In 2006, Ermano Vitali, who is now director of China-Italy Chamber of Commerce in China, came to China, a country his father mentioned many times when he was a child. “The place was exactly what I had imagined. I felt like going back home when I came here,” Vitali recalls.

Coming to Nanjing from Italy, Vitali married a beautiful Chinese wife here and has three lovely daughters. "My children have two hometowns, one in China and one in Italy. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, I would take them back to our hometown in Italy to visit their grandparents." Vitali added that the children can speak fluent Chinese. Vitali’s daughters are also his Chinese teachers, and he often asks them for advice on how to pronounce correctly.

Vitali has lived in China for more than 10 years and he has solid confidence on the friendly exchanges between Nanjing and Florence. “Both cities boast a long history and splendid culture, with well-developed manufacturing industries and numerous small and medium-sized enterprises.” It is worth mentioning that Xuanwu District has carried out fruitful cooperation in the field of innovation with Italy and have set up an overseas collaborative innovation center in Florence.

"Over the past 40 years, no matter how the international environment changes, I have witnessed that the friendly cooperative relations between Florence and Nanjing have been developing steadily. The exchanges have extended to various fields including economy and trade, science and technology, education, culture, health, sports, urban construction and innovation." Vitali strongly felt that the exchanges and cooperation between the two cities at all levels are relatively close.

The year 2020 marked the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Italy, as well as the 40th anniversary of the sister city relationship between Nanjing and Florence. Affected by the epidemic, the commemorative activities of the two cities were held in May last year in the form of a series of special activities including opening ceremony, food festival, music show, fashion show, cooking master class and so on. As Director of China-Italy Chamber of Commerce, Vitali participated in the whole process of preparation. He said that the activities promoted in-depth exchanges between the two cities in various fields, and also brought the Italian culture to Nanjing citizens.

The development of sister city relationship cannot be separated from the support of government leaders and the participation of all sectors of society. In 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic was raging around the world, the mayor of Florence launched the "Hug the Chinese" initiative on social media, bringing warmness to the hearts of all Chinese people. In late February 2020, when the epidemic began to spread in Italy, the then mayor of Nanjing sent a letter of condolence to the mayor of Florence and expressed her willingness to share experience with Florence to jointly fight the Covid-19 epidemic. At the same time, Nanjing donated epidemic prevention materials to Florence, demonstrating that “a partnership that defies geographical distance is stronger than metal and stone".

During the epidemic, in addition to donating medical supplies and sharing experience, Nanjing also actively assisted the resumption of production of Italian enterprises in Nanjing, and assisted Italy in the transportation of diplomatic bags, playing an important role in the communications between China and Italy.

Vitali strongly hopes that the epidemic would end soon and the two cities could further promote project cooperation in various fields and share development achievements. He is looking forward to normal friendly exchanges between the two cities, hoping that the citizens can communicate and embrace each other without the need of wearing masks.

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Florence is the capital city of Tuscany region in central Italy, the birthplace of Renaissance in Europe, and the city is seen as "the cultural capital" of Italy. In February 1980, with the help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the promotion of Zhang Yue, the former Ambassador to Italy, Nanjing and Florence established sister-city relationship and became the first pair of sister cities between Jiangsu Province and Europe, and the third pair between China and Europe. The establishment of relations opened a new chapter in Jiangsu's exchanges with Europe.

The friendly relations between the two cities have made positive contributions to the development of China-Italy relations and even China-Europe relations at the local level, serving as a good example of promoting official friendship through people-to-people exchanges.