Rome, 2 April 2020
During the Coronavirus period, La Freccia has abandoned paper for the first time and is only available online (FSNews), featuring lots of friends on its pages talking about their days at home and their travel goals for the future, to be visited as soon as the emergency is over. Plus entertainment, solidarity, Easter traditions and reflections, in view of World Earth Day, on a planet to be safeguarded in order to save ourselves.
In this spirit, this month's cover pays a double homage: to the yearning to return to the open air, and to our duty to keep the environment as uncontaminated as possible, so that we and future generations can enjoy it.
This issue opens with statements by the CEO of FS Italiane, Gianfranco Battisti, on the record profits achieved in 2019 and on the FS Group's contribution to the economic and productive relaunch of the country, with tenders for investments of over 20 billion in rail and road infrastructure.
The editorial, with some symbolic photos of these difficult days, is followed by an interview with Franco Fiumara, Director of Corporate Protection at FS Italiane, on the steps taken in recent weeks to protect the safety of travellers and employees, accompanied by a photographic tribute to the work of the latter.
The Medialogando column hosts the director of Sky TG24, Giuseppe De Bellis, and revolves around television news, investigating the facts and integrating with the new digital media, and its fundamental role in narrating the events we are experiencing.
The obligation to stay at home turns into an opportunity to imagine and plan your next dream trip. La Freccia asked a range of people to tell us about theirs: scientific philosopher Telmo Pievani, actor Vinicio Marchioni, art critic Costantino D'Orazio, athlete Larissa Iapichino, chef Bruno Barbieri, singer-songwriter Francesco Gabbani, TV presenter Flavio Montrucchio, ecodesigner Tiziano Guardini, stand-up comedian Michela Giraud, radio host La Pina, actress Chiara Francini, physicist Gabriella Greison, actor Maurizio Lombardi and photographer Letizia Battaglia.
Ample space is dedicated to the 50th Earth Day, which this year is almost entirely online, and offers us an opportunity to discuss the most imminent threats to people and the planet. Speakers include the president of Earth Day Italy, Pierluigi Sassi, former fencer Valentina Vezzali and comedian Max Paiella, who explain the Villaggio per la Terra project, and Federica Gasbarro, an activist from Fridays for future who talks about her commitment as a striker in the footsteps of Greta Thunberg.
The reflections continue with Andrea Ferraretto who, inspired by the landscape seen from the window of a train, focuses on the complexity of the natural balances that make the Earth work and they close, on a similar wavelength, with the geologist Mario Tozzi who in his historical column Fuori luogo explains how the current pandemic is not the result of chance. Lastly, Lavinia Martini suggests how to plan our next travel experiences in a sustainable way, from transport to accommodation, suitcases to food.
Alberto Brandani's column Un treno di libri brings new reading suggestions, with In viaggio con il Prof, that in April proposes a journey through the insidious meanders of justice, with a unique thriller, La misura del tempo by Gianrico Carofiglio.
The Covid-19 pandemic shouldn't make us forget other pathologies to study and fight: La Freccia interviews Margherita Granbassi, former fencing champion and testimonial of Margherita for AIRC, the project of the Italian Association of Gardening Centres to support research against cancer by selling home-delivered flowers that symbolise purity.
The children who participated in the #IoDisegno initiative by FSNews will be helping us to travel along the sunny tracks of our imagination once again. La Freccia has chosen some of their creations to close the final section of the magazine, entirely dedicated to the young readers of La Freccia junior.