Here in the United States many news companies started to invest in virtual reality and specifically in 360 video production. New York Times VR, Discovery VR, and the recent acquisition of Ryot by the Huffington Post showed an increasing in interest in this new technology.

In my home country, Italy, virtual reality has yet to become a prevalent medium. However, one company called Finegil (controlled by Gruppo L'Espresso) produced one of the first 360 videos for a national publication.

Andrea Iannuzzi, director of Gruppo L'Espresso, collaborated in the realization of this video, which took several months to realize.

"We want to be the pioneer for virtual reality in Italy," he said.

The project is a five-minute long video to celebrate the reconstruction of the towns of Gemona and Venzone, 40 years after a terrible earthquake destroyed them. The video shows the two towns before and after the reconstruction while local experts explain the importance of these buildings for the community.

In Italy, this project is an experiment to test the resonance of 360 videos in a country where technologies progress at a slow pace. Thanks to my experience acquired during this semester, I was able to talk to Iannuzzi and suggest him in which was the video should have been realized.

"We decided to focus on the Friuli Earthquake because we wanted to show in an immersive way what the community has done to bring the two towns back to life," Iannuzzi said. "If we receive positive feedback from this video, we'll start producing 360 videos even more."

Finegil wanted to realize this video for a small local publication to demonstrate the importance of the relationship between the community and its landmarks. In addition, the Messagero Veneto was the first publication to cover the disaster of the earthquakes on May 6, 1976. So, for Finegil the 360  video was a way to thank for the service provided 40 years ago.

More than 950 people died that day, and 200 thousand people were left without a home. the earthquake was felt in a large area, which extended throughout central and northern Italy. The earthquake also caused damages in in southern Austria and Slovenia. On May 8, 1976, just two day after the tragedy, the Regional Council allocated 10 billion Lire (about $6 million) for assistance and reconstruction of the towns affected. It will take 10 years to fully rebuild the towns and bring back each place to what it was before the earthquake.

"Gemona and Venzone are the towns with the richest history in the region affected by the earhquake," Iannuzzi said. "Thanks to the 360 technology we are able not only to show the work that was done there, but it's possible for us to bring people there and make them feel what it means to lose everything and rebuild."

Hopefully, Finegil's initiative will create enough resonance to move other Italian news companies to invest into virtual reality. Italy offers a great variety of landscapes and realities that are suitable for this technology. Media organizations just need to realize that and start putting an effort to bridge the gap between my beloved country and more advanced nations, such as the United States.