Vietnam is working on its media image in Italy, and two Italian writers are leading the charge. Mow magazine editor-in-chief Moreno Pisto and freelance journalist Federico Giuliani, who contributes to il Giornale, met Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyễn Phương Anh in Rome on November 11 to talk about bringing more rounded coverage of the country to Italian readers.
Their argument is a familiar one for anyone who has tried to pitch modern Vietnam to European audiences: Italian coverage, especially around Milan, still leans heavily on the war years. The journalists told the ambassador there's a whole other Vietnam to cover — cuisine, arts, cities, economic growth — and Italian readers are missing it.
Giuliani knows the country first-hand. He's written about the region for years, with reporting trips spanning China, Thailand, the two Koreas and Vietnam, and has already published pieces on Vietnamese politics and business, including coverage of VinFast and the Trống Đồng Stadium project. On the travel side, his highlights were the classics done right: Hanoi, Hội An and Hạ Long Bay, which he praises for scenery, food, dynamic city life and welcoming locals. He's now planning a series of books on Vietnamese cities, with Hanoi pencilled in as the first.
Pisto is weighing a reporting trip to Vietnam in 2027 and wants long-term cooperation with Vietnamese sources for accurate information. His Mow platform covers politics, economics, lifestyle, fashion, arts and sport, with a soft spot for the automotive industry — relevant to Vietnam given the rise of VinFast. After six years of free content, Mow is going subscription-based in 2027, which should mean deeper, higher-quality features. The ambassador, for her part, welcomed the proposals and asked the pair to share concrete project plans so the embassy can coordinate.
Why should travellers care? Because the stories Italian outlets plan to tell — Hanoi's street-level energy, Hội An's old town, the bay, the food scene — are exactly what a first-time Vietnam itinerary is built on, and better coverage usually means better-informed visitors. If a Hanoi book lands before your trip, even better.
