Gaetano Pesce has just arrived in his office in downtown Manhattan at 543 Broadway.

"I have lived in New York since 1980, for 34 years. I love the city, but this summer we have heavy rain all the time and it is quite inconvenient....."

Why did you decide to move to New York and to become a New Yorker?

"Because New York in one way or another represents at its best the modern concept of a mix of diversity, in its population, in its values, in its languages.....  This city became the capital of the world in the second part of the twentieth century. Before it was Paris, then London in the Sixties. London is still very intense and lively, but Paris has lost the cultural leadership that it had......"