The fourth edition of the Campiello Junior award came to an end on 10 April 2025 in the Sala del Ridotto at the Teatro Comunale in Vicenza, where the names of the two winning authors were revealed.

The prize-giving ceremony, streamed live on the Premio Campiello YouTube channel, was hosted by the journalist, author, and television and radio presenter Armando Traverso, together with the writer and director Davide Stefanato.

The event welcomed young people from schools across Italy, giving them the chance to meet the authors and experience the thrill of seeing the winners live. The prizes were awarded based on the votes of the Young Readers’ Jury, made up of 240 children from Italy and abroad.

The winners of the fourth edition of the Campiello Junior award are:

Ilaria Mattioni, La figlia del gigante, Feltrinelli, for the 7-10 years category

Chiara Carminati, Nella tua pelle, Bompiani, for the 11-14 years category

The speakers also included Ivan Tomasi, Education Delegate of Confindustria Vicenza; Mariacristina Gribaudi, President of the Premio Campiello Management Committee; and Antonio Calabrò, Director of the Pirelli Foundation.

Some members of the Selection Jury for the Award were also present: Pino Boero, former professor of Children’s Literature and Pedagogy of Reading, Chiara Lagani, actress and playwright; Michela Possamai, lecturer at IUSVE University in Venice and former member of the Campiello Giovani Technical Committee; Emma Beseghi, former professor of Children’s Literature at the University of Bologna; and Lea Martina Forti Grazzini, an author and screenwriter for Rai radio and TV programmes.

In addition, starting with the 2025 edition, the Turin International Book Fair, the Premio Campiello Junior and the Pirelli Foundation have launched a partnership to promote high-quality fiction for children and young adults.

On Thursday 15 May, a special meeting with the prize-winners will be held for schools in the Sala Azzurra at the Turin Fair: remember to share the date with the teachers you know! For further information, please write to junior@premiocampiello.it. The winners will be officially awarded on Saturday 13 September, during the Award Ceremony of the sixty-third edition of the Premio Campiello.

To relive the event, click here.

A thesis discussed at the University of Padua links sports competitions to marketing and business.

Sport and business is a well-established combination in many sectors, including from the point of view of communication. A combination that suggests, among other things, a particular way of understanding the relationship between production and society. In addition, sport also conveys a certain image of productive activity. The aim of “La Formula 1 come Piattaforma di Marketing: analisi delle Partnership” (Formula 1 as a marketing platform: analysis of partnerships) is to analyse the many aspects of the relationship between sport – in particular Formula 1 – and business from a marketing perspective. This research by Erica Raiola took the form of a thesis discussed at the University of Padua.

Raiola places the collaboration between companies and Formula 1 in the context of the evolution of business communication, analysing first the more traditional tools available and then those described as “contemporary”. In the second part of the study, the field of high-level automotive competitions is explored, first with a general description and then with a series of specific cases. The empirical analysis concludes with a questionnaire designed to identify the relationships between competitions, marketing, the companies involved and the public. Erica Raiola points out that the relationship between sport and business, mediated by marketing techniques, has also changed its cultural characteristics over time.  “Over the years,” she concludes, “target audiences have developed new needs and are no longer satisfied and want not only to see a product advertised, but also to have a real experience around the purchase”. This was the birth of “experiential marketing”, which focuses on “creating something emotional around the product to retain customers and increase their engagement”. So emotion and product coming together through sport.

Erica Raiola’s research is a good example of how to deepen the links between activities and fields that are only seemingly distant.

La Formula 1 come Piattaforma di Marketing: analisi delle Partnership

Erica Raiola

University of Padua, Department of Linguistic and Literary Studies, Master’s in communication Strategies

A just published book offers a compass to better understand the financial economy

Juggling the real economy and the financial economy. And managing to govern businesses with care and awareness. These are certainly among the challenges facing managers and shrewd entrepreneurs. Responsibilities that go beyond production in the strict sense, but which still need to be fulfilled. And “Eco delle Bolle. Conversazioni sulle frenesie finanziarie” (Echoes of balls. Conversations on financial frenzy), can help. This is the latest literary work by Alessandro Greppi, who, as he says in the book’s opening pages, did not intend to write a manual, but rather to create a kind of compass for recognising the signals that are often missed, learning from the successes and mistakes of the markets that live them every day.

Greppi argues that, whether we like it or not, we live and work in a world where financial speculation affects every aspect of business. “Eco delle Bolle” therefore aims to guide the reader through the market dynamics that have marked history and continue to repeat themselves. The book offers a perspective on interpreting markets, understanding the emotions that move them and seizing the opportunities that arise from crises. Because in finance especially, but in business more generally, and in every aspect of human life, emotions are as important as facts (and often more important).

Financial speculation is therefore the subject of this book, a subject that often seems incomprehensible and unpredictable and that needs to be observed and studied with particular care. To achieve this, the reader is first introduced to the financial markets, starting with their theory and history, and then moves on to emotions as an important element to take into account. It then goes on to look in more detail at what is happening in Italy and around the world, but also at specific issues such as the new financial markets and periods of chaos in them.

Greppi recalls in his conclusions: “Financial systems, generally perceived as a cold and rational realm dominated by numbers, are actually a real-time snapshot of the consequences of our choices, emotions, and vulnerabilities.”

Eco delle Bolle. Conversazioni sulle frenesie finanziarie

Alessandro Greppi

Franco Angeli, 2025

“Tariffs are redrawing the map of world trade”, writes Il Sole24Ore (6 April), trying to understand not only the extent of the general shock caused by the decisions of Donald Trump’s White House and the consequences of US protectionism, but also the possible next moves of the various international players. This is true both of the necessary negotiations with the United States and of the possible new relationships between the Asian giants (China and India in particular), Europe, Mercosur, two large American nations such as Canada and Mexico, the Arab countries and the most dynamic players in the recovery of Africa. But it is difficult, treacherous and slippery terrain, amidst tensions and new players in the difficult climate of the Great World Disorder.

It is to be hoped that the wisdom of those who, like the economist Nouriel Rubini, insist that “we must negotiate with America” because “without an agreement global growth will collapse” will prevail, knowing full well that “the financial markets are afraid of a US trade war” and that, in such a tense situation, “the European Union can avoid the worst by increasing fiscal stimulus and defence spending” (La Stampa, 6 April). Some wisdom that, unfortunately unheeded, was already present in the thoughts of the Governor of the Bank of Italy, Fabio Panetta, at the Assiom Forex in Turin on 15th February: “In a context already marked by geopolitical, trade and war tensions, the US strategy of using tariff announcements as a bargaining chip to redefine economic and political relations with other regions of the world could spiral out of control, producing effects far beyond those intended, exacerbating existing disagreements and opening new rifts”. So, better to negotiate: “Negotiated solutions based on cooperation are not only a preferable alternative, but are necessary to avoid a spiral of conflict that would threaten global stability’.

In short, we need far-sighted and wide-ranging responses, away from the escalation of tariffs and counter-tariffs, threats and retaliation.

Beyond commercial action, business and academic circles are beginning to think about research and science, and thus long-term sustainable development. In summary: economic growth and better social equilibrium, especially in the era of the primacy of the “knowledge economy”, are strongly influenced by human capital, or rather the intellectual and productive capacities of people. The US has traditionally been very attractive with its large universities, which are among the best in the world, and research centres with solid financial resources. Now, however, the landscape is changing. “American academics are fleeing the country,” writes Viviana Mazza in Corriere della Sera (2 April), reporting on the cuts and reductions in federal funding for public research institutes and the most prestigious universities (Harvard, Columbia, Penn).

Journalistic tensions and disputes aside, it is worthwhile for Europe to address the question of how to make itself more attractive to the intelligence of so many young people who can now look to French and German, English and Italian, Spanish and Dutch universities and European companies. The answer is to provide robust support for training and research programmes, and for the reception of ‘brains’, including returnees. And by using both the leverage of joint programme funding (with an EU-UK agreement) and attractive policy choices for young researchers, professors and students from around the world (salaries, housing, schools and kindergartens for children, etc.). Facilitating the return of the thousands of European academics who have left. And a call to those who might want to study and work in Europe.

Such a strategy could be most appropriate for Italy, not least to try to slow down and then reverse the ‘record exodus’ of our young people abroad: 352,000, in the decade 2013-2022, in the 25-34 age group (ISTAT data on those who have moved abroad), including 132,000 graduates. The phenomenon is increasing dramatically over time:  191,000 Italians emigrated in 2024, 20% more than in the previous year. And so the picture of an Italy that is experiencing a deepening ‘demographic winter’ (only 370,000 children were born in 2024), an ageing population and the exodus of the youngest, most qualified and innovative energies. A burden on the future, not only in terms of production, but also in terms of culture and society.

What is needed is a “new pact for the future” that invests in education but also in the quality of work and life, argues Francesco Profumo, former rector of Turin Polytechnic and former president of the Compagna di San Paolo (La Stampa, 6 April). And Carlo Rosa, CEO of Diasorin, a high-tech company in the pharmaceutical sector with a strong international presence, adds: “We can get our brains back”. And already “the EU is giving an extra bonus to researchers and scientists returning from the US with the ERC (European Research Council) programmes”. We can do better, and more.

What is needed, in short, is good policy-making, with far-sighted intelligence and imagination, beyond the much-needed negotiations on tariffs. Relaunching European industry. Leveraging our productive and cultural capacities. “Go back to thinking about factories and build a European autonomy from the US in terms of digitalisation and energy decarbonisation,” argues Patrizio Bianchi, one of Italy’s leading economists (QN/ Il Resto del Carlino, 6 April). And how do we compete with the US giants? ” We have to consider what we already have, such as the research centres and technohubs in Bologna, Trieste, Ispra, Brussels and Luxembourg. Not least because with the research cuts imposed by Trump, many academics are considering leaving the US. We have to attract them, instead of feeling sorry for ourselves”. And it is in Bologna that the new Leonardo supercomputing centre can act as a high-level European technostructure for the relationship between artificial intelligence, scientific research and industrial competitiveness.

A good example of the attractiveness of high-tech industrial projects comes from Emilia Romagna, a reality characterised by a strong industrial vocation, a robust dialogue between companies and regional and local public administrations, active “pocket-sized multinationals”, a strong link with the production know-how of the territory and a social capital that has, over time, privileged the values of cooperation rather than the tensions of confrontation with competitors and adversaries. Knowing the true meaning of competition, a word that comes from the Latin cum and petere, moving together towards a common goal.

“No company can think of being competitive if it does not make the place where it is located competitive,” says Andrea Pontremoli, CEO of Dallara, one of the high-tech automotive companies in the Emilian Motor Valley, an area where other leading automotive industries are also concentrated, from Ferrari to Lamborghini and then Maserati, Pagani, Ducati, Hass Formula One, Racing Bull and Marelli HP. Ten internationally renowned manufacturing champions. With solid roots in an area historically devoted to mechanical excellence. And the wings to fly in the international universe. Driven by a strong spirit of competition between them, but also capable of working together with foresighted intelligence.  This is how the Motor University of Emilia Romagna was born, a centre of excellence that attracts talented young people from all over the world.

Pontremoli, guest speaker at the Assolombarda conference on growth strategies for the Monza and Brianza area, the manufacturing heart of Greater Milan (QN/ Il Giorno, 2 April), had this to say: “We are an ecosystem, thanks to the relationship between local businesses and the four major universities in Emilia-Romagna.  And we have designed nine master’s degrees, all in English, in sectors that we believe will be our future:  race car design, supercar design, motorbike design, supercar production, electric vehicles, self-driving vehicles. And this year we have two hundred Masters graduates. 25% of students come from outside Europe to study the car of the future by working with the world’s best brands. And the majority of graduates stay and work here: beautiful surroundings, good jobs, friendly towns and villages. And of course, you eat well”

Pontremoli goes on:  “In addition to the university, we have also invested in the ITS.  Two thousand students a year come to Fornovo from all over Italy to be trained in five skills:  3D printers, Cad, robotics, carbon fibre and CNC machines.”

And the investment? “We have invested ourselves, the ten car companies and the other fifty related companies because it is in our interest to invest and have motivated, passionate, qualified people.

Research, training, technology and quality work. In short, “competing in the world means working together in Italy to build the talent of the future.” And, indeed, knowing how to attract the best intellectual and entrepreneurial energy from the rest of the world.

(photo Getty Images)

On Tuesday, 8 April 2025, the Pirelli Foundation hosted the second event of Una Rete in Viaggio. Storie, idee, progetti, a programme of meetings curated by Rete Fotografia , which fosters dialogue between members and institutions in the search for new points of connection.

Centred on the theme of “Products and Communication”, the discussion featured contributions from the Pirelli Foundation, Fondazione Fiera Milano, and Fondazione 3M. The event began at 5:30 pm with a tour of the Pirelli Foundation and of the exhibition The Sports Workshop.

The evolution of photographic advertising in Pirelli’s history has witnessed the gradual creation of a distinct style that can be seen in all aspects of its corporate communication. The Foundation’s presentation, entitled “Products in Photographs Now in the Pirelli Archive, from Neorealist Communication to the Advertising Industry” traced the evolution of this journey from the 1940s to the 1970s. It explored the gradual consolidation of an approach that increasingly reaffirmed advertising’s role as a form of artistic expression. It ranged from Federico Patellani’s neorealist photographic advertising—with illustrated articles and behind-the-scenes sports imagery—to the metacommunicative approach of photographs on road-side hoardings, through to Aldo Ballo’s and Ugo Mulas’s still lifes and artistic reportages, as well as the imagery of trade fairs with their interactive and design-led stands. It looked at the creation of Agenzia Centro, which shifted advertising’s focus towards the consumer. A highlight was the “Long P” campaign, photographed by Adrian Hamilton, an iconic example of transmedia communication.

In other words, it adopted a behind-the-scenes perspective, like the one we have tried to give in this meeting on the product photographs in our Historical Archive and on the “Pirelli style” in communication. It showed how the collaboration between photographers and the business world led to a convergence of visions that was essential not only for showcasing a product’s features, functions, and applications but also for communicating the company’s history and values to the wider public.

“Bread and culture” was the slogan of one of Milan’s most popular mayors, Antonio Greppi, a socialist, which gave a strategic sense to the commitment to the rebirth of the city and of Italy after the disasters of war and fascism: the rapid reopening of the bombed-out Scala, the reopening of factories, the reconstruction of houses and public services, the new course of free information and publishing, a horizon of enterprise and work.

“Culture is bread” is the phrase that today stands at the entrance to the library of the Pirelli headquarters in Bicocca, to commemorate the commitment linked to the opening of the Pirelli Cultural Center in 1947, in those dynamic years full of hope. The Centre’s aim was to move beyond the horizon of ruins with activities of literature, theatre, music and photography. In this way, by supporting culture, the company defined itself not only as an economic player, but also as a civic and social player.

These two words, bread and culture, i.e. work and knowledge, well-being and learning, enterprise and development, come to mind when one considers the construction of the “Library of Light”, the large installation by the British artist Es Devlin in the Cortile d’onore of the Pinacoteca di Brera, with its 2,000 books on illuminated circular shelves in front of the statue of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, an 18th century mathematician and philosopher, the first woman to write a book on mathematics and the first to hold a university chair in the subject. The “Library of Light” is one of three installations (the others by Bob Wilson and Paolo Sorrentino) that will be on display during Design Week and the Salone del Mobile from 7 April. And here, too, business and culture, creativity and industrial production, the memory of “know-how” and innovation come together to form original syntheses, in the name of a true “polytechnic culture” that continues to combine humanistic and scientific knowledge, the sense of beauty and cutting-edge technologies. A very Italian perspective on the world that we can be proud of.

Bread and culture again today, in a contemporary dimension with historical awareness but looking to the future. Once again, the metropolis that exemplifies this perspective is Milan. Milan, city of books, stories, publications, cultured words, civilisation of dialogue between different tensions and opinions: “The power of ideas/the ideas of power” is the theme of BookCity Milano 2025. There are discussions on ongoing geopolitical and ethical crises, reflections on history and the future.

If we broaden our focus to the positive aspects that, despite everything, characterise our restless and troubled times, we find solid connotations of cultural practices and values in the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom 2025, which measures economic freedom in 184 countries each year. “A common thread links the degree of economic freedom and the well-being of citizens,” comments Alessandro De Nicola (La Repubblica/Affari & Finanza, 24 March), who is well aware of the strong links between the quality of life and work and economic freedom, cultural freedom and freedom of scientific research.

The Heritage Foundation is a conservative think tank, but it is widely respected for the rigor of its research. And in this Freedom Index, he emphasises that countries with “free” or “mostly free” economies have both higher standards of living and a significantly better quality of life than is usual in “repressed” economies. There is a clear relationship between economic freedom, political freedom and the rule of law. And therefore also between cultural freedoms and social and civil progress.

A clear conclusion can be drawn from this: books and freedom go hand in hand, freedom of ideas and economic development have a very close correlation. Nevertheless, the economy of knowledge and beauty and the awareness of the values of art and beauty must be considered as assets for the competitiveness of our economy. We must insist with conviction on the links between cultural heritage and sustainable, ecological and social development. Between critical thinking and creativity and between civil conscience and cultural wealth. It is a perspective that goes against the current temptations of “presentism”, of a distracted gaze on the flow of words and (increasingly fake) images on social media to which we devote only a few seconds of attention. It is against the degradation of words and “public discourse”.

It is a strong thesis, also supported by the words of Francesco Profumo, former Minister of Education and former president of the Compagnia di San Paolo: “In a world where artificial intelligence writes articles, diagnoses diseases and drives cars, critical thinking will be the only antidote to passive use of technology. If science gives us the tools to understand the world, art helps us imagine a new one.” And when it comes to “Steam” (the acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, with the addition of the “a” for art), “it means recognising that innovation is born when science and creativity meet” (La Stampa, 30 March).

And so we return to the idea of the processes of knowledge and therefore to books and their being the “bread” of civilisation.

Our Constitution is a testament to this, and these ideas are clearly at the forefront. “Living words,” says Marta Cartabia, a constitutionalist of great rigour, vice-rector for social commitment and institutional affairs at Bocconi University in Milan (Corriere della Sera, 24 March). What are these living words? “Democracy and inviolable rights, human dignity, solidarity, equality, freedom, participation, work, development, health, the environment, future generations…”, says Cartabia. To which the provisions of the Constitution are linked, a barrier and a stimulus for all legislation. A reading of the values of our society, but also a strategy for the future.  Freedoms proclaimed, but to be put into practice with consistency and perseverance.

Indeed, Marta Cartabia stresses: “Equality and solidarity, human dignity and freedom, and all the other great words of the Constitution must be lived, exercised, put into practice, discovered and rediscovered and, above all,  practised every day, or risk being reduced to sterile rhetoric.”

This path also brings us back to social and civil values, Italian  and European. Lest we forget what characterises Europe in its historical dimension and current state: the ability to combine civil rights and responsibilities, liberal democracy and democratic capitalism, incentives for individual enterprise and social and community values, economic growth and widespread prosperity. This is what makes us Europeans proud of what we have done in peace, after long and controversial periods of war and conflict and what makes us hateful in the eyes of those who are hostile to us.

A useful book on this subject is “Moniti all’Europa” (Warnings to Europe) by Thomas Mann, political and civil essays written between 1922 and 1945 (a new edition was published by Mondadori in 2017, with a foreword by the President Emeritus of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano”). It points to a common destiny after the Nazi tragedy. The commitment to assert the power of reason and dialogue. And, in this essential reading, the relationship between democracy and culture.

(photo Getty Images)

Newly published account of one of the key aspects of the country’s economic development

Human ingenuity and technology, but also energy. The development of the industry depends on these factors, which need to be fully understood,  including their interdependencies. This is why “Super! Un secolo di energia in Italia” (A century of energy in Italy) written with great skill by Alessandro Lanza and just published is such a good read.

Lanza’s account of energy and its importance to Italian industry is based on an observation: energy has been the driving force behind modern Italy, shaping its economic and political course.  Understanding the evolution of this fundamental element of the economy and of progress is indeed important for understanding the evolution of the industrial system, its culture of production and its prospects for the future.

Lanza tells the story of energy in Italy, from the first oil explorations to the rise of the major national companies, through the nationalisations of the 1960s and the market crises. All this in the context of how the energy sector has been intertwined with international equilibrim, even helping to define our development model.

‘Super!’ traces a century of profound changes, explaining how Italy went from being totally dependent on imports to playing a key role in global strategies.

But Alessandro Lanza’s book goes even further. Readers will discover the key moments in a history that has seen the ambitious visions of leading figures, the nationalisation of electricity, the oil shocks, the privatisations of the 1990s and then the long transition to a liberalised market. There is no shortage of analysis of current events that looks at climate change, new energy alliances, the increasingly central role of renewables and the race to decarbonise.

Reading Alessandro Lanza’s book is a useful exercise for those who want to better understand one of the crucial aspects of economic development, both yesterday and today.

Super! Un secolo di energia in Italia

Alessandro Lanza

Luiss University press, 2025

A collection of research on change in companies outlines a path that is valid for all organisations in the manufacturing sector

Change to keep growing (and growing better). Important guidance for all production organisations, especially today. As always, this is a question of people before procedures, but they themselves must be flexible and willing to change. This is the premise of the just published collection of research findings in “Strategie di resilienza in operations management. Casi aziendali ed esperienze di eccellenza” (Business cases and experiences of excellence. Resilience strategies in operations management) by Pietro de Giovanni.

De Giovanni’s study is based on an observation: In an increasingly complex global arena, organisations need to radically rethink their resilience strategies in order to survive and thrive. But how? De Giovanni’s answer comes not from theory, but from observing a number of business examples: FERCAM, Fincantieri, Prologis, Fedrigoni, Brembo, Prysmian, Hilti. Each story, analysed and explored in depth, shows how and to what extent the company was able to turn disruptive events into growth opportunities. What emerges is how technological innovation, sustainability, and organizational agility have become critical components of modern resilience.

As already mentioned, it is not theory but the observation of business practice that forms the backbone of de Giovanni’s research, which is carried out through case studies and the testimonies of their leaders. The analysis of the events and the collected stories lead the reader along a path that shows how companies can design flexible and networked logistics architectures; apply predictive systems based on artificial intelligence; develop collaborative relationships with suppliers and stakeholders; integrate circular economy practices; transform disruption into strategic opportunities.

Each study is based on an individual business experience and, when read in conjunction with the others, provides an overall vision that would otherwise be impossible.

Strategie di resilienza in operations management. Casi aziendali ed esperienze di eccellenza

Pietro de Giovanni

Egea Bocconi, 2025

“Democracy is not a final conquest, it must be constantly realised, lived, consolidated and interpreted”. And “Freedom is like air: you only realise how much it is worth when it becomes scarce.”

In these difficult and controversial times, in the face of the negative tendencies towards banality and vulgarity, and the growing resentment of democracy, it is worth rereading some of the greatest pages of our political literature. For example, the speech given by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, in April 2015 to the young winners of the “From resistance to active citizenship” competition. And Piero Calamandrei‘s speech on the Constitution in 1955, with its key passage: “It’s so beautiful, it’s so simple: there is freedom. We live in a free society and there are other things to worry about than politics. Of course I know that. The world is so beautiful, there are so many beautiful things to see, to enjoy, instead of worrying about politics. Politics is no fun.

However, Calamandrei continues, “freedom is like air: you only realise how much it is worth when it becomes scarce, when you know the suffocating sensation that my generation has known for twenty years and that I hope you, young people, will never know.

The conclusion is exemplary, for future reference: “I hope that you will never know such agony, because I hope that you will create the conditions that prevent such agony from ever happening: always remembering the need to watch over freedom, and making your own contribution to political life”.

Since the end of the Second World War, which ended with the defeat of Nazism and Fascism, we have experienced eighty years of peace in Europe, marked by the expansion of that wonderful synthesis between liberal democracy, the market economy and the welfare state, that is, between freedom, enterprise, well-being and social cohesion (all of which we have taken for granted). The implosion of the Soviet empire, due to its profound political, economic and social limitations, after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, has comforted the idea – or rather the illusion – of a radical success of the West, its cultures and its values, to the point of fueling the arrogant and deceptive idea of “exporting democracy”.

But history has by no means “ended” with the “victory” of the West, despite the predictions of even a brilliant political scientist like Francis Fukuyama. Far from it. And today we are faced with the shocking disruption of traditional geopolitical balances and the assertion of the primacy of the values and interests of major international players (China, Russia, Iran, Turkey, the diverse Arab world, waiting for the new power to emerge from Africa), while the political and cultural changes taking place in Washington are forcing us to rethink the role of the United States, which is usually perceived as the cornerstone of Western democracy.

In a nutshell, the new season seems to be marked by the growing sphere of autocracies, and liberal democracy is faltering. There is a feeling of being held hostage by the outside (the war in Ukraine is an exemplary example of this). And there is also a feeling of creaking inside. In fact, there is a growing dissatisfaction with participation in political life and voting, a fundamental moment in the construction of the “popular will” (one of Calamandrei’s fears). There is growing indifference, or worse, intolerance, towards some of the pillars of democracy: the separation of powers between the branches of government, the autonomy of the judiciary, freedom of the press, the value of critical thinking, the sanctity of pluralism of thought.

It is the age of populism, selfish sovereignty, intolerance of diversity, resentment of scientific research and the complexity of intellectual work. The spread of social media, with its poor game of “likes” that impoverishes thoughts and words, is exacerbating the crisis.

This is why it is necessary to return to critical thinking, to create new dialectical spaces for international relations, which are necessary in any case, in order to defend and revive the “breath of freedom”. And to talk about politics, to study history, law and economics, to reflect on our values and the foundations of democracy. Which go beyond a simple electoral vote. And the crushing of social and political life in the parody of an “all in” poker hand, where whoever wins the electoral round becomes the absolute master of the entire democratic scenario.

So, read and discuss. Let us focus our attention on the words of the “Fathers of the Constitution”, the product of a synthesis of the best movements of Italian political thought, Catholic, liberal, socialist and communist, linked to the values of parliamentary democracy (the Acts of the Constituent Assembly are brilliant testimony to this). Revisiting the European authors of liberal and democratic thought (including the three signatories of the “Ventotene Manifesto”, Altiero Spinelli, Ernesto Rossi and Eugenio Colorni). Reflecting on the relationship between freedom and responsibility, history and future, recalling Aldo Moro’s lesson on the “new season of duties” necessary for the renewal of Italian democracy (he was killed by the Red Brigades and also on the orders of powers that have not yet been clearly identified by the judiciary, specifically to prevent that renewal).

To do this, we need to focus our attention on an indispensable book, “Vi auguro la democrazia” (I wish you democracy), a collection of speeches by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella recently published by De Agostini (with a preface by Corrado Augias) and aimed at the younger generations, from which we took the initial quote of this blog. Mattarella writes: “Democracy is not a final conquest, it must be constantly realised, lived, consolidated and interpreted, because times change, forms of communication change. Democracy must be implemented every time, at all times, so that it is authentic in its values, in the ways that change from season to season. It lives because it is applied and implemented. Always created, in changing times and under changing conditions, respecting its values”.

Democracy in motion. To live and let live. Culture to be explored further. The defence of memory (a fundamental commitment at a time when, regardless of the facts, there are powers and powerful people who theorise “alternative truths” and present “factoids” as facts on social media). Responsibly building a future. And knowledge on which to base choices and behaviour.

Including legal and institutional knowledge. As illustrated in the pages of “I presidenti della Repubblica e le crisi di governo – Cinquant’anni di storia italiana 1971- 2021” (The Presidents of the Republic and the Government Crises – Fifty Years of Italian History 1971-2021), a collection of essays edited by Stefano Sepe and Oriana Giacalone, published by Editoriale Scientifica in the series of the Institute of Political Studies “S. Pio V”. Acute and wise reflections. With a fundamental reference to the doctrine of Costantino Mortati (one of the “founding fathers”, teacher of constitutional law to generations of lawyers since the 1950s) on the “moderating power” of the President of the Republic in the formation of governments after elections and in the resolution of governmental crises: the role of the tenant of the official residence of the President of the Italian Republic, the Quirinale, is to “ensure that the direction of the people corresponds to that of the representative bodies and to that of the latter among themselves, in order to maintain constant harmony”. Democracy as plurality. Balance of power. Checks and balances. The complete opposite of “one man in command”. Our democracy must continue to live and grow.

(photo Getty Images)

A collection of short stories about “entrepreneurial ordinariness” has just been published

Stories of business people to help better understand business. This is a method that has been tried and tested for some time now, but which proves its worth every time new stories are added to those already told. And this is the case for “Ordinary leadership. La fenomenologia della leadership attraverso il potere di storie quotidiane” (The phenomenology of leadership through the power of everyday stories), a book written by Dario Bussolin and Azzurra Maria Sorbi (he is an occupational psychologist and she is an expert in human relations), who have collected nine stories of entrepreneurs and the tales of their businesses.

Stories that the authors rightly define as inspiring and leadership stories that often remain overshadowed. These are the stories of women and men who, without fanfare, have shaped the destinies of companies, communities and entire sectors through their vision, passion and commitment. The book, commissioned by Aegis Human Consulting Group, tells the stories of little-known companies that, according to the authors, represent “authentic experiences, rich in lessons and deep values”. Stories that tell of successes and failures and, above all, that can stimulate reflection, new perspectives and awareness. The reader is thus able to follow the entrepreneurial steps of the people behind Giovanardi SpA, Giano Srl, API Srl, Tre Elle Srl, Cifarelli SpA, Aegis Srl, Proel SpA, Gest Srl and Edam Soluzioni Ambientali Srl.

This book by Dario Bussolin and Azzurra Maria Sorbi is a must-read , and should probably be read by anyone who wants to start a business.

Ordinary leadership. La fenomenologia della leadership attraverso il potere di storie quotidiane

Dario Bussolin, Azzurra Maria Sorbi

Franco Angeli, 2025