Italian industrial beauty
A collection of corporate stories that tell us all about Italian production culture
The home of craftsmanship, excellence, magnificent production; the home of beautiful, well-made products. This is how Italy is often described, as the quintessential “Bel Paese”. But why?
This is the question that Severino Salvemini addresses in his Il quid imprenditoriale. Oltre la retorica del Made in Italy (That entrepreneurial something. Beyond ‘Made in Italy’ rhetorics), a book collecting a number of corporate stories previously published on the L’Economia supplement of Corriere della Sera.
Each chapter is a story and the book was inspired by an observation: if we do not look beyond the ‘Made in Italy’ slogan, which simply describes Italy as the realm of beauty, we will not be able to notice the distinctive features of what actually is a complex phenomenon that led Italian companies to blend technological globalisation with a new humanism inspired by taste and creativity, and to replace Anglo-Saxon economic theories with an all-Italian management style.
Thus, Salvemini refers to an “elusive chemistry” that needs to be studied with great care, something that the author tries to achieve through the narration of 53 exemplary stories about companies who made of excellence their distinguishing feature. As such, readers will learn about the vicissitudes – often unknown to most – of companies that have made, and continue to make, history within their own segment. Stories that, as well as unquestionable production skills, boast other features, too, which Salvemini masterfully summarises as, “Within the delicate filigree of these narrations, one can (…) glimpse how Italian people place themselves at the service of others, their innate inquisitiveness and ability to refine established processes through innovation, their urge to research, question, doubt, reflect – all traits discernible within Italy’s vast cultural heritage.”
Salvemini’s book succeeds in a difficult task, that of describing the best of Italian enterprise, without recurring to rhetorics – a must-read for sure.
Il quid imprenditoriale. Oltre la retorica del Made in Italy (That entrepreneurial something. Beyond ‘Made in Italy’ rhetorics)
Severino Salvemini
Egea, 2023
A collection of corporate stories that tell us all about Italian production culture
The home of craftsmanship, excellence, magnificent production; the home of beautiful, well-made products. This is how Italy is often described, as the quintessential “Bel Paese”. But why?
This is the question that Severino Salvemini addresses in his Il quid imprenditoriale. Oltre la retorica del Made in Italy (That entrepreneurial something. Beyond ‘Made in Italy’ rhetorics), a book collecting a number of corporate stories previously published on the L’Economia supplement of Corriere della Sera.
Each chapter is a story and the book was inspired by an observation: if we do not look beyond the ‘Made in Italy’ slogan, which simply describes Italy as the realm of beauty, we will not be able to notice the distinctive features of what actually is a complex phenomenon that led Italian companies to blend technological globalisation with a new humanism inspired by taste and creativity, and to replace Anglo-Saxon economic theories with an all-Italian management style.
Thus, Salvemini refers to an “elusive chemistry” that needs to be studied with great care, something that the author tries to achieve through the narration of 53 exemplary stories about companies who made of excellence their distinguishing feature. As such, readers will learn about the vicissitudes – often unknown to most – of companies that have made, and continue to make, history within their own segment. Stories that, as well as unquestionable production skills, boast other features, too, which Salvemini masterfully summarises as, “Within the delicate filigree of these narrations, one can (…) glimpse how Italian people place themselves at the service of others, their innate inquisitiveness and ability to refine established processes through innovation, their urge to research, question, doubt, reflect – all traits discernible within Italy’s vast cultural heritage.”
Salvemini’s book succeeds in a difficult task, that of describing the best of Italian enterprise, without recurring to rhetorics – a must-read for sure.
Il quid imprenditoriale. Oltre la retorica del Made in Italy (That entrepreneurial something. Beyond ‘Made in Italy’ rhetorics)
Severino Salvemini
Egea, 2023