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# 77 MARCH 21 , 2016
in 1925. As such, I have a gram. We helped produce
strong passion for Puglia a documentary “The Bareand a subsequent pride.
se Icemen of NY” which
premiered last November.
You are President of the
United Pugliesi Federa- I am also an elected memtion of Greater New York. ber of the Congress of PuPlease tell us something gliese in the World and a
more about the story and member of the Conferenthe activities of this Fede- ce of Presidents of Major
ration
Italian American Organizations.
The Federation was founded in 1989 with the Recently, the President
purpose of welcoming of Puglia Region, MicheArchbishop of Bari, Ma- le Emiliano, named you
rino Magrassi to the US. the official representative
Afterwards the organi- to promote and support
zations that formed the Puglia business developcommittee decided to ment and cultural exchanstay together to work on ge programs in America.
the common good. We How will you do this imnow host and sponsor portant job?
many events of varied nature. We do book intros, We will step up the efforconcerts of all types (From ts of the United Pugliesi
Pizzica to Classical Mauro Federation. Now, with the
Giuliani), historical events, backing of President Emimovies, etc.
liano, we hopefully can
make Pugliese companies
We
facilitate
student aware of the opportunities
exchanges as well as orga- available here in the USA.
nize tours. All of our even- We need also, to educate
ts have a Pugliese theme. these companies of the ruPlease see our website at les, regulations and beauwww.upfny.org
rocracy involved in doing
for a list of hundreds of business here. Ultimately,
our activities. I am proud our goal is to establish a
to say that we are the only Puglia desk and showrofederation of this type to om here in NYC. There are
offer such a varied pro- major differences in doing
business in Italy versus the
US. Not better, not worse, but different. Everyone needs to be aware of
those differences. We recently hosted business
luncheon for importers
for presentations on these
very aspects.
In addition, we will conti-
WE THE ITALIANS | 53
www.wetheitalians.com