04/07/2026
A Message to Prime Minister Meloni on the 250th Anniversary of the United States
Prime Minister Meloni;
As the United States approaches its 250th birthday, I hope Italy will pause and reflect on something important.
America is far more than the president who happens to occupy the White House at any given moment.
Presidents come and go. Political disagreements come and go. Nations endure.
When Italy was fighting for its future during World War II, nearly 20,000 American soldiers gave their lives on Italian soil, and more than 100,000 were wounded in the campaign to liberate Italy. Many of those young Americans remain buried in cemeteries across Italy, including Florence and Nettuno.
They never returned home.
Their sacrifice became part of Italy's modern story.
After the war, the United States helped rebuild Italy.
Through the Marshall Plan alone, America provided approximately $1.5 billion in aid to Italy—equivalent to many billions in today's dollars. Over the decades that followed, America continued to support Italy's recovery, security, and prosperity.
Today, more than 12,000 American service members remain stationed in Italy, serving alongside Italians and helping defend both Italy and NATO.
But this friendship is not measured only in blood, military service, or financial assistance.
For the past seven or eight years, I have personally witnessed another side of America here in Sicily.
Through The Sicilian Project, our nonprofit organization, approximately twenty sailors from Naval Air Station Sigonella have volunteered their time and talents in support of our mission. They have taught English, participated in community projects, helped improve local areas, and represented their country with generosity, professionalism, and goodwill.
Recently, many of these sailors, together with senior leadership from Sigonella, attended a memorial event in Aci Trezza honoring a fallen American sailor. Their presence reminded all of us that the relationship between America and Italy is not merely diplomatic or military. It is personal. It is human.
That friendship was evident again during Cyclone Harry. Through The Sicilian Project, Americans and friends of Sicily responded with remarkable generosity. Within just a few weeks, nearly $40,000 in aid was raised and distributed to assist communities along Sicily's eastern coast between Catania and Taormina.
It was a small example of a much larger truth: when Sicily and Italy suffers, many Americans still care deeply and are willing to help.
History also asks us to remember difficult truths. During the Fascist era, Mussolini's invasion and occupation of Ethiopia brought immense suffering. Historians estimate that hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians died, and Italian forces employed chemical weapons, including poison gas, against Ethiopian soldiers and civilians.
Strong nations do not fear history. They learn from it.
And so, Prime Minister, I would respectfully invite you to visit the World War II Museum in Catania. Walk through its exhibits. Read the stories. Look at the photographs. Reflect on the young Americans who crossed an ocean, fought across Sicily and the Italian peninsula, and never returned home. Their sacrifice helped give Italy a second chance and helped forge one of the most enduring friendships in modern history.
As someone who has lived in Sicily for many years, I have seen that friendship up close. I have seen it in the graves of young Americans who gave their lives for Italy's freedom. I have seen it in the aid that helped rebuild a devastated nation. And I have seen it in the young sailors who continue to serve their country while extending a hand of friendship to the Sicilian people.
The bond between the American people and the Italian people was forged in sacrifice, strengthened through partnership, and sustained through friendship.
On America's 250th birthday, that is worth remembering.
Respectfully,
Alfred M. Zappalà, Esq.
Proud Dual U.S.–Italian Citizen
Sicily, Italy
