As part of BookCity Milano, and to mark the tenth anniversary of #ioleggoperché – the national programme promoted by the Italian Publishers Association (AIE) in support of school libraries – Pirelli and the Pirelli Foundation have reaffirmed their commitment to encouraging reading among the young. At the Pirelli Auditorium, inside the company’s headquarters, a special event was held for primary and secondary schools, featuring the presentation of the documentary Leggere può cambiare tutto. Dieci anni di #ioleggoperché (“Reading Can Change Everything: Ten Years of #ioleggoperché”), a tribute to the value of libraries and the transformative power of reading at school.

The event was hosted by Sara Zambotti, a well-known Italian radio presenter, who guided the students through an engaging conversation on the power of stories as a force for change. The guest of honour was the writer and journalist Luigi Garlando, who spoke about how books can become tools for growth and connection, highlighting the importance of expanding school libraries and building communities around reading.

Also taking part were Antonio Calabrò, director of the Pirelli Foundation, Innocenzo Cipolletta, president of AIE, and Luca Formenton, president of BookCity Milano, who explored the role of reading as a driver of cultural and civic development. After their contributions, the floor was given to the true protagonists of the event – the boys and girls themselves – who shared their favourite titles, discussed their best-loved genres and authors, and spoke about their own experiences. It was a moment of interaction and inspiration, where the voices and enthusiasm of the young readers brought the event to life.

Promoting reading: the BookCity and #ioleggoperché initiatives

Books are like a nest: a welcoming refuge, a source of knowledge and security, and a path to a better life. Jean-Paul Sartre, one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century, puts it well: ‘I began my life as I shall no doubt end it: among books. In my grandfather’s study, they were everywhere; it was forbidden to dust them except once a year, before the October term. Even before I could read, I already revered these raised stones; upright or leaning, wedged together like bricks on the library shelves or nobly placed like avenues of dolmens, I felt that our family prosperity depended on them. […] The books were my birds and my nests, my pets, my stable and my countryside; the bookcase was the world closed in a mirror; of a mirror had infinite depth, variety, unpredictability.’

The words of Sartre on ‘a life among books’, as well as those of the great French cultural figure Michel de Montaigne (‘Books are the best provisions I have found on this human journey’), spring to mind when considering two current events in Milan, a cultured and literate city where 10% of books sold in Italy are sold in Milanese bookshops. First is BookCity, which will see more than 1,300 debates and 2,700 participants in meetings and presentations from 10 to 16 November. The theme is ‘The power of ideas/the ideas of power’, covering topics such as freedom, creativity, knowledge and responsibility. The second event is the presentation of a documentary on #ioleggoperché (I read because), an initiative launched ten years ago by the Italian Publishers Association (AIE).  This major social project has distributed over 3.7 million donated books to 28,000 schools since 2015, involving 4,000 bookshops and reaching more than 4 million students throughout Italy. And this is a commitment that must continue:  more books, more donations and more school libraries to establish and develop.

Let’s start with this latest initiative. ‘This is a collective commitment that has turned reading into a shared, participatory activity capable of uniting different generations and territories,’ say the leaders of the AIE.

The results of this vital activity are detailed in the documentary Leggere può cambiare tutto (Reading can change everything), produced by AIE with the support of Pirelli. It was premiered yesterday morning at the Pirelli headquarters in Bicocca, Milan, as part of BookCity, to an audience of hundreds of students. The 25-minute film offers a unique perspective on the role of the narrator, taking the form of a school library that evolves over time. It will be available on Rai Play from today until 16 November. It includes contributions from various parties, including promoters such as the Cariplo Foundation, as well as authorities including the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, and the Ministers of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, and Education, Giuseppe Valditara. It also features insights from professors and students of all ages.

What is the meaning behind the story? Innocenzo Cipolletta, president of the AIE, explains,  ‘For us, if a child discovers the joy of reading through a book that was delivered to their school as part of the #ioleggoperché campaign, it means that we have opened a door to the future for them.  Over the past ten years, the project has helped transform the way reading is approached in schools. Reading, which was once a private experience for many children, has become a shared, collective moment that unites students, teachers and communities.’

Cipolletta continues:  ‘We are proud to have made this documentary based on contributions from schools which shows how the country is changing thanks to the project and school libraries, which have become real reading infrastructures.’

Marco Tronchetti Provera, Executive Vice President of Pirelli and President of the Pirelli Foundation, adds, ‘Supporting #ioleggoperché means helping to strengthen school libraries, which are also linked to company and neighbourhood libraries,  and therefore offering young people greater access to books.  Reading is a fundamental tool for developing knowledge, critical thinking, and civic participation.’

‘Pirelli, through its Foundation, has been committed to dialogue with schools and the promotion of culture as a means of personal and collective growth for many years.  This project is a tangible example of collaboration between institutions, the local community, and the business world for the benefit of young people.’

This is the key point. Libraries are cultural and social centres, spaces for knowledge, gathering and building community spirit.  And books are like homes to live in.  They are boats that sail through space and time.  Probes to reach the skies of imagination and the depths of knowledge.  They are tools to help us navigate the changing seasons of our lives.

The pleasure of the text. Memory, knowledge, freedom for the imagination and the responsibility of democracy.

To understand this better, we can refer to another famous quote by Umberto Eco that we mentioned in our blog post on 10 December 2024: ‘the book is like the spoon, scissors, the hammer, the wheel. Once invented, it cannot be improved. This also serves as a reminder of the importance of reading, the pleasure of the text and the thrill of discovering knowledge, adventure and new things. ‘Don’t hope to get rid of books,’ Eco said, in a brilliant conversation with Jean-Claude Carrière, published in 2017 by La nave di Teseo. So, let’s pick up our books again and cultivate a love of reading, both now and for the future. Let’s get children used to seeing books as normal, enjoyable and fun objects that add to our daily lives from an early age, just like spoons!

This is also the basis of the project developed by Confindustria’s Culture Group to promote the establishment of company libraries and relaunch an initiative that was discussed a decade ago. The Publishers’ Association is collaborating on the project, which will involve the network of Confindustria associations and companies in the local areas. Libraries are being founded and developed as part of a political and social commitment to restoring space and dignity to education, study, research and the values of knowledge and science. These values are also essential for a corporate culture that wants to play an active role in facing the challenges of complex and controversial modernity. The Pirelli libraries in Bicocca and Settimo Torinese serve as a prime example of this.

Neighbourhood and school libraries full of books suited to the interests and passions of children and teenagers (the mission of #ioleggoperché). Apartment building libraries, libraries in factories, offices and all workplaces where communities of people gather. A public and private investment in reading.

These libraries could all be put into common use and connected to municipal and regional library systems. They could also become places for meeting, conversing and discussing.  These would be places where the social capital of a community grows and matures.

Now, let’s return to #ioleggoperché. A broader editorial project has been launched alongside the documentary, designed to extend and amplify the narrative.  This project consists of a series of short videos available on Rai Play, in which authors and other notable figures share their personal experiences and thoughts on the power of books and the joy of passing on a passion for reading. The short stories include one by Rudy Zerbi, the project’s long-standing ambassador. He opens with a ‘family’ memory linked to books. In another story, Olympic champion and #ioleggoperché ambassador  Sofia Goggia reveals the book that inspired her in her youth.  Vincenzo Schettini, a teacher and populariser of science, reflects on the differences between the worlds of books and social media. The stories are interwoven with the voices of Massimiliano Rosolino, Manuel Bortuzzo and Andrea Lo Cicero from Team Illumina Sport e Salute. They share anecdotes and personal reflections, as does director Riccardo Milani, who reminisces about the books of his childhood and how he came across the project. Finally, Miriam Candurro, the lead actress in Un Posto al Sole, recounts the moment she fell in love with reading.

The students of the Galilei Technical Institute in Rome captured the essence of the documentary and the project when they said, ‘Reading is a simple gesture, but it can change everything’. Even after ten years, this project continues to inspire readers, one library at a time.

A novel approach to writing a book offers a new way to grow businesses

Beyond technology there is something more complex. Technology alongside humanity.  Individuals alongside communities, all building a new approach to business innovation.  These ideas form the basis of ‘L’uomo e l’innovazione tra tecnologia ed etica.  100 leader, 7 sfide, 1 comunità: riflessioni ed esperimenti per navigare il futuro’ (Man and innovation from technology to ethics.  100 leaders, 7 challenges, 1 community: reflections and experiments to navigate the future), a complex book edited by Donato Iacovone, Alberto Idone and Angelo Proietti (all with long careers in business management, human resources and organisation).

The book’s most notable feature is the way it was written.  The 250 pages are the result of a collective experiment with the ambitious goal of creating a manifesto for a new approach to innovation that is simultaneously human, collaborative and systemic. The nature of a collective experiment is such that the content of the book was ‘produced’ by more than one hundred CEOs, senior executives, and opinion leaders. These individuals met and debated, following a path designed according to the principles of Design Thinking, a problem-solving method based on people and their creativity. The meetings took the form of insightful interviews, collaborative sessions, workshops and in-depth discussions. The result is a plural, practical and clear reflection on how technology, when combined with method, imagination and authentic relationships, can drive real evolution for people, organisations and society.

Thus, the book invites readers to follow a path that begins with the formation of the working community (which inspired the book), progresses to the identification of the ‘universe of enquiry’ (i.e. the description of the chosen subject), and concludes with seven visions of the future, each based on a different theme on which the future can be built:  innovation and people; criticism of innovation itself; AI; uncertainty; the continued need to develop market-winning products; organisation and training; and the relationship between algorithms and rights.

This book by Iacovone, Idone and Proietti is not just a collection of texts, but a living workshop.  Rather than a linear guide, it is a map of conflicting ideas and questions that open up new possibilities.  It is a tool designed to help those working in digital and cultural transformation, as well as anyone who wants to understand how innovation is born and where it leads when we create it together. While you don’t have to agree with everything in the book, it is nevertheless useful to engage with the authors’ ideas and suggestions.

Donato Iacovone, Alberto Idone, Angelo Proietti

L’uomo e l’innovazione tra tecnologia ed etica. 100 leader, 7 sfide, 1 comunità: riflessioni ed esperimenti per navigare il futuro

Donato Iacovone, Alberto Idone, Angelo Proietti

il Mulino, 2025

Corporate heritage marketing as a business and market narrative tool

Maintaining a company’s position in an increasingly competitive market while preserving its manufacturing culture and history is no easy feat. This is a challenge that many manufacturing organisations have to grapple with, particularly in sectors where quality and competitiveness are closely linked.  This is certainly true of the luxury fashion industry. This is the topic that Margherita Masci explored in her thesis, entitled ‘Come il corporate heritage marketing può contribuire alla valorizzazione del patrimonio storico-culturale delle imprese del lusso nel settore della moda’ (How corporate heritage marketing can contribute to the enhancement of the historical and cultural heritage of luxury fashion companies), which was recently discussed at the University of Padua.

Masci begins by considering that the luxury fashion sector is one of the most dynamic and symbolic sectors of the global economy. It is capable of influencing consumption, cultural imagery, lifestyles and identity values. However, in a context characterised by increasing competitiveness, digitalisation and the rapid obsolescence of trends, ‘luxury brands must balance innovation and tradition, as well as authenticity and contemporary trends’.

In this scenario, the concept of corporate heritage marketing takes on particular importance, understood as the set of strategies and practices through which companies promote and communicate their history, origins, and founding values, transforming them into communication tools. Margherita Masci’s research focuses on this tool for an important reason:  corporate heritage marketing is particularly powerful in the luxury fashion industry because it guarantees authenticity, legitimacy and continuity. This strengthens the brand’s image and sets it apart in a crowded, increasingly globalised market.

The research aims to investigate the role of corporate heritage marketing in companies, with a particular focus on those in the luxury fashion industry, analysing the theoretical principles and methods of application of this marketing strategy. In addition to a theoretical section, three emblematic cases of luxury fashion houses are examined in depth: Salvatore Ferragamo, Gucci and Armani. Margherita Masci’s research demonstrates how the enhancement of heritage can serve as a powerful narrative and strategic tool.

Her work is also notable for its effective synthesis of theoretical and operational aspects of a complex theme.

Come il corporate heritage marketing può contribuire alla valorizzazione del patrimonio storico-culturale delle imprese del lusso nel settore della moda

Margherita Masci

Thesis, University of Padua, Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy and Applied Psychology, Department of Economics and Business Sciences “Marco Fanno”, Bachelor of Science in Communication, 2025

The malaise in manufacturing organisations and how to overcome it

Running a business in difficult and complex times. Balancing the books and valuing people. Tasks that many manufacturing organisations must address. Inescapable tasks involving not only ensuring the right production processes, but also paying the utmost attention to well-being and discontent within the company. The recently published book by Mauro Tomé and Paolo Umidon ‘Clinica del benessere organizzativo. Quali risposte al disagio sul lavoro’ (Organisational wellbeing clinic. The answers to discontent at work) may offer some insights.

The two authors start from a series of findings:  the relationship between the individual and the organisation is increasingly complex;  unstable markets, precariousness and insecurity in labour relations, excessive bureaucracy and cuts and reductions imposed by the need to ‘balance the books’ create fatigue and a precarious work-life balance. The crux of the questions arising from this situation is simple:  how can effectiveness and efficiency be reconciled with valuing people?

In their response, the authors present theories and techniques alongside references to real cases of interventions in customer organisations. Their approach is based on an ambitious vision:  addressing discontent is an opportunity not only to take care of people, but also to improve organisational efficiency and effectiveness. They explain that it is a matter of exercising a kind of ‘double gaze’, based on constant listening and valuing individuals, groups, and internal relationships. The topic is structured according to the outline provided by MODUS Società Benefit in several steps.  After providing a general overview of the topic, they move on to the issue of family businesses between managerialisation and generational transition. They then consider the need to develop a true business culture and the need to facilitate change and innovation. Subsequently, the topics of the valuing of each individual within the organisation and the need to address organisational ‘malaise’ in order to promote well-being are addressed.

Tomé and Umidon’s book does not offer a universal solution to the challenges facing manufacturing organisations, but it certainly provides effective remedies for many of them.

Clinica del benessere organizzativo. Quali risposte al disagio sul lavoro

Mauro Tomé, Paolo Umidon

Franco Angeli, 2025

The topic of explanatory notes and their effectiveness

A company’s story is also told through its the financial statements, and not just with numbers. Transparency is therefore important, as is a history of careful commitment to production, with robust accounts and care for those who work in the company being protected. After all, the purpose of the ‘explanatory notes to the financial statements’ is expand upon the traditional financial statements and provide a qualitative overview of the company’s past and future performance. Antonio Accetturo, Audinga Baltrunaite, Gianmarco Cariola, Annalisa Frigo and Marco Gallo (all economists at the Bank of Italy) examined the meaning and effectiveness of these documents in an analysis that led to the publication of a study in the Topics for discussion series. ‘Il valore delle parole: l’impatto dell’informazione non finanziaria sulla performance delle imprese

(The value of words: the impact of non-financial information on the performance of companies) is the title of the analysis that aims to investigate the effects of explanatory notes on the valuation and perception of companies within the economic system. And this perception includes corporate reputation.

In order to reduce administrative burdens, a simplified financial statement for micro-enterprises (micro-financial statements) was introduced in 2016, eliminating the obligation to submit explanatory notes. Accetturo and his colleagues carried out a detailed analysis of the before and after effects of the change and highlighted two outcomes. Firstly, the research points out that the adoption of micro-financial statements has not led to a significant decrease in costs incurred by companies.  On the other hand, simplification has had a negative impact on companies’ ability to access external financing and has slowed the process of acquiring company shares by new shareholders, probably due to the reduction in available information. In other words, without explanatory notes, a company’s reputational narrative seems to have lost its effectiveness.  It would almost seem that an important part of companies’ production culture has been lost amid excessive numbers and insufficient words.

Il valore delle parole: l’impatto dell’informazione non finanziaria sulla performance delle imprese

Antonio Accetturo, Audinga Baltrunaite, Gianmarco Cariola, Annalisa Frigo and Marco Gallo

Bank of Italy, Topics for Discussion, No 1498, October 2025

In ‘La Stampa’ (29 October), Gabriele Segre writes, ‘Europe is like Peter Pan, stuck in political adolescence, oscillating between nostalgia and distraction, while the rest of the world is rewriting geopolitics at lightning speed.’ Even for Agnese Pini, director of QN (La Nazione, Il Resto del Carlino and Il Giorno, 2 November), Europe is ‘at a standstill’, while ‘the giants’, namely China and the US, establish an ‘icy and precarious peace’ in a ‘new bipolar world in which the voice of the Old Continent is missing’. Europe is incapable of ‘making political choices rather than accounting choices’, as demonstrated by the discussions on the EU’s and individual states’ meagre budgets. Lucrezia Reichlin wrote in the Corriere della Sera on 1 November that Europe is in difficulty in the ‘era of new empires’, with arrangements such that ‘at the political level, a hybrid system dominated by nation-states with imperial connotations is emerging’, while ‘at the economic level, the system continues to be characterised by globalisation that ignores borders’. It should be added that powerful, unscrupulous Big Tech companies dominate much more than in the past, and are determined to create a world in which democracy and freedom are separated, and new technologies radically reshape power, interests and values.
Segre, Pini and Reichlin are three of the many voices that have long been highlighting the worsening political and strategic crisis in Europe. Despite being an economic giant, Europe is a political dwarf, incapable of asserting the weight of its own interests and values, and of the noble tradition on which the original combination of liberal democracy, the market economy and welfare systems is based. This is a Europe that now seems mute, frightened, battered and divided.
And yet, right now, do we see a way forward for European recovery? Can we glimpse a political choice of historic value that puts Europe back on the stage of a rapidly changing world, with authority and incisiveness?
There is no easy solution, but there is an endless amount of literature on solutions to the crisis, from political to economic to social perspectives. This includes the two key reports commissioned by Brussels and signed by Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta that focus on choices for competitiveness and the formation of the European Single Market. They address environmental and digital transitions, as well as banking and finance, and are praised for being wise, forward-looking, lucid and full of complex analyses and responsible proposals. They were praised by everyone at the top of the EU. Yet they have been left gathering dust in the drawers of the Commission and the governments of European countries for over a year.
Is our fate paralysis, then? A cultured and sophisticated, yet powerless, Europe that is merely a grand hotel for the new ’emperors of the world’? The risk is real,
yet the road ahead is far from paved with improbable ideas and proposals. Leafing through the newspapers of recent weeks (good newspapers again) one comes across ideas that merit attention and political engagement. Consider the ideas of Giulio Tremonti, for example: President of the Senate Foreign Affairs Commission, former Minister of the Economy, and above all, President of the Aspen Institute Italia (an authoritative think tank capable of providing well-informed, politically cross-party analyses). In an article in the Corriere della Sera on 2 November, Tremonti writes that it is necessary to ‘unite for global trade’ and ‘return to the spirit of Bretton Woods, with an agreement between China, the USA and Europe’ (that agreement, in 1944 when the Second World War was still ongoing, regulated relations between currencies in the common interest) and to follow a similar path for world trade today. International trade is the responsibility of the EU, not individual states.
The point is this: the EU must be revived. It must escape the trap of unanimous decision-making and the illusion of minimal federalism, where individual states form the backbone of Europe and have the final say. Despite everything, we need more Europe. We need a better Europe that puts an end to the intolerable prices paid by Brussels bureaucracies and short-sighted sovereignty. Last week’s Dutch vote in favour of pro-European political forces was a modest signal, but it may make people think twice.
Europe already operates with qualified majorities and tries to circumvent vetoes and paralysing unanimity. This is a path that should be followed and strengthened. A ‘political’ road while we wait for the time to be right for profound institutional reform.
The issues to be addressed are clear: security and defence. Former NATO deputy secretary Mircea Geoana argues that the EU must re-discuss the contract with the US, involving the UK, Norway, Turkey and Canada (La Stampa, 30 October). Other issues include energy, the environment, new technologies, scientific research, training, and everything that concerns the potential, social costs and governance of artificial intelligence. A ‘European way’ must be rapidly constructed to free us from the dominance of the USA and China.
It is a busy agenda and politically arduous, but a key step. Agnes Pini again: ‘Today, more than ever, we need political choices, not accounting ones. Credible military capability, achieved through truly joint procurement, is essential. We must have common economic levers on energy and critical technologies to avoid being held hostage to the next truce between Washington and Beijing. A European negotiating line on Ukraine that complements, or even balances, the American one is also crucial. Otherwise, if Europe continues to speak only the language of budgets, not the language of power, peace, when it comes, will not bear our signature.’
Jean Monnet, one of the founding fathers of Europe, always said that Europe moves forward and builds itself through adversity. His warning has never been more relevant, and timely and forward-looking political choices have never been more necessary.
There is a strategic political opportunity to create a better Europe for future generations that could be seized: the ‘Next Generation EU’ plan, which involves over 750 billion euros’ worth of investments (largely financed through borrowing on the international financial market, ‘good debt’, as Mario Draghi would say) and was devised to deal with the dramatic consequences of the pandemic. Sooner or later, we Italians will need to discuss how we have used the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan (NRP), and whether we have adhered to its development guidelines.
If European rulers truly wish to be statesmen, they must take responsibility for the next generations, not just the next budgets and elections. It is also our responsibility as older people to make the most of the twilight years we hope will last as long as possible. This responsibility should be strengthened by a robust historical memory in order to interweave the past and the future, and finally give form to the idea of ‘Europe as destiny’, which we have experienced during a long period of prosperity and peace. However, dark shadows of crisis are now looming over this idea.
Is Europe fragile? Yes, politically, economically and socially, in the internal relations of individual states and the Brussels area, and in international relations. Yet it is precisely the assumption of fragility as a founding element that is a strength in politics, democracy, business, technology and personal and social relationships, and in plans for the future. Strength lies ‘beyond fragility’, with critical awareness and self-criticism.
In his latest novel, What We Can Know (Einaudi), British author Ian McEwan, born in 1948, reminds us of this with a disturbing story about how we might be perceived in the near future. In the 21st century, the Earth has been ravaged by climate disasters and political and intellectual stupidity. On 2 November, Caterina Soffici wrote about it sharply in La Stampa: ‘What will remain of what we are’.
This is a disaster to be avoided with humility, knowledge, intelligence, and the ability to take on the interests and values of the ‘other’. It is a world to be defended and, at the same time, corrected and rebuilt, it is reform.
Wise words like McEwan’s are therefore appropriate and welcome, and we all know how much politics, economics and science, especially today, have a fundamental need for good literature.

(photo Getty Images)

The 24th Business Culture Week, a series of events promoted by Confindustria and Museimpresa, will take place from 14 to 28 November 2025. This year’s theme is “Illustrating the importance of entrepreneurship in helping open and interconnected businesses grow”. This inspires a rich programme designed to promote a corporate culture that is closely attuned to individuals and their communities.

In view of the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, of which Pirelli is an Olympic and Paralympic Partner, the Pirelli Foundation will take part in the week with guided visits to its exhibition, which has been reimagined with a spotlight on snow and ice sports. The exhibition will illustrate Pirelli’s entrepreneurial verve in the world of sport, tracing its long-standing ties with sporting competitions, with its energy, speed, and triumphs, as well as its inventive spirit channelled into product development: from Vibram soles to hot-water bottles, from rubber items devised to “support skiers in their arduous lives” – jackets, boots, ski sticks, and accessories – to the roof racks and ski carriers for cars created by the engineer Carlo Barassi and the architect Roberto Menghi. A carefully curated selection of documents will recount the evolution of tyres for snowy and icy terrain: the celebrated 1951 Inverno with its herringbone tread, the 1959 BS tyre with a detachable tread, and the Cinturato MS35 Rally, the road version of which paved the way for today’s extensive and highly specialised Pirelli Winter range.

A tale of passion and technology also unfolds through the pages of Pirelli magazine, guiding visitors through the visual culture of sport: from 1950s and 1960s articles on remarkable mountain exploits and winter disciplines, to Olympic reports and the imagery that has shaped their legacy. Featured too are advertising campaigns conceived by designers and graphic artists who portrayed the winter season with artistry and wit. Among them are Bob Noorda – drawing inspiration from the geometry of snowflakes – Riccardo Manzi, Alessandro Mendini, Ilio Negri, Giulio Confalonieri, and Ezio Bonini, who cast the skier Zeno Colò as a charismatic star. This visual journey is complete with photographs by Ugo Mulas and Ermanno Scopinich: Mulas with a photoshoot in Zermatt for Pirelli Confezioni, capturing the expressive power of the mountains; Scopinich with pictures of skaters at the ice stadium in Cortina d’Ampezzo, commissioned for the launch of the BS tyre.

Finally, entrepreneurship as a culture of design and vision is explored through Pirelli’s relationship with the Compasso d’Oro design award: from the first prize for Zizì the monkey in 1954 to the latest recognition for the P Zero™ E tyre, a fusion of innovation and sustainability.

The event will be held on Saturday 22 November, with four guided tours (10 and 11 a.m., and 12 and 3 p.m.), each lasting approximately 60 minutes.
Admission is free. Booking required, while places last, via the registration form.

A practical case study on experiential marketing

Business strategy and production culture come together to create a new approach to developing a business by promoting and strengthening the company through the ‘experience’ it offers.  This area is known as ‘experiential marketing’ and is one of the most recently emerging fields. It is a topic covered by Omar Cavallo in his thesis, “Eventi ed emozioni: come il marketing esperienziale rende memorabile un brand (Events and emotions: How experiential marketing makes a brand memorable), which he presented at the University of Padua’s M. Fanno Department of Economics and Business Sciences.

To tackle the subject of ‘experiential marketing’, Cavallo begins with a practical case study: ItalyPost. As he explains, this is a publishing and cultural organisation that has evolved over more than twenty years from a local project to a nationally significant group active in publishing, training, and, above all, organising events related to corporate culture. Drawing on its own internship experience at ItalyPost, the research then explores the company’s history, organisational structure, and competitive positioning.

Cavallo explains that the next step was an in-depth study of experiential marketing in practice at ItalyPost, focusing on the power of events as communication and branding tools. By comparing this with the main theoretical contributions and analysing consumer behaviour, the study demonstrates how these types of experiences are crucial in building relationships between brands and audiences today.

The ItalyPost case presented by Omar Cavallo is certainly worth exploring further and cannot be considered representative of all experiential marketing experiences. However, it is a good example of how the management of a single enterprise can be studied in theory and in practice while remaining interesting.

Eventi ed emozioni: come il marketing esperienziale rende memorabile un brand

Omar Cavallo

Thesis, University of Padua, M. Fanno Department of Economics and Business Sciences, Degree in Economics, 2025

A field survey of companies in Mantua

Since sustainability is interpreted on a company-by-company basis, taking organisational characteristics and particular production cultures into account, understanding the evolution of each case requires an understanding of theory.  This is precisely what Alessandro Lai, Riccardo Stacchezzini, Francesca Rossignoli and Mariella Colantoni have achieved in Percorsi di Sostenibilità (Paths of sustainability), a collaborative book based on the results of a study conducted by a research group from the University of Verona’s Department of Management in the Mantua area, as part of the Mantova Sostiene il Futuro project, which is supported by a network of professional firms.
Through more than one hundred interviews, the research investigates how companies based in Mantua interpret and implement sustainability in its three dimensions – environmental, social, and governance – highlighting the associated challenges, progress, concerns, and delays. The book is divided into three sections: the research design; an in-depth examination of the different sustainability dimensions emerging from the survey; and an analysis of companies based on the results, classifying them into three groups: the ‘apprentices’, the ‘up-and-comers’ and the ‘pioneers’.

The survey reveals a clear pattern:  while almost all companies recognise the importance of environmental issues, social and governance factors are often considered either ‘already satisfied’ or marginal. Some companies have embarked on structured, integrated paths, while others have declared intentions that are still lacking in tangible implementation. Group analysis reinforces this perception. However, after providing an overview of current practices, the book also offers insights into how companies are preparing for sustainability reporting. This is now almost obligatory due to advancing regulation and the need to gain legitimacy in the eyes of stakeholders.

Lai, Stacchezzini, Rossignoli and Colantoni’s work is an interesting read for anyone wanting to learn about businesses navigating changes in the social and economic landscape.

Percorsi di sostenibilità. L’esperienza delle imprese mantovane

Alessandro Lai, Riccardo Stacchezzini, Francesca Rossignoli, Mariella Colantoni (eds.)

Franco Angeli, 2025