It almost seems as if we’re in the United States. Perhaps it’s the big cars, the barbecue outside the many houses, the places where you can play and dance to the rhythm of country music or the young people in very sporty clothes and short sleeves even at the height of winter. But no, we’re in Aviano, home to one of the most important European NATO military bases that since 1954 have travelled in the opposite direction to many of our emigrants at the beginning of the century and, leaving the States, have come to this corner of north-eastern Italy. Soldiers that pilot powerful F-16 planes or the famous "Awaks", which are often seen shooting across the skies of Pordenone to distant destinations to defend peace.