From a simple traveler to an Italian voice on New York: Tony Like a Local has become in just a few months a reference point for those looking for more than just the Statue of Liberty and Times Square. He does so with an intimate and curious approach, showing that “third time New York” that is often discovered only after leaving the tourist enchantment behind. We interviewed him to let him tell us about the birth of the project, his love for the city and its hidden corners.
Let’s start at the beginning. A little over a year ago you decided to open a page on New York, at a time when so many people were already doing something similar. How did you come to do that?
The love for New York was definitely the main reason. However, it wasn’t enough for me to keep it to myself, to just come here on vacation. I really needed to talk about it, but I had also run out of patience with my wife and friends-I needed to find a different outlet. At first I wanted to do YouTube videos, something more structured and lengthy, but it’s much more complex: it requires time, energy, perseverance … and I don’t live in New York. So I chose Instagram, which allows you to reach more people in less time. I started telling people about the city, but from a different point of view than those who make more tourist content. My profile is designed for people who come here from the second, third time on. Those who have already seen the Freedom Tower, the Empire, the Top of the Rock, and want to discover a more urban, more local side. The name itself, “Tony Like a Local,” comes from there-a coincidence with my name and the kind of approach.
How many years have you been coming to New York and how did your relationship with the city come about?
From 2017. I came there with my wife for our honeymoon at Christmas. It was magical: on the 24th evening, as we were going to dinner, it started snowing. A scene from a movie. We fell in love with it and said, “Let’s go back every year, for longer and longer periods.” And so we did, except for the forced Covid stop. After that two-year stop, we came back for a whole month: our daughter had just turned one year old and we even have the video of her first steps on the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s as if fate had decided for us. Then, also living in Brooklyn, we discovered a calmer, more neighborhood New York. People recognize us, play with Alice, offer us St. Anthony’s bread … it’s a sense of community that, though different, resembles the Italian one. Only here it is even smaller, more intimate.
There is research that says Italians, given a choice of one trip in their lives, would choose New York City. More than any other population. Why do you think that is?
Because we have experienced New York even without ever having been there. It is true that American cinema is global, but we Italians have been soaked in American pop culture in a special way: think of the 1980s, the economic boom, Jovanotti, Levi’s, TV series. The series make you attached to the characters and places: when you arrive in New York, you feel like you already know it. The brain does not distinguish between real experience and experience mediated by a book, a movie, a story. I have always been an Americanist, reading American novels, essays, watching series … in a sense I had already been there, without ever really being there.
And so when you get there, you live it twice.
Exactly. There is this feeling of déjà vu, which doesn’t happen in other cities. Maybe a little bit in Rome, which we’ve also internalized a lot cinematically, but never like with New York. It’s compact, recognizable, livable on foot. And then there is this typically Italian love-hate for America: we idealize it and criticize it at the same time. We need someone to admire us, and knowing that “Americans adore us” still makes us feel important, even though it may not always be true. My mother has never been to America, but she is convinced that Americans adore Italians. Maybe that is also what makes us so connected to New York.
Have you ever pissed off someone who lives here and does a job similar to yours?
No, indeed. Those who were already there before me were very welcoming. Some I got to know, some I collaborated with. No envy, or at least, if there was, they didn’t point it out to me. There is a good sense of community. I always try to avoid controversy, I never polarize attention. I tell stories, I don’t give opinions. Maybe that helps.
You don’t sell trips, tours, itineraries–do you plan to stay that way or are you thinking about an evolution of the project?
I don’t want to sell itineraries, no. But I do have a larger project that is always about video communication: the idea is to do a YouTube series, episodic, multiple seasons, six episodes per season, posted every two weeks. I would like to tell stories about New York in more depth, maybe 40-45 minute episodes. And to fund the project, I’m thinking about partnerships with brands that believe in the idea. I don’t want to sell vacation packages, I want to tell about the city.
Speaking of telling: if you had to name three little-known places that you really like, even for those who have lived here for years?
The first is a hidden courtyard near Washington Square Park: it’s called Vanderbilt Hall, part of NYU. It is tiny, quiet, with small tables, benches, a small waterfall. Hardly anyone goes there, not even students: you only go if you know it’s there.
Then I love bars as they understand them here: you sit at the counter, you talk to the bartender, to the neighbor. Every time you discover incredible stories. The other day, near Times Square, I met a gentleman who has been driving around America selling wine for 36 years. He worked for a winery in Ohio-who would have thought there was a winery in Ohio?
The third is the concept of playgrounds. In Italy they are often neglected, full of teenagers, dangerous. Here they are clean, gated, accessible only to accompanied children. My daughter plays there free and safe. This gives us parents a sense of freedom as well. And it shows: children here grow up safer, more independent.
Have you ever thought of moving here permanently?
No. I like to live it like this: coming often, even for months, but without settling down. That way I take only the advantages, without the negative aspects – stress, expensive school for my daughter, etc. She is now used to coming often…maybe one day she will want to study here. At that point, who knows.
What impact did the project have on your company?
From a technical point of view, none. But psychologically it helped me so much. I had reached a saturation point with the company: it was working well, I had a broken-in team … but there was no adrenaline left. This project gave me a new energy, a new toy to grow. It relaxed me. It didn’t bring new clients, but it made me more calm in handling everything else.
Is there anything we haven’t said that you want to add?
I am often asked how I know all these things. The answer is simple: I read a lot, novels, essays, articles. And I’m curious. And then I jump into random places: a local place, a restaurant, a bar that from the outside has that New York vibe. Sometimes you discover some amazing gems, sometimes some junk. But that’s the beauty of it.
The article Tony Like a Local tells New York beyond the usual places comes from TheNewyorker.
