ROMANO CANAVESE – THE FIRST LADY AT VILLA MATILDE

An honour for Antonio Conto, mayor of Romano Canavese, in the splendid welcome to celebrate the arrival of the First Lady U.S.A. for the opening ceremony of the Turin Winter Olimpics 2006

FEBRUARY 2006

GIANNI FERRARO – Translated by Annitta Tudor

ROMANO CANAVESE (TURIN, ITALY) –  «The smallest casks hide the best wine» as the old saying goes and this certainly applies to the little village, Romano Canavese. This unknown treasure has a delightful centre which has become famous thanks to its special visitor and the jewel in its crown, “Villa Matilde” briefly became a super-protected oasis for the visit of Laura Bush and her daughter, Barbara and a select group of friends of the President of the United States on Friday 10th February.

At 12.30 bathed in radiant sunlight, the Villa opened its majestic doors to welcome the guests, the majority of whom were staff of the American consulate, also present were the Swiss Ambassador and the Swiss Minister of Defence, the Vice President of the Committee for the Organisation of the Winter Olympics, Evelina Christillin, the Mayor of Bardonecchia and various other Olympic sponsors.

A special guest, invited by the American Embassy in Rome, was the Mayor of Romano Canavese, accompanied by his wife, Emanuela, and all involved participated in the splendid welcome to celebrate the arrival of Laura and Barbara Bush for the opening ceremony of the Turin Winter Olympics 2006. After the initial welcome by the American Consul of Milan, Mrs. Deborah Graze and the U.S.A. Ambassador in Italy, Mr. Spogli, Mrs Bush felt at ease in the informal and friendly atmosphere and was eager to chat with all present. Dressed extremely elegantly Mrs Bush was radiant and easy to approach.

In the words of Mayor Antonio Conto, Laura Bush  «… is a fascinating and reserved lady but at the same time is approachable and warm and puts everyone at their ease. I warmly welcomed her to Romano Canavese and thanked her for coming and presented her with some mementoes – a print by Corni of the ancient Church of Saint Marta and Alessandra Ferraro’s book, “Da Giovanni Paolo II a Benedetto XVI” and the DVD of the meeting of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and our Bishop Arrigo Miglio here in Romano Canavese. I was able to appreciate her sensibility and we discussed the various economic problems of this area and I brought to her knowledge the current difficulties faced by the workers of the American company, Diebold. It was a wonderful and gratifying experience not only for myself and my wife, but also is a great opportunity for our village which has come to fame thanks to this visit and we will develop a new policy for tourism and economic development in synergy with “Villa Matilde”».