Italy

Born in 1993 in Turin, Italy
Camilla is attending the first year at Law School at the University of Turin. Additionally she is working in the organisation GxT-Youngsters for Turin, dealing with the organisation of several social and cultural events in Turin. (Last updated 2013)

"1961-2011: Celebrations in 'yesterday' and 'today'" (2011)

In 2011, Italy celebrated the 150th anniversary of its Independence. In her research, Camilla compared the celebrations of the 100th anniversary in 1961 to the celebrations of the 150th anniversary. She found that initiatives for the 2011 celebration were less amazing, less advertised, and less numerous than in 1961, and that there was also less funding available for them. Had the Italian people’s patriotic feelings changed? Camilla began to examine the transformations in the social-economic sphere and in the political-ideological one.

Even though economic conditions of Italians have strongly improved, life is expensive, unemployment among young people is growing, and there is a new social division between the “old Italians” and “new Italians”, i.e. the immigrants. In this light it is understandable why there is a weaker passion for the united nation these days.

Also, there is a strong economic and cultural division between people living in northern and southern Italy. Camilla was surprised to discover how many people, especially politicians, fight for a division of her country and this disappointed her. She began writing a really pessimistic report. However, after collecting interviews from  acquaintances, she understood that there is still a strong sense of unity among Italians. 

Camilla submitted her work in the 2010/2011 Italian competition round "Italian Unification: yesterday and today"