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Voices from the Edge of Modernization: Interview with Massimo Costetti, President

San Francisco’s Com.It.Es. Has Been Redefining Italian Representation Abroad

By Paolo Pontoniere

   

   There’s an Italy that lives beyond the maps. It doesn’t appear in government press releases or evening news bulletins, but it pulses through the streets of North Beach, in the meeting rooms of the Silicon Valley, in the co-working spaces of Portland, and the espresso bars of Seattle.

   This is the Italy of a new migration wave—young professionals, dreamers, engineers, artists, researchers, and entrepreneurs—but also the Italy that was born abroad, carried on in the names, recipes, and stories of Italian Americans whose families arrived with little more than hope.

   Amid this sprawling and fragmented diaspora, an institution long relegated to the shadows has begun to take center stage: the Com.It.Es. of San Francisco, the elected committee of Italians abroad that serves the vast consular district stretching from California to the Pacific Northwest.

   “Honestly, I didn’t even know what the Com.It.Es. was until a few months before I ran,” says Massimo Costetti, current president and one of the committee’s most dynamic voices.
“That’s exactly why I ran—to help change that.”

(Full Disclosure. Costetti and this writer served on the same Com.It.Es, in 2019 to 2022, and I have been a promoter of electoral rights for the Italians living abroad since the times of the First Republic.)

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Rediscovering a Forgotten Institution

   The Com.It.Es. (Committees of Italians Abroad) were created by the Italian government in 1985 to represent citizens living outside of Italy. Over the decades, many became dormant or symbolic. But in San Francisco, a new chapter began.

   Costetti, alongside fellow current and past-elected members—including this writer and community organizers like Elisabetta Ghisini, Silvia Veronese, Sonia Alioto and Annalisa Siagura who were instrumental in launching initiatives such as The Italifornian Almanac, Rete Rosa, and the book La Valle di Silicio, and the Italians By The Bay video-project—joined forces to reimagine the committee’s purpose.

   “We felt the Com.It.Es. needed to be relevant, visible, and most of all, useful,” says Costetti.
“Not just a name on a ballot every five years.”

   For the first time in history—or at least in recent memory—the committee includes elected members from Portland and Seattle, bringing long-absent voices into the conversation.

   “For too long, the feeling outside the Bay Area was: everything happens in San Francisco. We changed that.”

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​​​Building Community Where There Was None

   Isolation is the quiet enemy of the modern expat. And so, the Com.It.Es. launched a groundbreaking project: the first-ever mentorship program created by any Com.It.Es. in the world.

   Pairing newcomers with experienced Italian residents, the initiative has matched over 100 mentors and mentees across industries and cities, helping recent arrivals find guidance, community, and professional support.

  “It’s about building trust,” says Costetti.
“We want new arrivals to know: someone’s been where you are. And they’re here to help.”

   Alongside mentorship, the Com.It.Es. launched a series of webinars and resource guides tackling real-life topics: how U.S.-Italy taxation works, how to navigate public and private schools, how to plan for retirement across two systems. Experts were brought in—bilingual CPAs, cross-border lawyers, educators—offering clarity in a landscape too often marked by confusion.

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A Bridge Between Two Italies

   While Com.It.Es. officially represent Italian citizens, the San Francisco committee has gone a step further, embracing collaboration with Italian American associations. It did so by exercising a little-used option: co-opting four non-voting members from the Italian American community, thereby formally recognizing shared roots and mutual interests.

This move culminated in a landmark project: the San Francisco Little Italy Honor Walk, launched with the support of the Italian Consulate and in collaboration with nearly every major Italian American group in the Bay Area.

   The Honor Walk installs commemorative plaques across North Beach, celebrating Italian figures who shaped the city. The first plaques—dedicated to George Moscone and Marian Bertola—mark the beginning of what’s envisioned as a living museum of Italian heritage in the public space.

   The Com.It.Es. contributed a key tech piece: a mobile app and interactive website that allows users to scan QR codes at each plaque, accessing stories, maps, and multimedia content about the people and places that built Italian San Francisco.

   “We wanted people to walk the streets and hear the voices of our history—of both Italian nationals and Italian Americans.”

 

A Civic Platform for the Diaspora

   Today, there are more than 100 Com.It.Es. worldwide. But San Francisco’s has become a kind of civic laboratory—a frontier post that blends grassroots work with institutional representation.

   “What makes us different?” Costetti reflects. “We listen. We adapt. And we try things.”

   This adaptability has turned the Com.It.Es. from a sleepy bureaucratic name into a living platform. It isn’t always easy—the committee faces financial limitations, complex regulations, and low visibility in Rome—but what it offers is unique: a way to build community, protect rights, and share resources beyond the physical and political borders of Italy.

   “We’re just getting started,” says Costetti.
“And we’re inviting everyone to be part of it.”

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For more information on the Com.It.Es. of San Francisco and its programs, visit https://www.sfcomites.org/ and follow @comites.sf on Facebook. To explore the Honor Walk, check out https://www.sflittleitaly.us/honorwalk or download the app on iOS and Android.  ––  PP

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