Dear AddictLab community,

my name is Sara. I am a researcher in the field of education and sustainability.

In the last years I have been collaborating with NGOs, foundations and non-profits to promote cultural exchange through digital means across broader Europe. I've been doing this in Italy, the country I come from, and for several years in the Netherlands, my country of adoption and where I'm currently based.

Thanks to my work I've been growing an interest in European culture, and I've been developing a desire to share less-known aspects of the culture of my own country of origin.

In the Netherlands I work on a project aimed specifically at that: sharing the culture of my own country, Italy, with the audience of my country of adoption, the Netherlands.

At an European level, language really matters: that is why all the communication and writing I'm doing is in Dutch, "in het Nederlands".

Dutch people mostly know Italy as a holiday destination; throughout the television and the media, my country is portrayed as the land of corruption, questionable economic choices and reduced to a stereotype.
Together with my nework, I believe that this view does not contribute to a constructive dialogue between Europeans. And this approach is what I want to change, from a cultural and educational standpoint.

For this reason, I work on a project called Alle Italiaanse which in Dutch means "All the Italian things", meant at explaining the broad Italian Culture to the Dutch.

I started sharing bits about the Italian literature, with living authors as well as writers from the past century; then I moved to the origin of the Italian language, to the artistic production, and the history of the flag. Also the quality of the food, the passion for taste and the togetherness are universally recognized features of the Italian lifestyle: the result of the climate, culture and great tradition.