Article published in JUNE 2008 on the BAIA’s Blog.
A couple of months ago, I received an email from Roberto Bonzio, asking for an interview. Roberto told me he was here in Silicon Valley for a few months on a project about Italians. After a few e-mails, we set up an appointment, and a few days later, we met at my office. We spoke for a couple of hours about my experiences here in the US and my company, Novedge. A couple of days later, Roberto published the interview on his blog, Italiani di Frontiera. I read the interview and was amazed at how much Roberto captured from our talk. Despite taking a few notes during the interview, he understood the details of our online system and strategies, as well as our company’s strengths and weaknesses. Impressed by Roberto’s professional capabilities, I’ve become an avid reader of his blog and discovered a mine of interesting articles, stories, and people. Despite not being a journalist myself, I wanted to return Roberto’s favor and so invited him to be interviewed for the BAIA blog. Here are my questions and his responses.
Franco: Roberto, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your professional activities?
Roberto: I was born in Mestre, Venice, and started working as a reporter for the Venice newspaper Il Gazzettino, like my grandfather Roberto, my father Giovanni “Gibo”, and today my brother Giampaolo. I moved to Milan in 1986 at the national newspaper Il Giorno, joined the Reuters Italian service in 2001, and am now on a 6-month leave of absence here in California. Being pro-positive and nonconformist has often not been helpful, working in Italy, in the media, too. I had more opportunities to work on reportage assignments for magazines around the world. Then I found a fantastic opportunity for good journalism and international perspectives at Reuters. And on the web, the ideal environment for my unordered curiosity. That goes from movies (I graduated from Venice University with a dissertation about Harpo Marx), to music (I play a lot of instruments, you wouldn’t believe how many and how badly), and rugby. And new media.
Franco: What is your project, “Italiani di Frontiera,” and how did you come up with this idea?
Roberto: Less than a year ago, I was just trying to figure out how to survive as a freelance journalist on leave of absence in the USA, with my wife, Pola, a science teacher, and kids (Alessandro, 18, Francesca, 16, now happy students at Gunn High School in Palo Alto). I knew a few Italians in the Bay. Three e-mails changed my mind (and hopefully my life): from Matteo Daste (BAIA), Jeff Capaccio (SVIEC), and Palo Marenco (Silicon Valley Italian Study Tour). I understood from their committed answers that there was a big story waiting to be told. And this was the right moment (not only for Super-Euro), in a blooming of activities (BAIA, SVIEC, Mind the Bridge, …), and with the US Embassy’s commitment too. In Italiani di Frontiera, I am interviewing entrepreneurs, researchers, and engineers. Some young newcomers, some veterans with outstanding records, such as Federico Faggin, Roberto Crea, and Enzo Torresi. They are a mine of gold of memories, enterprises, and challenges. Still more precious are their thoughts and critical comments about Italy, its qualities, and its faults. Now a blog, then an interactive website with videos, Italiani di Frontiera will be a book in Italy, sponsored by the Centro Formazione Management del Terziario and published by FrancoAngeli. And more is still in my mind…
Franco: After spending some time in Silicon Valley, how has your opinion of America and the American way of life changed?
Roberto: I first came to the USA 30 years ago as a young hitchhiker. At that time, this was another world from Italy. Big cars and standardized behaviors impressed me more. Today, cars are a bit smaller, and I’m still impressed by standardization and predictability in daily life. Sometimes I find it funny or boring. But I realize these strict rules are fundamental to a multicultural and multi-ethnic country. Meanwhile, Italy and Italians became more standardized and stereotyped, after years of flat consumerism and silly hedonism pumped by the TV model over exposition. But they lack a ground standard of rules and civic commitment, which is quite strict here. We still have a sense of quality of life, in terms of friendship, food, and beauty. While sometimes I had the feeling that a part of the American way of life, in its pursuit of success, still has the goal to make money to show money and money symbols. And then… what else?
Franco: After interviewing so many “Italians,” did you find any common background or shared archetype?
Roberto: Yes, absolutely. And much stronger than I expected. Perhaps we managed to survive for centuries as individuals with unpredictable behavior. And our classic roots, deeper than we realize and remember, are the best background for an open mind. Italians who graduated from Italian Universities act wonderfully here. Many of them told me they feel they have a special capacity to solve problems out of the standard better than others. Somebody thinks that you can recognize a software “made by Italians” for a particular touch of creativity and aesthetic…
Franco: Once you are back in Italy, do you think you will be able to communicate and share your experience?
Roberto: If I fail, I’ll be the only one to blame. Because I think contents and thoughts from Italiani di Frontiera are of extraordinary value, for what in my view is today Italy. So many outstanding goals achieved thanks to Italians, to remember, while the country dramatically lacks memory. And so many examples to study and pursue, in hard work, creativity, courage, challenge in a global competition, both in entrepreneurs and in corporations. Mainly ignored in a country dulled by local arguments and silly gossip. A country of emigrants, now pretending to isolate and protect itself, rather than better widely exploit its talents. Let’s open the doors and windows in Italy to let in fresh air! More web, more English speaking. More good models for young people. More chances for inspired ideas. And more sights from abroad, from Italians in the Bay too!
Franco: The Italian community in California is very fragmented. Only now are Italians becoming aware of being part of a community and of the benefits that come from it. What can associations like BAIA and Italian institutions such as the Italian Consulate do in this direction?
Roberto: They can act stronger in building a powerful community here. But I really think that in this, meetings and networking must be supported by a strong cultural effort. This means first to know what other Italians are doing here around. Then be aware of how strong their contribution can be and be an example not only to each other but also to their country. Business opportunities are not enough; we need careful consideration. About qualities that let Italians here act fantastically: open mind, improvisation, aesthetic taste, etc. And a critical reflection on the obstacles to the emergence of the same qualities in Italy in entrepreneurship. It is a cultural effort because, from my work, it emerges that bad habits and distorted traditions (for example, family extensions in corporate management) are for Italy heavier chains than old infrastructure and lack of financing.
Franco: Will you come back to California with a new project?
Roberto: Telling the truth, I’m just ready to stay… Kidding (not too much). At the end of July, I have to go back to Reuters in Milan and finish my work on the project. For my family and me, it would be a dream to come back to stay. There are a lot of media subjects and links to work on between Italy and the Bay. I could have ten more “start up” projects in my head, as a web radio, needing a venture capitalist I am afraid… because this adventure ’til now has been hardly self-financed. Good investment for me, my wife, and, mainly, for my teen son and daughter, in their international, open-minded experience at Gunn High School (while Ale, a soccer striker, scored 18 goals in 7 matches with Stanford Earthquakes). One new project is already a part of Italiani di Frontiera. I called “Italindiani” some outstanding Italians in the West, discovered by my friend Cesare Marino, anthropologist at the Smithsonian Institution, and one of the most prominent experts on Native Americans. Nearly unknown both here and in Italy, they deserve a book of their own, having in past centuries the same bold spirit of the Italiani di Frontiera that we all need to challenge the new 21st Century Global Frontier.
I would like to thank Roberto Bonzio for taking the time for this interview and for the incredible work he has done in such a short time exploring the local Italian community and exposing the unexpectedly long list of entrepreneurs, researchers, and influential people.
