In Milan, in the March gardens, with the trees still bare, there is still a hint of spring in the air. And the streets are crowded with fashionistas for the women’s fashion shows of the next fall/winter collections (it seems that chocolate brown and high-waisted pencil skirts will be very popular, but a difficult choice if you’re not tall and thin). In order to counterbalance the perceived frivolity of the fashion world, Milano MuseoCity has launched 140 events in museums and historic buildings to showcase great works of art, as well as the collections of archives and corporate museums: a whole week of art, science, technology, design, ‘savoir-faire and know-how’. This is Milan: beauty and polytechnic culture, a thousand sparkling lights and the solidity of knowledge.

You can get an idea of Milan by leafing through the pages of the daily newspapers, which speak of a metropolis that everyone studies with obsessive attention, and that the Milanese themselves observe with a particular self-critical tendency (“Milanese are made” by demanding paths of inclusion and integration, guided by the tradition of work rules and civic and civil virtues, even if they are in a bit of a crisis today). And while there are those who write books entitled “Against Milan”, deploring its illustrious decline, there is a lively debate in the political and economic world, in civil society and in cultural circles (the “Grande Milano” Centre of Studies is an exemplary testimony) about what is to be done, in terms of government policies and social choices, so that Milan remains “the place to be”, despite a world of increasing conflicts and turbulent changes.

Without illusions or rhetoric. But, if anything, with the deep conviction that a metropolis is the perfect place for complexity and, why not, contradiction. Take note of the words of the great American poet, Walt Whitman: “Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself. (I am large, I contain multitudes.)” Milan is, indeed, a city of multitudes.

So what are the newspapers talking about? A Milanese woman from a Chinese family, Anna Ylan Zhang, who won Masterchef. She is unemployed, can cook very well, has the temperament of someone who can withstand tough competition (and is often emotional) and eventually succeeds. Everything about her is very Milanese (she was born in via Sarpi).

Reading the “Corriere della Sera”, you discover that in Via Palestro, a street in the centre of the city, cars belonging to members of a luxurious private club are double-parked or parked on the pavement, while a liveried doorman turns away ordinary motorists. Is this a confirmation of the drift towards “the city of the rich”? Perhaps we shouldn’t generalise about a single case of privilege. Reading on, we discover that “an overwhelming wave of Roman restaurants” is on the rise, as “all the most prestigious trattorias in the capital have opened here: it’s the new Milanese fashion”. “Gricia” and “carbonara” next to ossobuco and saffron coloured risotto: Milan is very inclusive, isn’t it?

We read in “la Repubblica” that the Archbishop of Milan, Mario Delpini, reiterated that “the city is not just the market and production”, that “loneliness is an epidemic” and that “Milan will be saved if there is trust”, that is, if humanity, solidarity and a spirit of welcome (not just for the beautiful models, the young people from wealthy families from all over the world and the generous use of guanciale in the kitchen) are not lost. Delpini is absolutely right.

The problem of expensive housing must be tackled as a matter of urgency, given the sharp rise in property prices and rents, which is driving away students, but also young professors, middle-class families and the young men and women of the “creative and intellectual classes”, those who have always been the vital energy of a “rising city”, of an expanding urban culture. Those who govern the city know this. And they are taking action.

An example? Again by reading the newspapers (it’s one’s civil duty to do so, we must have a deep interest in understanding where we live and how to be a good citizen: good information is essential, unlike the vulgarity and approximations so prevalent on social media)… Again in the newspapers, we can read about how the ATM is developing a plan for low-rent housing to recruit tram drivers. A good move, a smart direction for public and private institutions to follow.

The news also reports of “dark” events that create social alarm. But a closer look confirms that Milan, although marked by widespread petty crime, like all big cities, is not the Gotham City that so many like to conjure up, creating a climate of fear.

The news is always reporting that Lombardy’s health service is losing ground in certain ministerial rankings (but if you read on, you will see that the quality of care, in both public and private facilities, remains very high and is attractive to thousands of patients who come here from the rest of Italy). There is always “some good to come out”, as Giangiacomo Schiavi rightly comments in the “Corriere”.

We also read that Milan and Palermo, under the impetus of their two mayors, Beppe Sala and Roberto Lagalla, are planning joint programmes in the fields of culture, quality education, the environment, new technologies and the European development of the Mediterranean area, which could create “laboratories of frontier spirit and creativity” in the two cities”. And from a fundamental choice for “legality”.

These are just some snippets of the news. What do they tell us? That Milan, like every metropolis, must be understood with attention and respect, without making sweeping generalisations. And that the key to interpretation is the analysis of complexity. There are problems and solutions.

Indeed, a metropolis like Milan cannot live without the market, private enterprise, growth and incentives for success. But it cannot, of course, be left to the dominance of market logic. There is a need for good governance, national and regional and quality public administration. This must combine values and interests, both general and specific. As, moreover, the history of its mayors has shown it can do (and whose lesson should be reconsidered and reflected upon today). As its entrepreneurial classes and business associations have demonstrated, it shows how public and civic values can be nurtured even in the business world.

In short, a more productive economy (the word “productive” is essential, without getting caught up in “earning”). And better public administration. In a synergy of choices and projects that, as always, bring together market and welfare, competitiveness and social inclusion. A difficult synergy to maintain, however, when citizens read the news again and discover that the government continues to cut the funds available to local authorities for services and investment. Doing things on the cheap is not a good habit nor an effective democratic service to citizens. Not in Milan or anywhere else.

(photo Getty Images)

MuseoCity is back! From 2 to 8 March 2025, the multi-venue event is organised by the Associazione MuseoCity ETS in collaboration with the City of Milan, which promotes the museums and cultural centres of the city and its hinterland. “The Streets of Art” is the guiding theme of the 2025 edition. The Pirelli Foundation is taking part for the ninth year in a row with an event scheduled for Tuesday 4 March 2025, devoted to upper secondary school students (three-year course), universities and academies.

On the occasion of MuseoCity 2025, the Pirelli Foundation is organising a workshop with a guided tour on Tuesday 4 March from 10 am to 12:30 pm, exploring the relationship between the company and the designers involved in promoting the heritage of the company archives. The event will feature Bruno Genovese, the co-founder and creative director of Leftloft, and Laura Dellamotta, the co-founder and general manager of Dotdotdot – two organisations at the forefront in the use of new technologies and innovative forms of communication and the promotion of corporate heritage. The guided tour of the Pirelli Foundation – where the exhibition The Sports Workshop: Team Work, Research, Technology, Passion and Social Value is currently on show – will offer participants the chance to immerse themselves in the rich iconographic and documentary heritage of the Pirelli Historical Archive. They will be able to explore the inseparable bond between Pirelli and Milan, which is also reflected in the representation of the city in the company’s communication.

An analysis of business growth measures reveals the importance of human relationships

 The right tools to start and grow businesses in the country. A goal that can of course be shared, but not always so easily achieved. A question of tools, yes, but also of behaviour, of corporate culture, of social relations before economic ones.

In their “Politiche di sostegno alla creazione di impresa in Italia. Attori, sfide e prospettive per l’occupazione e la crescita economica” (Policies to support business creation in Italy. Actors, Challenges and Prospects for Employment and Economic Growth) Domenico Barricelli and Alessandra Pedone address one of the crucial questions on this issue: which support policies to put in place. And how.

The article examines the landscape of policies and key actors supporting business creation in Italy, with a focus on innovative start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The former seen as the “future” of the industrial structure of certain industries; the latter interpreted historically as the backbone of the entire national economy.

Barricelli and Pedone provide an overview of the main regulations and measures at national and regional level, and analyse the crucial role of active labour market policies in promoting entrepreneurship as a tool for social and economic inclusion.

Policies, yes, but also people, as they say. For this reason, the study also focuses on analysing the dynamics of interaction between public and private actors, highlighting the challenges related to bureaucracy, funding and skills, as well as the opportunities offered by innovation and regional cohesion policies.

The results show the importance of cooperation between institutions, companies and associations, universities and research to promote a dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystem with positive effects on economic development and employment, especially for young people, women and migrants. In other words, Barricelli and Pedone show once again how much the development and economic growth of a country is based on what is most human and cultural.

Politiche di sostegno alla creazione di impresa in Italia. Attori, sfide e prospettive per l’occupazione e la crescita economica

Domenico Barricelli, Alessandra Pedone

Quaderni di ricerca sull’artigianato, Issue 3/2024, September-December

Rediscovering and studying history more and better. Not only because it is magistra vitae (life’s teacher) and can teach us something pragmatic, but above all because understanding the tensions of the past and the strength of roots increases awareness of the importance of choice and of the main cultural, social and political options by which values, passions and interests should be guided.

In such controversial times, when the rhetoric of force and the arrogance of interests triumph over the cultures of respect and dialogue and the values of diversity (the essence of liberal democracy, the “good soul” of the difficult twentieth century), learning to deal with history and its truths helps us to understand how we can continue to be responsible and conscious citizens. Citizens of a society in which we can cultivate the best legacies of the past and bequeath to our own children and grandchildren a social capital of democratic culture, without ideologies, but above all without authoritarian tendencies and without forgetting the failures of totalitarian regimes that have passed but are far from having disappeared.

Which history? Political and military history. Economic and social history. Public history and global history. The history of great events. Not only “high” culture, but also material culture (food, the home, clothing, crafts and industry, consumption and customs, the simplicity of which was documented by the French school of the Annales). Homeland history. And its connections with the histories of other peoples and other countries. Because no man is an island, as the great English poet John Donne taught us. No valley is isolated. And no one is enough on their own.

Identity, the best, the most fruitful, is not in the subject but in relationships, according to the philosophical lesson of Emmanuel Lévinas. And especially for us Italians and Europeans, our history, the history of the Mediterranean, of conflicts and confrontation, of clashes and trade, shows how, in the long course of our history, the harshness of wars has been balanced and overcome by the intelligence of dialogue and exchange. To gain an understanding of this, it is worth rereading the lucid works of Fernand Braudel and the equally wise and profoundly poetic writings of Predrag Matvevic, starting with his “Mediterranean – A Cultural Landscape”, one of the most important books of the twentieth century.

Read about history. Write about history, knowing that this means following the strict discipline of “giving dates their physiognomy” (Walter Benjamin), with great respect for facts and data, avoiding unscrupulous manipulation and falsification. And write history, with a sense of responsibility. Constantly seeking links with other disciplines, literature and art, philosophy and mathematics, sociology, psychology, law, physics and chemistry. Humanistic knowledge and scientific knowledge. Anthropology and economics.

The professors at the Catholic University of Milan who are advocating a “Doctorate in Economic History: Firms, Institutions, Cultures” are right. As are the historians, lawyers and economists, such as Giuliano Amato, Piero Barucci, Pierluigi Ciocca, Claudio De Vincenti, Elsa Fornero, Giorgio La Malfa, Romano Prodi, Alberto Quadrio Curzio, Paolo Savona and Ignazio Visco, who published an appeal (Il Sole24Ore, 29 January) to political and academic forces to “save the doctorate in economic history” and restore it to the place it deserves in the educational and research contexts of our universities.

History, in short, as a pillar of “polytechnic culture” and of business culture. Working broadly and, at the same time, deeply. Quite the opposite of the bad habits so fashionable on social media and the unfortunately successful propaganda inspired by the “simplification of fast thinking” (“the wise admonition of Daniel Kahneman, winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics, demonstrating the profound impact of psychological aspects on economic decisions”).

These attitudes, on the other hand, are an essential part of the cultural and moral heritage of our Europe, which today is uncertain and perhaps even lost in the face of the challenges of a geopolitical framework dominated by imperious giants, from the United States to Russia and China, and by Big Tech, which despises democracy. A Europe that must rediscover its pride, its power and its awareness of its strengths (democracy and the market, the values of individual enterprise and the spread of prosperity, the capacity for scientific discovery and the simplicity of critical thinking). A Europe that, in spite of everything, is the master of its own destiny. A better Europe than the one we have seen at work.

In this context, Giulio Tremonti is right, as a critic of the regulatory and bureaucratic distortions of the EU (“twenty lost years”) and as a politician with a solid liberal culture. He insists on the need to re-read carefully one of the historic founding documents of the Europe to which we belong, the “Ventotene Manifesto”, and from there to start talking again about the single currency and the single army, development policies and the continent’s geopolitical role (Il Foglio, 18 February).

This “Manifesto for a Free and United Europe” was written in 1941 by three young intellectuals, Altiero Spinelli, Ernesto Rossi and Eugenio Colorni, who were imprisoned by the Fascist regime on the island of Ventotene during one of the darkest moments in history (when the Nazi armies occupied a large part of the continent). Published in 1944, before the end of the war, and disseminated thanks to the initiative of an extraordinary woman, Ursula Hirshmann, the Ventotene Manifesto became one of the founding texts of European integration, thanks to the planning intelligence and generous political vision of a ruling class (Adenauer, De Gasperi, Schuman, Monnet and Spaak, the “Fathers of Europe”) capable of integrating national interests and European values. And many of those inspirations are still relevant today: the single market, the single currency, the single tax, the single army: “the currency” and “the sword”, economic relations and political democracy.

The recent Letta and Draghi reports on the single market and European investment (worth a trillion a year over ten years, with debt instruments on the markets from an EU that is finally cohesive and therefore authoritative) provide important pointers on what to do and how to do it, in order to respond promptly to US pressure, which in the Trump era has never been so unfriendly, and to the machinations of other great and powerful actors on the international scene. A Europe that, to quote Draghi’s words before the European Parliament, must finally “act as a single state” (Corriere della Sera, 19 February).

Italy, the founding country of the EU, has a fundamental role to play. And the underlying cultures that inspired the Quirinal, from president to president, can help in this process of recovery and redemption. They include the democratic socialism of Sandro Pertini, the Christian Democratic thought of Oscar Luigi Scalfaro (who accompanied the leader Alcide De Gasperi and the young Aldo Moro from the Constituent Assembly), the activism and liberal democracy of Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, the profoundly Italian and constitutional communism of Giorgio Napolitano, the depth of Catholic social values and the institutional passion of Costantino Mortati (who taught constitutional law to the generations that entered university at the end of the 1960s), so dear to Sergio Mattarella. Diversity in the unity of the Republic’s institutional culture. Deep democratic values. The strength of the historical roots of our essential democracies and the cornerstones of a better future, which we owe our children and grandchildren. Europeans.

(Photo Getty Images)

Thirty entrepreneurial stories that show thirty different ways of doing business

Telling the stories of companies through the voices of those who conceived, built and ran them, with a straight to the point approach: understanding how peer entrepreneurship really works. This is what Alessandro Scaglione attempts to do in his recently published “Italia, che impresa! Storie di cuore, coraggio, genio e resilienza” (Italy, what an enterprise! Stories of heart, courage, genius and resilience). Stories, to be precise, of men and women who have turned their lives into an all-round entrepreneurial adventure. Stories built of visions and dreams, of victories and defeats. In some cases stories told directly to the author, in others through the accounts of the people involved. Men and women who have created historic brands or young businesses. The 30 chapters with as many stories testify to the ingenuity, audacity, energy and commitment of those who have built a business from nothing or saved one because they felt they had to.

Scaglione tells the story of each of the subjects – effectively, though not always in the same way – with a brisk style and a few bold strokes that try to capture the essence of extraordinary human adventures, and demonstrate that, if you want to, you can do business in any situation.

The book is divided into six groups of five stories each, with a fact sheet for each company. We begin with those who “defied fate”, next those who are defined as “unstoppable”, then those who followed their “extraordinary intuition”, followed by those who were involved in “social enterprises”, then those who did not give up, and finally those who managed to continue the businesses started by fathers and ancestors before them. The stories of Giorgio Armani, Giovanni Rana, Salvatore Ferragamo, Rinaldo Piaggio, Matilde Vincenzi, Marcel Bich, Ferdinando Bocconi, Benedetto Noberasco and many others unfold before the eyes of the reader. Stories that, as the author points out, also teach us that business was done in a far more difficult climate than the one we are experiencing today.

In the introduction, Alessandro Scaglione writes: “Convinced that culture, before the economy, is the infrastructure of humanity, this book wants to contribute in its own way to the ‘tradition’ and the exchange of knowledge between those who have built an enterprise and those who will run it. Because doing business means believing in ourselves and our ideas, and immersing ourselves as much as possible in ecosystems that reward our ingenuity. Business is the school of those who still know how to dream, how to interpret the world and show the path of its possible evolution. It is the school of visionary people, capable of conceiving and acting on the economy as a reflection of a vision, a moral, a way of feeling and thinking, without compromising with the reality that lies before us”.

Italia, che impresa! Storie di cuore, coraggio, genio e resilienza

Alessandro Scaglione

GueriniNext, 2024

The president of Confindustria, Emanuele Orsini, rightly calls on the institutions, “the government and all political forces” to come up with a three-year industrial recovery plan in order to “unleash the potential of Italian companies” and pull the country out of an alarming state of crisis. It is necessary to be fully aware that “without industry there is no growth and social cohesion”. And so it is necessary to launch a cycle of decisions and public investments in the fields of energy, innovation, productivity and greater competitiveness of Italy and Europe in increasingly difficult markets and in scenarios dominated by geopolitical uncertainty, which now has a new leading actor: Trump’s USA, the same USA that was once an unshakeable and trustworthy friend and is now, instead, rather hostile towards the EU and major European countries.

Industrialists, Orsini adds, are ready to play their part by investing and improving the competitiveness of their companies, strengthening those sectors in which we have long demonstrated the strength of Made in Italy (mechanics and mechatronics, robotics, pharmaceuticals and chemicals, avionics and aerospace, shipbuilding, rubber and plastics, large infrastructures, as well as furniture, clothing and the agri-food industry). They are investing and innovating, demonstrating once again, in difficult times, their creativity, ingenuity, flexibility and long-term vision of the markets.

Of course, business is not omnipotent. It needs a positive context in which to operate. And that means medium-term decisions and actions by the government to ensure favourable conditions for companies in terms of energy prices, tax burdens (the IRES bonus decided by the government in the budget is fine, but it needs to broaden its scope and coverage), cutting red tape and improving the functioning of the labour market and training. Businesses would grow more if they could find the workers they need, so more graduates and degree holders and a better immigration management strategy are needed.

These are Issues we have long known about but they are still lacking adequate political answers. Industry 4.0, the most important industrial policy choice of the last decade, an essential lever for the dynamism of our manufacturing industry and the strength of our high-quality exports, is now as short of resources and prospects as ever. And Industry 5.0, which is supposed to facilitate the digital transformation of companies, is barely operational due to regulatory and bureaucratic mechanisms that prevent or slow down companies’ access.

In short: there is a production crisis (we talked about it in last week’s blog, complete with data and facts), but there are some very good actors in the field, enterprising and armed with good will and practical projects, but the conditions for recovery and reconstruction are worsening.

The need for an ambitious, long-term industrial policy obviously concerns not only Italy, but above all Germany, which is in a deep structural crisis, and more generally the whole of Europe. The tariff war started by Trump’s USA aggravates the situation. “Italy and Germany run the highest risks,” warns Bank of Italy Governor Fabio Panetta at Forex (La Stampa, 16 February): 1.5 points less global growth, although the worst impact in the medium term would be for the USA, -2%. And Emma Marcegaglia, former president of Confindustria, who as a steel producer already felt the weight of the tariffs during the first Trump presidency, fears new damage to everyone and calls for a strong reaction from Europe. That it helps companies to stay in the markets and, more generally, that it revives the values of an international player, the EU, which has been able to reconcile democracy, the market and welfare, in other words freedom, innovation and social inclusion. Governor Panetta insists: we need “a European pact for productivity” (Il Sole24Ore, 16 February).

Here is the pivotal point: what is needed is a Europe that, with astonishing political skill, steps out of the corner in which the USA, Russia and China, for different reasons, would like it to be, and asserts the strength and validity of an economic and political culture based on the economic values and practices I have just mentioned, and asserts its social capital of competitive democracy with strength and pride.

A project Europe, despite everything. And a courageous Europe that other parts of the world look to: firstly, the UK, but also several countries in the Mediterranean, Africa and the Americas themselves (the recent EU-Mercosur trade agreements are a good example).

In the words of Mario Draghi, the EU must stop imposing duties on itself, “internal barriers” that reduce innovation and productivity (la Repubblica, 16 February). And actually deliver good politics. How? Move towards a single market, starting with banking and finance, specifically to strengthen companies and their investments according to the robust innovation attitude in the strategic quality of manufacturing. And, finally, the launch of the formidable instrument of Eurobonds, European debt securities already considered essential by one of the most enlightened leaders Europe has ever had, Jacques Delors.

International financial markets have already shown that they regard the EU as a credible debtor. And the short-sightedness of the so-called “frugal” countries risks doing shocking damage not only to economies, but to European democracy itself. Ideological “frugality” is anything but a virtue in times of uncertainty and risk.

Eurobonds, then. To finance the 800 billion annual investments over a decade for environmental and digital transformation, as proposed by the Competitiveness Plan presented by Mario Draghi at the behest of the European Commission, a visionary and possible development path for Europe. For defence and the common army (finally overcoming the deficit of a Union that has the currency but not the sword). But also for innovation, technologies, artificial intelligence, training, the quality of social inclusion, projects, so that “Next Generation EU” is not just an acronym for post-Covid investment, but a real policy for a better future, in democracy and sustainable development, for our children and grandchildren. “Europe needs a CERN for artificial intelligence”, suggests Giorgio Parisi, Nobel Prize-winning physicist and mastermind of European “supercomputing” projects (Il Sole24Ore, 16 February).

Think big, in short, while the minimal thoughts of overbearing but culturally and value-driven egoism have gone too far. Think broadly in the face of the threat of nationalism, and try to be “that grain of sand lifted by the wind that sometimes stops a machine”, to borrow an intense and poetic expression from Norberto Bobbio, one of the greatest political philosophers of the 20th century. Think with social generosity in the face of fearful and socially sterile isolation. Think European.

Our history, despite the shadows that brood in the recesses of the darkness and horrors of the 20th century, gives us strength.

We must therefore quickly learn to “govern fragility“, as Roberto Garofoli and Bernardo Giorgio Mattarella suggest in a recent book published by Mondadori, in order to talk about “institutions, national security and competitiveness”. And to go “beyond fragility”, as Europe was able to do, for example, during the terrible period of the Covid pandemic, in terms of science, health culture and respect for human rights. A good Europe.

(Photo Getty Images)

A recently published collection of essays on a complex concept that needs to be understood in depth

Sustainability, which is one of the most talked about key indicators of our time. “To be sustainable means to be competitive, to convince, to revive one’s place in the market, to have consensus, to have credibility. To invest, and therefore to grow. The concept of sustainability is complex and important. A concept that needs to be thoroughly understood and constantly updated. The book “Il paradigma della sostenibilità” (The paradigm of sustainability), just published by Marilene Lorizio (who teaches political economy at the University of Foggia), is a collection of texts written by several authors, who look at sustainability from different points of view, offering reflections, analyses, insights and projects from the fields of economics and statistics.

Lorizio and his collaborators start with a premise: sustainability now seems destined to profoundly and irreversibly change future economic and social scenarios, involving and affecting a wide range of sectors, thanks to its cross-cutting nature. A cross-cutting approach is therefore needed to understand the meaning, logic and applications of sustainability. An approach that must also take into account the growing pressure from global public opinion for more responsible and sustainable choices, both for companies and for citizens and institutions. A pressure that has been accompanied by a substantial production of regulations on the subject, both at European and national level. This is a logical consequence of the demand for a “more sustainable world”, which aims to guide, encourage and facilitate a path towards sustainability that does not always appear simple and transparent. Because sustainability must always take into account the competitiveness of the productive sector and the growth of the country system. The work, edited by Lorizio, then goes on to discuss the goals to be shared, the means to achieve them and the conditions that need to be considered.

The book’s various chapters deal with issues such as the relationship between digitalisation and sustainability, theoretical reference models, sustainability indicators, climate change and sustainability, and its relationship with specific economic sectors.

All with a fundamental belief: the transition to sustainability can be a strategic factor for the competitiveness of the productive sector, by aligning and agreeing on multiple and different objectives belonging to the different actors: companies, society and institutions.

Il paradigma della sostenibilità

Marilene Lorizio (edited by)

Franco Angeli, 2024

A speech by the Governor of the Bank of Italy provides a clear summary to better understand current events

It is the task of many, especially those who, as entrepreneurs or managers, have a duty to lead the organisations for which they are responsible, to look at the big social, economic and historical issues in order to better understand the present and glimpse a possible future. This is a matter of having a deep cultural understanding, but also of keeping up with the latest daily information, all of which can be helped by reading the speech given by the Governor of the Bank of Italy, Fabio Panetta, at the 31st ASSIOM FOREX Congress on 15 February.
“L’economia mondiale tra incertezza e trasformazione” (The world economy from uncertainty and transformation) is a clear summary of reflections on what is happening in the economy, in international relations and trade. Panetta shows how growth is trending down, how trade is changing and how its geography is being reshaped by “reducing trade between countries belonging to opposing geopolitical blocs and increasing trade between politically aligned economies”. A trend that “reduces the efficiency of world trade, increases the cost of goods and makes supply chains more complex and vulnerable. In several countries, this could limit the availability of certain products, especially technology products and those essential for the climate transition”. In a word, it seems that the world is closing in on islands with little connection between them, that globalisation is shrinking and leaving room for divisions, that multilateralism and integration are in danger. It’s a condition that is detrimental to everyone. Including Europe and Italy, to which Panetta pays particular attention.
In the face of all this, the Governor’s message is that there are the tools – in Europe and in Italy too – to take a different path from the one we are on. It is, however, a matter of “courageous choices, vision and unity of purpose” but also of “lucidity and ambition”. Reading Fabio Panetta’s latest contribution to understanding reality is beneficial for everyone.

L’economia mondiale tra incertezza e trasformazione
Fabio Panetta
Speech at the 31st ASSIOM FOREX Congress, Turin, 15 February 2025

Italian industry continues to send out warning signals. Revenues in 2024 fell by 42 billion, 2.4% less than in 2023, with particularly negative peaks in the automotive and fashion industries, but still with 10 out of 15 non-performing segments (Il Sole24Ore, 7 February). And if we look over a longer period, we see that in five years (2019-2024) we lost 59,000 manufacturing companies, mainly in the clothing, metallurgy, wood and food industries, 10.6% fewer companies.

It is too early to speak of “deindustrialisation”. But we are certainly facing a long process of crisis which, in the absence of radical and credible choices of industrial policy at national and European level, risks profoundly compromising Italy’s role as the EU’s most industrialised country after Germany.

The decline of the German economy (our main trading partner, the benchmark for supply chains that were once solid and profitable, starting with the automotive industry) is a major factor in this decline. But also the high cost of energy, rising geopolitical tensions, concerns about tariffs threatened by the Trump administration in the White House and likely to provoke further reaction from China to Brussels. And also uncertainties around the generality and lack of applicability of government support policies, for example on Industry 5.0. Investment in innovation is slowing. Entrepreneurs’ concerns are compounded by the fact that they are still unable to find the skilled workers they need to boost productivity and competitiveness.

In short, it is an alarming situation, that requires rapid answers (as we already discussed in the blog of 28 January).

Nevertheless, those who are familiar with the industrial system in the most dynamic regions, starting with Lombardy, can not only confirm the warning signs, but also highlight factors of resistance and resilience, strengths of the production system that could be used to define recovery and development policies.

What are these factors? Aptitude for the green economy, investment in culture and references to “cohesive policies”. These ideas are highlighted in a recent analysis presented last week by Symbola and the Cariplo Foundation, with three new reports from the Foundation, chaired by Ermete Realacci, on sustainability, the cultural and creative industries and cohesion.

The surveys in the Symbola and Unioncamere Report, supported by the Centro Studi Tagliacarne, document how 571,000 Italian companies have invested in the green economy and sustainability in the last five years, creating 3.1 million jobs and proving that they are “better able to cope with the crisis”, managing the ecological transition and developing products and production processes that are sustainable, innovative and competitive. Lombardy is the leading Italian region in terms of the number of companies (102,000) making green investments. And Lombardy is also home to groups (Arvedi, Feralpi) that are leaders in the production of green steel, with certification from prestigious international institutions. In a country as poor in raw materials as Italy, being a leader in the circular economy, with the highest percentage of recycling for all waste (91.6%, compared to a European average of 57.9%), is a major competitive advantage.

Sustainability, in the three aspects of environmental protection, governance mechanisms and social sustainability (from safety in the workplace to the quality of industrial facilities (also from an architectural point of view: the “beautiful factory”, i.e. well-designed, bright, welcoming and indeed safe)), has become a real competitive advantage, even for industries built abroad.

This is a considerable strength at a time when talking about sustainability seems to be a counter-trend in many European and international political and economic circles.

Even in the recent past, green ideological and bureaucratic choices have been made in Brussels (the story of the hasty decision in favour of electric cars and the restrictions on endothermic engines is a case in point), which have seriously affected the European industrial apparatus, affecting efficient production chains and thousands of jobs. However, following the indications of the Draghi report on the investments needed for the double environmental and digital transition, the EU can develop its own original industrial policy that, along the lines of technological neutrality, allows the life and revitalisation of our industry, faces up to competition from the US, China and India, and strengthens European influence (and its economic, civil and social values) in the new geopolitical and market scenarios. In short, Italian companies with an awareness of the green economy are on the right track.

The words of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella ring true: “For too long, we have addressed the issue of the environment and climate change inadequately, artificially pitting the needs of the present against the needs of our children and grandchildren’s future. To ensure competitiveness, Europe needs to move away from fossil fuels in the long term and make the transition, highlighting – as the Draghi report does – the link between decarbonisation and competitiveness”.

Investment in culture is an essential component of this strategy. Culture and creativity – as documented by the Symbola report “Io sono cultura” (I am culture) – generate a total added value of 296.9 billion euros. And even in this case, Lombardy is the leading region, with almost 30 billion.

The virtuous relationship between industrial and service companies and the cultural industry plays a positive role in the context of a dynamic “knowledge economy”, also strong thanks to training and research partnerships, with a Lombardy university system that is also of high international standing. The same applies to the awareness of how and how much weight “cohesive companies” (those with a strong link to their region and to the whole system of stakeholders: a dynamic positive social capital) have, with greater incentives for innovation, quality of work, export trends and, in a word, competitiveness.

For most of our companies, these is about historic values (business museums and historical archives are good examples of this). And it is also about present-day choices. It is essential that political and administrative actors, as well as social and representative organisations, become increasingly aware of this (the Lombardy region’s law on the recognition and promotion of company museums is an important example that other regions could follow).

Companies, in short, are economic players, of course. But they are also social and cultural actors. And they should be seen as such by the wider public.

An old observation by one of the best international economists, which is worth rereading today, also bears witness to this. It was made by John Kenneth Galbraith in one of his most successful books, “The Affluent Society”, published in 1958, and then repeated during his visit to Italy, in Turin, in 1983. Here it is: “Italy has emerged from a catastrophic post-war period to become a major economic power. To explain this miracle, no one can point to the superiority of Italian science and engineering or the effectiveness of administrative and political management. The real reason is that Italy has incorporated an essential component of culture into its products and that cities such as Milan, Parma, Florence, Siena, Venice, Rome, Naples and Palermo, despite having very poor infrastructure, can boast a higher standard of living in their beauty. In the future, much more than the economic GDP index, the level of aesthetics will become an increasingly decisive indicator of the progress of society”.

Industry and culture, beauty and competitiveness. The lesson always applies.

A book is published that tries to overcome the clichés about women in the workplace

Women at work is an important issue for everyone, not just companies. However, it is an issue that has taken different forms over time. And one that today needs to be addressed with very different and more complex approaches than in the past. It is women in the workplace today that Luisa Corazza (Full Professor of Labour Law at the University of Molise) discusses in her book “Il lavoro delle donne? Una questione redistributiva” (Women at work? A question of redistribution), which will be published in a few days.

Corazza begins with an objective observation: empirical data show the persistence of discrimination against women in the labour market and in companies. By studying the causes and the precise distribution of this inequality, it is possible to propose a new programme that combines anti-discrimination legislation with policies capable of overcoming the pay gap that still exists, as well as the numerous cases of discrimination. However, we need to start from a new perspective, which is no longer one of “reconciliation” (between work and family life) but of “balance”. An approach that no longer sees “women” at work, but “parents and carers”. Moreover, more attention needs to be paid to the spread of remote working and, in particular, to its gender distribution. In other words, it is not a question of thinking “only about women”, but about the whole labour market, companies and the organisation of work within them.

Luisa Corazza’s analysis is therefore based on a snapshot of anti-discrimination law and, in particular, on the notion of gender discrimination. The book then moves on to the methods of protection and thus to the theme of overcoming discrimination through the concept of redistribution of tasks and the re-examination of the entire business organisation. The burning issue of bridging the pay gap is the last topic that the author examines.

Luisa Corazza’s book is a useful technical basis on which to build a new culture of women at work in companies and, if you think about it, of work in general. To be read and implemented.

Il lavoro delle donne? Una questione redistributiva

Luisa Corazza

Franco Angeli, 2025