During the great financial crisis, together with a couple of friends, as expats wanting to do something for our home country – Italy, we approached the Italian President and Government with a simple letter proposing an idea:
establishing a Happiness Day in the national calendar.

A day to celebrate being together and create positive connections with others. In a country surrounded by negativity and self-interest, it was our attempt to involve the nation in reigniting positive feelings and actions between each other towards common well-being during the economic downturn.

The letter was picked up by the news, as the President and Government praised the initiative and decided to take it further.

The idea reached the United Nations, which were coincidently working on a similar project. As a result, on 28th June 2012 the UN founded the ‘INTERNATIONAL HAPPINESS DAY’,
which is now celebrated worldwide on 20th March each year.

Whether our letter had been of inspiration, or just added something to a flow in process, it’s great to know that our energy contributed to acknowledging such a day.