on the left, Honourable Joe Volpe, Publisher of Corriere Canadese; in the centre, Toronto’s Consul General, Andrea Bertozzi; behind them, the Corriere Canadese staff: from left, Tony Lomuto, Alessandro De Capua, Marzio Pelù, and Editor-in-Chief Francesco Veronesi; in the pics below, Bertozzi and Volpe in Corriere Canadese’s office and with Chef Luciano Schipano at “Boccaccio” (photo: Corriere Canadese)
