Italy, a country most people know for it's pizza, pasta, ice-cream and old buildings. Amongst these ruins from centuries ago something new is brewing. Though Italy is definitely not new to me, as I have been there on numerous occasions, this was Italy in a way I have not experienced it before. My taste buds tingled, my eyes twinkled, my ears itched and my nose tickled. That is how I felt throughout the entire day and night at JoomlaDay Italy.

As the only non-native presenter and almost the only non-native attendee, I felt a very warm welcome from the people I already knew, but definitely also from the people I had never met before. My workshop on Github and Joomla was well attemded, even though it is not an easy workshop and it was in English only. The attendees made a good effort to learn something new despite of the language barrier. Nothing we could not conquer.

What became very clear, is that as a community Italy is ready to contribute to the Joomla! project with all their knowledge. The only issue seems to be that they do not know how or where to start. So I would like to call on everybody to help our Italian Joomlistas getting started in contributing the project. To our Italian Joomlistas I would like to say, contact people in the community if you want to help out. You can start by contacting me, and I can direct you to the right people. We need people in all areas, not only coding but also in design, translation, writing documentation, there are many areas you can help. It is a very rewarding task to know that millions of people will be using your work. Get into the community arena and enrich your life.

The day was filled with presentations that I mostly missed due to not speaking the language, but I did notice that the room stayed full of people during the day. The day was concluded with a beer fest. This was really the time we had to sit down and talk about the project, the event and our lives. It is a pity that the event only lasted a single day, I would love to see the event last two days next year, as it will give the attendees more time to interact with each other.

It is a pity to see that the international presence is so minimal at the event, probably also due to it being a one-day event. If you are planning a holiday in Italy, plan it around Joomla Day Italy, and spend some time with the locals, it is an inspiring experience. Do not let the language barrier stop you, the Italians will make an effort to speak English. Nothing a good glass of wine or an incredibly large fussball table I have ever seen cannot fix.

Like real gladiators we fought the language barrier, stood side by side and created a wonderful event.

Italia, ti amo.