All posts tagged: AfroItalian

eating pizza with Winta

Guide to Black Owned Italy

Last year I introduced Tripadvisor’s audience to my dolce vita with a Guide to Black Owned Italy. But that was just scratching the surface. Immediately after I found out about more businesses and many of you sent me others. The response was exciting and inspiring. Want to know one thing I wish people knew that I have learned while living in Italy? How diverse the country is. In both its ancient history — the diverse Roman Empire — to recent history like Italian Somaliland to immigration now, Italy’s diverse population influences much of what it means to “be Italian.” Coffee from Ethiopia and Marco Polo’s China expeditions contributing to the origins of pasta are far too often ignored and unknown. Often, this history is “hiding” in plain site: William Shakespeare’s Othello, Blackamoor art, the stories of Alessandro de’Medici, the Black member of the famed Florentine Medicis. There was even a Black Roman emperor, Septimus Severus from 193 – 211. To say “there are very few black women in Milan and Italy as a whole” as …

Black guy on Florentine bridge on Tripadvisor homepage

Giving Tripadvisor a Taste of My Black Italy

When Tripadvisor reached out to me to create a Tripadvisor Black Owned Italy guide for their Black History Month package, curated by my friends and colleagues @JetSetSarah and Heather Greenwood Davis , I jumped at the chance. Italy is often portrayed as a very homogenous country. This lends to the erasure of a thriving BIPOC community. I often wonder if it’s the chicken or the egg in a country’s brand. Is it tourism boards that solely portray a beautiful yet stagnant view of the country; a view that is deeply rooted in the past? Or is it the travel publishing industry that chooses to only tell the same stories that fit in specific schemas of Italy? One of the most visited posts on ‘N A Perfect World is Black friendly travel destinations. Even more wonderful is when you can support Black-owned businesses in these destinations! We out here! These Black Italian businesses and creatives I featured in the Tripadvisor Black Owned Italy Guide offer a window into Italy’s multicultural present. There was only so much …