If you’ve been keeping up with this blog and also see my posts on Facebook and Instagram then you’ve already seen me use this cliche white girl word twice, but today could only be described as inspiring.
After visiting Vatican Media yesterday, I heard several of the students comment on how negative the broadcast and social media representatives were about their industry. “Those were the glory days.” “The good ol’ days are over.” “You guys are entering this field at a terrible time.”
The majority of us, now as upperclassmen, have had these phrases beaten into us for the longest time now. We know print is dying. We know you need to know how to do it all to find a job. We know the hours are long and the pay is terrible. We know.
Our first visit to Arkage Art Attack Agency was filled with so much passion that it actually changed my perspective on aspects of the advertising world.
All three of our hosts–Managing Partner and Founder Claudio Ciatti, front office worker Frederico Giuntella, and Creative Director Mauro Feliziani–were phenomenal and incredibly hospitable, but Mauro stood out in that he took so much pride in the agency’s work that he could talk about it for hours. Through and through, we saw what it looks like to truly love your job and be genuine with your clients, and genuineness was never a word that I associated with the advertising world.
They showed us incredible examples of their work with nationally and globally known clients, including one for a popular Italian clothing line for children, Original Marines. Another project in which they went into detail involved a campaign with Fiat in London that required months upon months of planning and coordinating.
Almost every School of Comm student hoped to be in Mauro’s shoes someday: in a fulfilling job filled with passion and pride that shines through in the exemplary and high quality final product put out at the end of the day.
Our second visit was la Repubblica, Italy’s largest and most widespread newspaper, and we were met with the same encouragement and high hopes as we had been in the morning.
Our hosts introduced us to their recent work, starting with they development in reporting using Instagram stories, which effectively reassured me that I do not want to work in social media. But later, they brought in a representative from their data lab Gruppo Espresso who showed us their recent work in data and longform journalism.
The sites they put together for la Repubblica, from coverage of the anniversary of nationally-known public figures to slot machine addiction, set the bar for multimedia and journalism in the digital age. This newspaper is operating at the same caliber as The New York Times, which prompted me to ask if any other papers in the U.S. or the world partner with a lab to create multimedia works such as those. We, as students, are also always expected to know how to do everything, but in order to develop a final product as complex and refined as that, it requires specialists. 
The newsrooms we toured also showed us a newspaper that is both evolving and thriving simultaneously, something I only witnessed before touring the Washington Post. Sadly, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette does not give off that vibe. (Sorry, Helen.)
The evening was nothing short of a disaster. Our tour guide recommended this restaurant, Dar Poeta, but after some misguided navigation and confusion it turned into a half hour walk in a complete downpour. Can’t exactly say the food was worth the trouble either.
I kept saying that it would make for a funny story someday. It’s funny now, and all of our shoes are dry.