The best face of the Italians

This article is published in number 36 of Vanity Fair on newsstands until 7 September 2021

Of the storm of news and photographs coming to us from Afghanistan, there are two images that have stuck with me. The first is that of Tommaso Claudi, the Italian consul in Kabul who lifts a child from the Abby Gate sewer channel and with that gesture, in all possible ways, tries to snatch him from the grip of tragedy to deliver him into the hands of hope. . Mario Calabresi writes about it in a piece that I advise you not to miss: you can find it in the pages after this editorial.

Claudi’s face, Calabresi says, “presents the best face of Italy, capable of holding together courage and hospitality, an important signal in times of closures, fears and rejections”. The emergency in Afghanistan will be a long, intricate question which will cross these moments of emergency and which, above all, must not be forgotten. Because democracy and the human rights of “others” always concern us. Unfortunately, however, there are already many voices of those who say “that the refugees remain there”, when instead, as our President Sergio Mattarella remembers, this attitude “does not live up to the historical role and value of the European Union “.

Speaking of Europe, the new is about to be born Vanity Fair Europa, a project that will see us engaged, once a month, in producing an important issue of this newspaper together with the editions of Vanity Fair France and Spain. This is the genesis of a new international network that will celebrate the values, culture, identity and strength that Europe and its states must learn to cultivate and grow.

The first act of this new path are the three covers of Vanity Fair Italy, France and Spain: three different covers plus a community portfolio with the actresses, directors, screenwriters and artists who are revolutionizing European cinema. At a time when in Kabul they erase the faces of women from the windows of beauty salons to the TV, it seemed important and necessary to remember how much the role of women, in all spheres of power, culture, politics and the economy is necessary, fundamental and indispensable. On the occasion of the new Venice Film Festival, we have thus brought together an exceptional team of European female talents: to them and to all the women who will never stop changing the rules of the game, who will prevent anyone from erasing their voice, their face and their identity, we dedicate this issue by Vanity Fair.
Never stop carrying out this change: you need it, we need it, everyone needs it.
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