Being a green company makes sense, and not just because – naturally – it’s good for the environment and the communities where the business operates. It also makes sense because being green helps stimulate innovation, improves working practices and can open up demanding and sensitive markets. In other words, being green makes you more competitive. Lombardy, one of the industrial motors of Europe, is the Italian region most influenced by the green economy and also the most “sustainable”. These considerations are highlighted in the new GreenItaly 2018 Report from the Symbola Foundation and UnionCamere. The report is the ninth in the series and was presented last week in Milan at the Assolombarda business association. The findings further reinforce the growing interest in topics concerning the relationship between sustainability and competitiveness, the protection of and appreciation for the environment and the strengthening of the mechanisms of economic development. With one special characteristic: in a European context, Italy occupies a leading position in terms of its national system (energy, waste collection, etc.) for eco-sustainability, notwithstanding the numerous and at times outrageous instances of environmental and social neglect. In difficult times, with a fragile economy and darkening social tensions, the positive data regarding the green economy provides us with a glimpse of a more optimistic and hope-filled future. We will take a look at the data below.

In Poland, the global UN Climate Conference (Cop24) has been in progress since 14 December, with 30,000 delegates from all over the world locked in an extremely difficult debate on what decisions to take in order to help avoid exacerbating the alarming pollution-related phenomena currently unfolding and the devastating effects of climate change. The hostility of Trump’s USA to the reconfirmation of the Paris Agreement and its  “sustainability goals” means that the content of the international discussions taking place is particularly tension-filled. At the same time, regardless of these international agreements, there is fortunately also a growing social and economic interest in environmental matters. And it is the world of European companies that could play an important role not only in terms of cultural stimulation, but also by setting an example of virtuous behaviour.

ENEA (the Italian National Agency for Energy Efficiency) last week presented the results of the “Italian Platform for the Circular Economy”, involving 60 different stakeholders, including businesses, institutions and NGOs. Also last week, Confindustria presented a “White paper for efficient development with renewable energy sources” (in collaboration with EY and RSE). There are more and more debates and initiatives springing up centred around this issue. And the most dynamic companies have moved past the old CSR  (Corporate Social Responsibility) frameworks and are thinking in terms of sustainability, both in environmental and social terms (in many companies the conventional CSR report has even become part of the actual balance sheet of the company). The “paradigm change” forced on us by the economic crisis in favour of a more balanced economy (we have spoken about this matter several times in this blog over the years) is turning into a radical modification of the mechanisms of production, distribution and consumption, affects all areas of innovation, and is closely linked to analyses and choices related to smart cities (and consequently also smart citizens and all the aspects of the sharing economy and “shared assets”). .

These are the issues which form the cultural background to the GreenItaly Report, from which it is worth highlighting some key pieces of data. From the 2014 to 2017 data and forecasts for 2018, we see that 345,000 Italian business from manufacturing and services (a quarter of the total) have invested in green products and technology to reduce their environmental impact, save energy and restrict CO2 emissions. This green economy accounts for 3 million green jobs (positions which require “green” skills), 13% of overall employment in Italy. And this figure is experiencing an upward trend. Unioncamere expects demand for green jobs in 2018 to reach 474,000 working contracts, including energy engineers and technicians, biological farmers, “green acquisitions” experts, mechatronic technicians and installers of thermal machinery with low environmental impact. Green jobs are particularly plentiful in manufacturing: staying competitive with niche, value-added products on international markets requires not only quality products and production, but also sustainability. And a “beautiful factory”, meaning well-designed, full of light, safe, efficient and with a low environmental impact and a high level of social inclusion (another thing we have spoken about on numerous occasions) is the perfect place for Italian industrial capacity to develop and further enhance its global reputation.

The Lombardy region has a leading position, with 61,650 companies which either have invested or will invest by the end of the year in green technologies. With 123,380 green contracts agreed upon by their companies for 2018, more than a quarter of the nationwide total, Milan, Brescia, Bergamo, Monza and Brianza are sites of excellence in a region which also takes first place at a regional level for the number of agreed or planned contracts this year.

Greener, and more competitive. In fact, the Symbola Report explains that the companies which are part of this “GreenItaly” enjoy a dynamism on foreign markets which is far superior to the rest of the Italian system of production: with specific reference to manufacturing companies (with 5 to 499 employees), in 2017 those companies which had invested in green saw an increase in terms of exports of 34% against 27% for those who have not:  a competitive advantage which is repeated in the forecasts for 2018 (32% against 26%).

These companies – states the Symbola Report – are more innovative than the others: 79% have developed innovative activities, against 43% of non-investors (nearly double). This innovation also encompasses Industry 4.0: 26% of companies who have made green investments have also already adopted or are in the process of adopting hi-tech projects, while the figure for companies who haven’t made green investments stands at 11%.  Propelled by exports and innovation, these companies have also seen boosts to their revenues: 32% of companies who invest in green saw an increase in revenues in 2017 (once again among manufacturing companies with between 5 and 499 employees), against 24% of non-investing companies. The forecasts for 2018 indicate a similar disparity (27% against 22%).

These companies, including small businesses (though their contribution is likely underestimated due to the difficulty of tracking green investments in less structured businesses) , have helped to push the entire Italian system of production towards a leading position in Europe in terms of environmental performance. A position which goes well with our international record in terms of competitiveness. EUROSTAT reports that with 307 kg of prime materials used for every Euro 1 million produced by its companies, Italy is far ahead of the European average (455 kg), taking third place in the ranking of 28 countries behind only the United Kingdom (236 kg) and Luxembourg (283 kg), and ahead of France (326 kg), Spain (360 kg) and Germany (408 kg).
From prime materials to energy, where there is a similar dynamic: we are in second place among Europe’s “big players”, behind only the United Kingdom.  From 17.3 tonnes of petroleum equivalent per Euro 1 million in 2008 we have moved to 14.2: Great Britain consumes 10.6, France 14.9, Spain 15.7 and Germany 17. Finishing second behind the UK is worth more than a “simple” second place: while finance and services play a major role in the UK economy, our economy is more closely tied to manufacturing.
Italy has also made great strides in terms of reducing waste. With 43.2 tonnes for every Euro 1 million produced (1.7 tonnes fewer than in 2008), we are the most efficient of the five biggest European economies, once again far superior to Germany (67.6 tonnes per Euro 1 million produced) and the EU average (89.3 tonnes).
The Symbola Report also confirms that we also in an excellent position when it comes to the reductions of emissions in the atmosphere: Italy is third of the five big EU economies (104.2 tonnes CO2 per Euro 1 million produced): behind France (85.5 tonnes, favoured by its nuclear power) and the UK, but in front of Spain and Germany.
And in addition to this data, which assesses the overall performance of the national system, we can offer more information which shows us how Italy has produced excellent results in terms of sustainability in a variety of areas.
We have a leading position in the bio economy and green chemicals. We are (according to the Bio-Based Industry Joint Undertaking Report) the leading country in Europe in terms of pro-capita revenues from the development of products based on biological processes, such as bio-plastics. In other words, Italy is a leading country for sustainability. A positive portrait for a country whose story is far too often – particularly on social media – dominated by catastrophic tones.

Ermete Realacci, president of the SymbolaFoundation, made the following comment: “These results on their own do not constitute a solution to the old problems of Italy, which include not just the public debt, but also social inequality, the black economy, the criminal economy, the arrested development of the South and an inefficient and often suffocating bureaucracy. They do, however, paint a picture of an Italy which enjoys a challenge and is not afraid of the future, an Italy which is competitive and innovative, and in many ways a new Italy which can be used to combat those negative aspects. GreenItaly, therefore, begins with this Italy, the one with a can-do attitude and which is already working to show us the recipe of the green economy and all the energy that surrounds it, accompanying the country towards a more desirable future, one which is fairer and more sustainable, and a future which is, as we have seen, also built on competitiveness and a new influential role for Italy in the global landscape.”

A book describes the recent events at the Melegatti company, which have become a living example of some people’s attachment to the values of work and production.

Corporate culture is created in many different ways. And at the end of the day, at its base you will find only one thing: a love for work and the results that work produces. This is not a rare condition. In fact, you will find just such an attitude in many companies. Even when, for various reasons, the company itself closes down, or there is a risk of it closing down. Which is why it is important to collect these stories.

And why it is definitely worth reading the recently published “Lievito madre. Storia della fabbrica salvata dagli operai” (Sourdough. The story of a factory saved by its workers) written by Silvino Gonzato.

The book tells the story of the Malegatti company from San Giovanni Lupatoto, close to Verona. Just a few weeks ago, the factory reopened – under a new name, “Melegatti 1894” – after a difficult, troubled period as the company searched for a new buyer. And it has reopened in part due to the determination of three workers – Davide Stupazzoni, Matteo Peraro and Michele Isolan – who, every single day during the months where production was at a standstill, fed the mass of sourdough which has been around since 1894, i.e. ever since the pastry chef Domenico Melegatti created it in his workshop on the Corso Porta Borsari in Verona. These men, together with the new owners (Roberto and Giacomo Spezzapria), have helped keep the corporate culture in this enterprise alive

The book brings us a story of anxiety and courage, of sleepless nights and days camped outside the factory, of dreams and of reality. In just over 100 pages you will find the tales of the three workers, the two new buyers and the rest of the factory, all of which seems to centre around the protection of the sourdough, which is treated every single day. Almost the physical embodiment of the true centre of the factory.

The writing of Gonzato, who followed the affair every step of the way, is passionate yet also journalistic in tone. Always there, reading and researching. Encompassing all the distress of the case and the opposing positions of two varying visions of the company. What emerge is both a case study on corporate culture and a human story full of the will to live and the will to work. A great read.

Lievito madre. Storia della fabbrica salvata dagli operai (Sourdough. The story of a factory saved by its workers)

Silvino Gonzato

Neri Pozza, 2018

This is not the first time that the Scottish photographer Albert Watson, the creator of The Cal 2019, has worked with Pirelli. Before immortalising the models Laetitia Casta and Gigi Hadid for the pages of the cult-status Calendar – which is being unveiled today to the public around the world – the Edinburgh-born master had already taken brilliant, iconic shots for a Pirelli advertising campaign. This was back in 1996, when the subject portrayed was the explosive “son of the wind” Carl Lewis. Many will remember the famous photo by Annie Leibowitz – who was herself the creator of some editions of the Calendar – showing the American sprinter preparing to take off while wearing a pair of dizzyingly high-heeled red shoes, bringing to life the famous slogan “Power is nothing without control”. It was 1994 and Lewis had taken over the role of “global” endorser of the Pirelli Group: a couple of years later he would hand over the baton to the Olympic record-holder Marie-José Pérec, who played herself as a legend of power and beauty in the advertisement directed by Gerard de Thame. In Watson’s shots, however, Carl Lewis became a sort of wild beast ready to devour the road with his teeth of steel, or to maul his prey with sharp, pointed nails. A metaphor that associated the characteristics of the product with those of the endorser: the “devourer of roads” is the Pirelli Diablo, the extremely sporty motorbike tyre, while the aggressive bird of prey is the off-road MT80 RS. Two years later, another athlete would act as himself in a famous advertising campaign: the Inter Milan footballer Ronaldo,  who was portrayed as Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro by the English photographer Ken Griffiths in 1998, was an icon of the “controversial and unexpected” advertising in line with the Group’s new approach to managing its image in the early 1990s. A philosophy in which photographers led the way. Even so, photography had been the absolute star of Pirelli advertising ever since the 1960s, when one of the giants of the art, Ugo Mulas, accompanied the Cinturato and the Sempione with pictures of meditative girls, absorbed in reading a book or cheerfully smiling from the window of their Fiat Cinquecento. In the early 1970s, the Swiss photographer Gaston Jung turned to photographing the car in the role of model: it was he who photographed the Lamborghini Miura, the yellow supercar that is still considered to be one of the most beautiful automobiles ever made. The pictures that the Bergamo-born photographer Pepi Merisio devoted to off-road motorbike tyres in 1976 came almost as an aside: after taking pictures of mountain homes and valleys in the Lombard countryside, for Pirelli Motovelo he allowed himself an amused look at riders in their saddles, battling against mud and stones. In the publication later made by the Agenzia Centro, Merisio’s shots came with comic-style onomatopoeic comments: mmmmmrrrrr….ffffrrruuummmm….

Dozens of photographers passed through the Milan offices of Centro – the Pirelli Group advertising agency from the 1960s to the 1980s – each bringing a piece of their own creativity. Together they created a mosaic culture of images that made history, and that can now be retraced in the book Pirelli: Advertising with a Capital P, edited by the Pirelli Foundation. The title takes its inspiration from another iconic photo, taken by an Englishman, Adrian Hamilton, in 1978: a “long P” on an airport runway made up of 140 cars, photographed from above by a helicopter. A way of saying “tyres with a capital P”.

But the last invitation is to turn to page 105 of that book, where the photographer is seen hidden beneath the logo of the “Centro”. And we don’t even know the name of the girl who, in 1980, smiles from the page of the Financial Times and who is now in a big blown-up picture in the new exhibition at the Foundation: the slogan states that “Pirelli is young”.

The visual communication of a company is a fundamental part of the story it has to tell about its internationalism. The book A Muse in the Wheels, edited by the Pirelli Foundation and published by Corraini in 2015, is a long journey of discovery into the international breadth of Pirelli’s communication ever since the company was first set up in 1872.

Little is known about Stanley Charles Roowy’s life: he may have been of Belgian origin, or possibly French, but certainly he came from beyond the Alps. It was he who designed the Pirelli tyres in 1914 for that roaring, futuristic red car that was soon to become one of the icons of early twentieth-century advertising. The graphic play between the long P of “Pneus” and the long P of “Pirelli” had already crossed borders, prompting and inspiring the creativity of many international artists. But already the previous year, in 1913, an unknown artist had designed another iconic advertisement, this time for Pirelli Tyres on the British market. On the cover of Land & Water magazine, it came in the form of a fox making a mockery of the pack of hounds chasing it, for it is fitted with the super-fast Italian tyre. Standing over three metres tall, the gigantic poster for that campaign is now on show in the premises of our Foundation, in the area of the Historical Archive devoted to the company’s advertisements. And possibly the entire “global” dimension of those distant pre-First World War years can be summed up in a little sketch from about 1912-15, by an anonymous artist, which is also in our Archive: the subject is again a “pneu Pirelli”, in the French style, which is observed with curiosity and admiration by a series of little human figurines representing all the ethnic groups of the world that were known at the time. But it was after the Second World War, when a strong pro-European wind was blowing, that there was an authentic race among the greatest international designers to try their hand at creating Pirelli’s advertising images. The coming together of such diverse cultures and experiences led to an unparalleled mix of creativity. The first to walk through the door of the Group’s “Direzione Propaganda” in Milan was probably the Swiss artist Max Huber, who had been in Italy since the 1940s, working first with Studio Boggeri and later with Albe Steiner: it was he who put his name, in the mid-1950s, to the cover of a brochure on scooter tyres, using the impression left by the tread as his graphic theme.

A more classic approach can be seen in the “Safety in Speed” advertisement that Pavel Engelmann, a Czechoslovak who had emigrated to the United States, designed in 1952-4 for Pirelli racing tyres, following their evolution from the Stella Bianca to the Stelvio. The dominant colour here was the same red that the futurist Roowy had used forty years previously. And it was Engelmann who opened the doors of Pirelli to the young Dutchman Bob Noorda, who was certainly one of the most prolific and innovative designers of his time. The Amsterdam-born artist created countless works for the Milanese company, including such icons as his Inverno tyres in the form of a fir tree or snow crystals, the first collage for the Rolle, and his attempts to breathe artistic life into electricity cables made of Gommaprene. There was also a valorous posse of French creative designers, ranging from Jeanne Michot, who used the surname of her husband Franco Grignani when signing advertising sketches for raincoats, to Raymond Savignac, with his little man inscribed within the Stelvio, like Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, and André François, who turned the loop of the Long P into the windscreen of a car. The Englishman Alan Fletcher, Kenyan by birth, left an indelible mark on the history of twentieth-century design with his Fletcher/Forbes/Gill agency, and later with Pentagram. For Pirelli, he created such graphic gems as the “+km” for the Stelvio Nylon tyre advertisement and the “Safety in cornering” for the Cinturato. We could not end this overview of great international designers who have worked with Pirelli without mentioning Lora Lamm: of Swiss nationality, she too arrived at Propaganda Pirelli in the footsteps of Boggeri and Huber. Her girl on a scooter in 1959 is still today a marvel of youthful radiance and joie de vivre.

It was the urge to discover the innovative ideas of companies beyond Italy’s borders that led Giovanni Battista Pirelli to embark on the study tour that ultimately led to the creation of Italy’s first rubber industry. This was back in 1870, when the young student from the Politecnico University of Milan started exploring industrial Europe. He was actually still abroad when he decided to devote himself to this undertaking, and he went on a sort of “Grand Tour” of the most advanced factories and research laboratories in France, Switzerland, and Germany. Just thirty years after the opening of its first factory in Milan, in 1872, the Pirelli company became one of Italy’s first multinational concerns, when in 1902 it opened a factory in Villanueva y Geltrù in Spain. This was a decisive year, marking the beginning of Pirelli’s dealings with foreign countries. In 1913, the company opened in Southampton, England, in 1917 in Argentina, and in 1929 in Brazil. The journey that began over 100 years ago led to Pirelli being one of the world’s leading tyre manufacturers, operating in 12 different countries, with 18 factories.

The company’s successes were already being celebrated in 1922, when a series of illustrations went on show at the Museo Storico delle Industrie Pirelli to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary. The various posters include the Pirelli Organisation Chart showing the numerous sales offices abroad and the company’s rubber plantations dotted around the world. It is indeed this celebratory drawing of a tree, which constitutes a snapshot of Pirelli’s expansion in the first half of the twentieth century, that introduces the educational programme entitled “Studying Internationalism in the Archive” for lower and upper secondary schools. The course introduces students to the history and present-day world of the company, helping them acquire an open approach towards other cultures. The students will be able to make use of archive documents to become “researchers for a day”, finding out about different types of materials, from documents that record how Pirelli became the first Italian company to be floated on the New York Stock Exchange, in 1922, to photographs of the most recent factories in Indonesia, Mexico, and China. And there are also the house organs published in various countries around the world, and global advertising campaigns, showing how Pirelli has worked for almost 150 years to become the international brand it is today. Advertising can speak all the languages ​​of the world, and the universal word Cinturato, Pirelli’s flagship product right from the 1950s, speaks even louder, as we see, for example, in the campaigns created by Pino Tovaglia in 1968. Or in the “International travellers travel Cinturato” advertisement of 1971, in which the design of the Cinturato is accompanied by the car plates of Europe on an imaginary journey from Holland to Greece, and from Austria to Spain.

During the course, the students will visit the exhibition Pirelli: Advertising with a Capital P at the Pirelli Foundation, which will introduce them to the international visual and graphic communication of forty decades, from the 1960s to the 1990s, which were characterised by an increasingly global outlook. In the advertisements created by the Agenzia Centro, showing Pirelli as a “world industry”, the Pirelli logo is multiplied countless times to create a sphere that recalls our planet, clearly conveying the international nature of the company. In the 1990s, with the agency Young & Rubicam, Pirelli’s endorsers were world-famous stars such as Carl Lewis, Sharon Stone and the footballer Ronaldo. Advertising can also be seen as a means for understanding the great social, economic and technological changes that have swept through our world and our lifestyles. Showing young people this original view of an ever-changing world is a way of giving them new instruments to interpret the reality that is all around them.

A good analysis of the new economy has just been published in Italy

Intangible factories. Real yet virtual production. A business culture that, sometimes, does not appear to hold onto anything from the past. Yet it is a culture that remains tied to production, although on entirely different bases from before. Observing a certain part of the manufacturing and economic panorama, this would seem to be the conclusion: there has been a switch from a prevailing production of tangible assets to one of intangible assets. This process is not complete, obviously, but it is definitely under way, albeit turbulently in certain sectors. This process however needs to be understood.

Reading “Capitalismo senza capitale. L’ascesa dell’economia intangibile” (Capitalism without capital. The rise of the intangible economy) by Jonathan Haskel (Professor of Economics at the Imperial College, London) and Stian Westlake (Senior Fellow Nesta, the British national foundation dedicated to innovation), is therefore a good idea, and should be done attentively. The book has just been published in Italy and it starts with an observation: at the beginning of the twenty-first Century, a silent revolution has for the first time led economies to invest more in intangible assets (design, branding, research and development and software) rather than in tangible assets (such as machinery, buildings and computers). And that’s not all, because, for practically every type of business, the ability to handle intangible production tools has become crucial for the very survival of manufacturing activities.

This is where the two authors start from, in their exploration that is not only of what is referred to as the new economy but especially of some of the great economic changes of the last decade. This is also a useful journey better to understand the present and the future that awaits businesses.

The book is not always easy to read, but it has the great advantage of being sorted clearly, starting with the definition of intangible economy, then outlining the measurement methods and the differences in investment. Haskel and Westlake then move on to address the consequences of the intangible economy: the differences which occur in production organisations, the rise in inequalities, the financial challenges, the need for new skills, the public policies required.

The book ends with a presentation of three possible future scenarios and outlining how managers, investors and policy makers can exploit the peculiarities of this era in order to grow companies, commercial investment and national economies.

Capitalismo senza capitale. L’ascesa dell’economia intangibile (Capitalism without capital. The rise of the intangible economy)

Jonathan Haskel, Stian Westlake

Franco Angeli, 2018

Businesses are taking to the streets. Small businesses, especially. The rendezvous is for 13th December, in Milan. This is where the heads of the Confartigianato artisan federation have summoned their members from the Veneto, Lombardy, Emilia and other regions of the North for a demonstration of protest against the measures set out by the Government in the Balance Sheet law: minimal support for businesses which innovate, very few investments in infrastructure and major public works, financing for pensions and citizenship incomes smacking of assistance and with a low impact on any economic revival. “We are protesting because we do not want to give up on the locomotive of growth after so many sacrifices made over recent years”, explains Giorgio Merletti, Chair of the Varese Confartigianato federation. And there are many more like him. Starting with Agostino Bonomo, Chair of the Veneto Confartigianato federation, which over the past few days had already mobilised its 60 thousand members.

Other business-led initiatives are being planned. The Confindustria industrial federation has summoned its General Council, extended to an audience of businessmen involved in the structure of the organisation, for 3rd December in Turin, to protest about the suspension of construction sites for public works. And on 14th, in Verona, the whole of manufacturing industry has decided to get together for a demonstration in favour of the High Speed Rail Project and of other infrastructure works deemed to be “essential”, such as the Pedemontana Veneto expressway.  “This is how the GDP party will make itself the inconvenient third party between the League and the Five-Star Movement”, explains Dario Di Vico in the “Corriere della Sera” newspaper (26th November), noting the embarrassment of Matteo Salvini, leader of the League and Vice-chair of the Cabinet, torn as he is between the demands of the traditional League electorate (keen on production, entrepreneurial, committed to Europe), a nationalism which is failing to find any agreement amongst industrialists and an alliance with the “Grillini” (followers of Beppe Grillo, the Five-Star spokesman) who are seen as just a smokescreen by those who are seeking infrastructure, investment and innovation to drive social and economic development.

Where does such unease amongst entrepreneurs – mainly small ones but medium and large ones too – come from? From the awareness that the Italian economy has ground to a halt and that the forecasts for the coming months are negative, as well as being sadly very different from the optimistic forecasts broadcast by the Government in order to try to justify an economic policy manoeuvre which promises subsidies and pensions worth around twenty billion Euros and exceeds all the constraints of the EU. Carlo Robiglio, Chair of the Small Business section of the Confindustria federation, expresses the concerns of everyone: “We are risking another Battle of Caporetto”, a debacle for the economy, he declares to the “Il Sole24Ore” newspaper (25th November). And goes on to explain: “The uncertainty is delaying investments”, so on the part of the Government it is indispensable to have a “greater dialogue” with businesses. A dialogue which has so far been missing. With severely damaging economic consequences.

The “dignity decree” sought by the Minister for Work and Economic Development Di Maio is beginning to bring its negative effects into play, with a collapse in job opportunities and difficult consequences for businesses (“In 2017 we were taking on 15 people a month, but now not a single one”, snaps Marco Bonometti, a top industrialist in the automotive sector in Brescia, and Chair of the Lombardy Confindustria federation. And the increase in the spread (on Italian Treasury bonds), as ever linked to the unattainability of the Government’s economic policy manoeuvre and to the disputes with Europe, aggravates the picture: a higher cost of borrowing for mortgagees and loans to businesses, reduced credit limits. How will it be possible, ask businesses, to react to a new recession?

There is actually a growing sense of unhappiness, within the “GDP party”, in productive Italy. Recent headlines are an obvious indication of this. The assembly of the Assolombarda, on 18th October last, with the speech by its Chair, Carlo Bonomi, which was particularly well-applauded during the contentious passages challenging a Government hostile towards businesses, towards infrastructure, towards science, and towards the EU. And the successive assemblies of the Confindustria confederations of Brescia, Lecco, Sondrio, and Varese. The crowd of over 30 thousand people in the streets of Turin chanting “Sì Tav” (Yes to the High Speed Train project) and protesting against the suspension of public works. The agitation in Genoa, against the slow progress in the reconstruction of the Morandi road bridge and the obstacles to the public works which could reconnect the Liguria region to the major European economic thoroughfares and to the entrepreneurial dynamism of the North West. The position adopted, in Florence, by Leonardo Bassilichi, Chair of the Chamber of Commerce, who translated the sentiments of local businesses and, in the “Corriere della Sera” newspaper of Sunday, 25th November, suggested to the parties of the majority: “Enough of tactical manoeuvring, the GDP party wants economic development”.

How should we react? Protests, including street mobilisation such as we have already described. And proposals. Investment, is what the Confindustria federation is asking for. Tax incentives for businesses which innovate and export (instead, the Government has drastically reduced these). No protectionism. And support, instead, for the reform and revival of Europe, and for exploiting its functions and resources.

It is in this context that increasing numbers of favourable voices are being heard for the proposal suggested by Marco Tronchetti Provera, CEO of Pirelli, in the “Il Sole24Ore” newspaper of 16th November last (we mentioned this in last week’s blog) for a grand “Marshall Plan” for infrastructure from the EU . “Young people and knowledge to revive the European dream”, is the call, in “Il Sole24Ore” once again, by Gianfelice Rocca, Chair of Techint and of Humanitas. And also: “Major investments in infrastructure are a necessary premise for a revival, because what is required is a “Europe of bridges” and not one “of walls””. And Carlo Pesenti, Managing Director of Italmobiliare, a historic family of sound Italian capitalism, agrees and makes a further point: “Europe and the Euro remain elements which cannot be renounced” but the EU must also learn to respond rapidly to the emergence of serious social difficulties which undermine trust in the European institutions, and it must therefore prepare “a major project for modern and sustainable welfare which is able to cater to the needs of the most vulnerable categories. A plan for those who are studying, to help youngsters through that journey, for mothers who want to work, for those who lose their jobs and need to be re-trained and relocated, and for the elderly: Europe, which today is perceived as “old” and bureaucratic, must look after people if it is to move ahead once more”.

A hi-tech and supportive Europe, then. “We need to invest in networks, and to catch up on Europe’s backwardness”, comments Gian Maria Gros-Pietro, Chair of Intesa San Paolo; “True Europhiles are convinced that the process of integration needs to be boosted”, affirms Albero Bombassei, Chair of Brembo. And those who insist that Europe should be a key forum for competitiveness include Marco Bonometti, OMR Group, for the automotive industry, Giuseppe Pasini, for steel, Chair of the Brescia industrialists, Alessandro Spada, for plant design and installation, Vice-Chair of the Assolombarda association, and an authoritative economist like Giorgio Barba Navaretti: “Europe as a common dwelling place with rules and projects”.

As for the widespread social difficulties, and the risks of impoverishment which affect a wide range of the middle classes (not just in Italy, but in several parts of Europe), it is possible to respond to these by reawakening the ghosts of nationalism, dusting off public interventionism in the economy (Alitalia, the telephone networks) and promising new and old types of state assistance (pensions, citizenship incomes, contributions to different sectors and categories). Or instead one can devote oneself to getting the economy back on track, that virtuous track along which businesses already travelled between 2015 and 2017: research, innovation, investment. The Government is going down a bad track. Businesses rightly recognise this. And they demand to be heard: they create jobs, wealth, changes in quality of life, social inclusion, and are a precious stimulus for the future of Italy.

Europe stands at the centre of attention for businesses. Not because it is free from criticism. Far from it. But because reforms and revival are the indispensable conditions for economic development.

The majority of Italians, furthermore, albeit critical of Brussels, show that they appreciate the Euro. And they do not wish to embark on any adventures (such as those involving leaving the common currency about which various exponents of the League/Five-Star majority, and of the Government itself, are chattering with irresponsible abandon and minimal understanding of the risks involved). The Euro, in fact, is appreciated by 57% of Italians, according to Eurobarometer, the authoritative statistical institute in Brussels. And this represents an increasing plebiscite: 12% more than in the previous year. This too is an extremely precise political indicator: the Euro is now a consolidated reality; Italian citizens recognise its advantages; the quarrels of the Government with the EU in a tiresome encounter have no interest either for our citizens in general or in particular for that part of the economy which is working and manufacturing. And it would like to continue to do so, without having to march in the streets against those who are ruining the economy.

The Pirelli Collezione range has been created to offer the vintage car market tyres that perfectly respond to the degree of historical accuracy sought by the most demanding and passionate collectors. The vintage car market is a sector that has expanded enormously at the international level. Pirelli’s affiliation as a global partner in the Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens (FIVA) only underscores the importance of an approach based on sound historical principles.

The philosophy of the Pirelli Collezione is as simple as it is powerful: the idea is to create tyres that are identical to their historical predecessors – and thus perfectly in line with the vehicles they are made for. At the same time, their construction and materials need to guarantee the levels of quality and safety that can only be given by modern technology. It is not just a matter of reproducing a tread pattern or vintage-style lettering: Pirelli Collezione products also adopt the construction methods – such as the cross-ply casing of the historic Stella Bianca – using special machines that have been recreated based on the original know-how. This approach is backed up by the vast collection of data in the Group’s Historical Archive at the Pirelli Foundation in Milan, which has been used for studying and designing new sizes and models for the Collezione range. Being able to work from historical documents means that Pirelli Collezione can now offer collectors tyres such as the Stella Bianca and the Stelvio from the 1950s, as well as the Cinturato CA67, CN72, CN36 and CN12, which helped write the history of motoring in the 1960s. It takes us through to series that are more recent but already considered as classics, such as the ultra-low-profile P7 and P5 – requested by Jaguar – or the P Zero Rosso in the early 2000s made specially for Porsche.

The Historical Archive of the Group contains tens of thousands of test specifications generated by the Tyre R&D Department throughout the twentieth century. But there is more, for a substantial sector – which, like the others, is open to the public for consultation – consists of drawings of the machines that were used at the time for manufacturing and testing these tyres. Together with the test specifications and the drawings of the machines, there are also technical data sheets concerning the dimensions of the moulds for vulcanisation, the tread patterns, and the original lettering – size, type of tyre, company logo – printed on the side wall, providing a complete, global view of technology spanning the past eighty years. These documents have accompanied the development and evolution of all Pirelli tyres, every step of the way, ever since the early 1930s, from the great ‘families’ like the Stella Bianca and the Cinturato, through to the Corsa, for racing cars, to the experiments on Cord fabrics and the first studies into the use of synthetic rubber.

All these documents make it possible to reconstruct the relationships of cooperation that have been built up over the years between Pirelli and car manufacturers, from the initial development of the prototypes through to the definitive models for the market. By cross-referencing this technical information with the price lists, the extensive advertising collection, and more than three hundred original airbrush drawings, which are now preserved in the Historical Archive, it is clear to see how it has been possible to reproduce vintage Pirelli tyres that are absolutely accurate in historical terms, while naturally guaranteeing the safety standards offered by modern technology.

This was the case, for example, for the reconstruction of tyres for the Lamborghini Miura, which is still considered to be one of the most beautiful cars ever made in the long history of automobiles. In 1967, the Lamborghini Miura became one of the very first cars to adopt the High Speed Cinturato, which enabled it to reach the momentous speed of 240 km/h. It is now available in the Pirelli Collezione range as the final outcome of a long process of experimentation, which started with the first sizes of the Cinturato CN72, for sports cars, later evolving into the CN73 – the first low-profile, wide-section model – and ending with the Series 60 rear-axle version of the CN12 introduced in 1971 for the Miura P400.

Another example of how the documentation in the Historical Archive has helped develop the Collezione range can be seen in the project to create a new edition of the Pirelli Stella Bianca tyre. This was used in 1950 on the Alfa Romeo 1900 as a so-called “conventional” tyre with a cross-ply casing (the radial Cinturato was yet to come). Here it was possible to retrace the approach stages, as it were, to the definitive model by reconstructing the history of the experiments on different tread patterns for the low-pressure Aerflex tyres and examining drawings for the vulcanisation mould. Then it was time to examine the price lists of the period as well as advertisements in Pirelli magazine, which in 1950 stated that all Alfa Romeo 1900s were fitted with Pirelli tyres as standard.

Those who have a precious Alfa Romeo 1900 in their collection can now be sure that Pirelli Collezione can offer the exact tyre that was fitted onto the car seventy years ago…

Almost since the dawn of the industrial age, there is one sign that shows the degree to which a company has become international: its participation in the great World Exhibitions. When Pirelli turned up with its products at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900, it was preparing to build its first factory abroad, and indeed it opened a plant a couple of years later in Spain. The company presented itself as a “company for the industries of elastic rubber, gutta-percha and similar items, and insulated electrical wires and cables”. Tyres were yet to emerge as objects for everyday use, and modernity was measured in terms of products and services for the new world of electricity. “At the Exhibition, Ditta Pirelli & C. restricted its display to products for electricity”, said the printed presentation sheet, “but the exhibition is nevertheless of the greatest interest, even though it is to some extent affected by the lack of space from which the entire Italian section suffers.” In a veiled riposte to French grandeur, the Italian company thus showed its astonishing technological achievements to the entire world, which had converged upon Paris. These breakthroughs had made it one of the world leaders in the electricity sector, especially in the field of submarine cables. “In other words, a complete exhibition, of the highest degree of interest, which may give an idea of the magnificence of the factories of Ditta Pirelli & C.”

The great leap to the New World came four years later, at the St Louis World’s Fair in 1904. This time, the factory in Milan sent not just electrical and telegraph cables but also “rubber pipes for railways, haberdashery items, a deep sea diver’s suit, technical items in rubber, inner tubes for velocipedes” – and, at long last, “1 complete tyre for cars”. To show how a great Italian company was every bit as good as any American titan, the first six of the twenty-one crates dispatched to Saint Louis on 16 February 1904 contained the entire Pirelli & C. stand with drawings and instructions for assembly on site. The magnificence of the display at the Milan International exhibition in 1906 rather overshadowed the fact that Pirelli & C. was once again present across the Atlantic, at the New York exhibition in October that year, where it was now an undisputed leader in tyres. In the home of motors, the company promoted its brand-new business for the world of transport: on display was a 910 x 90 Ercole mounted on an innovative removable rim, which allowed for easy and rapid tyre change. America simply could not be ignored by anyone wanting to expand in the world of tyres and it was actually in the offices of the New York importer that the “Long P” logo was born the following year. It was the same city that, in 1908, saw the start of the New York-Paris motor race, which included a Züst fitted with Pirelli tyres, with the journalist Antonio Scarfoglio on board and Emilio “Giulio” Sirtori at the wheel.

But the Pirelli Group’s real home from home became South America – Argentina and Brazil – from the late 1920s. It is no coincidence that, already in May 1910, Pirelli was taking part in the International Exhibition in Buenos Aires, to mark the centenary of the Argentine Republic. “Railways and Overland Transport. Agriculture. Hygiene and Medicine” were the three main themes of the South-American exhibition and Pirelli was present at all three, with pipes and bumpers for railway carriages, car tyres and solid tyres for trucks, travel kits and rubberised fabrics for aeroplanes, disinfection pumps and special cables for underwater lines. The company that showed up at all the great World Expos at the beginning of the century was carving out a role of its own as a multinational corporation. After that, it was history that would dictate its rate of growth: the Pirelli Historical Archive contain a folder devoted to the Group’s participation in the International Exhibition of Electrical Industries in Barcelona. Or at least, what should have been its participation, for the folder is empty. It bears the date April 1915.

Europe, for Italian businesses, is an essential scenario of reference. A Europe which, above and beyond its founding ideals, needs to reflect deeply upon the crisis which it is suffering and on the way in which its structures and bureaucracy are functioning as they encounter increasing criticisms across wide sections of public opinion.

In order to reflect upon reforms and revival it is worthwhile starting with a speech from the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, in front of an audience of university students in Lund, during a visit to Sweden, on 15th November last: Europe “is going through a complex phase”, in which “the trials and tribulations which the common edifice has to absorb are intense” but we need to move forward. “Europe is not simply a customs union” and certainly not a “business committee” but much more than this: “Stability and security”.

Key signals are also coming from the economic world: “If Europe had a spurt of dignity and cultural ambition, it could launch a grand infrastructure plan and could create value for everyone. A far-reaching project would have no difficulty in procuring financing from all the major international banks”, claims Marco Tronchetti Provera, CEO of Pirelli, in launching, with an interview for the “Il Sole24Ore” newspaper on 16 November, his proposal for an investment programme on a Continental scale and calling for a Marshall Plan of the type which followed the Second World War. A suggestion which could also be seen as having a political ambition: “Europe has never been really unified and the union, as history demonstrates, has been created through infrastructure”.

The proposal comes from a critical vision of the current EU; naturally it by no means challenges the idea of the common currency, but suggests a change of direction: “From the Europe of austerity to a Europe of economic development”: following Jacques Delors, according to Tronchetti, in Europe there developed “a system of rules where austerity has destroyed growth instead of promoting economic development and integration. With the madness of uniting the currency without truly uniting the economy. It went ahead with a premature widening to 27 countries which has blocked the system, in the absence of a common infrastructure framework. Not to mention defence, foreign policy, and energy policy”. What we really need, then, is a flash of pride and political imagination, a grand project for a European revival. Infrastructure, both tangible and intangible, the roads, the railways and the ports and the networks of digital connections, all have a fundamental role: they promote economic development, they strengthen bonds, they create communities. Tronchetti’s proposal has been widely well-received, by businessmen and politicians: “We need to invest in networks, and bring Europe up to date”, comments Gian Maria Gros-Pietro, Chair of Intesa San Paolo; “The real Euro-supporters are convinced that the process of integration needs to be launched again,” says Albero Bombassei, Chairman of Brembo. And it is on Europe as a key place for competitiveness that Marco Bonometti, OMR, automotive industry, Giuseppe Pasini, steel, chairman of the industrialists of Brescia, Alessandro Spada, plant engineering, vice chairman of Assolombarda and an authoritative economist, such as Giorgio Barba Navaretti, insist: “Europe as a common dwelling place with rules and projects”.

Tronchetti’s proposal on the Marshall Plan for infrastructure is moving the public debate along towards a responsible idea of reform and revival. He is avoiding the shallows of the “No” propagandists and once again suggests instead the positive message of a strong bond between economic development, the institutions and democracy. A good example of “European reformism”. A path to follow.

Giuliano Ferrara is quite correct, then, when, as a sound connoisseur of European politics, he states, in “Il Foglio”: “Now we’ve had enough of being ashamed of Europe”: And goes on to explain: “Europe in 2019 is a serious matter and the significance of the next electoral campaign will be to clarify what is important, and to make people understand the nature of its conflicts and divisions. Europe is peace, Anti-Europe is war. Now we have had enough joking, and it is time to take on the fight”. Within the passionate and responsible dimension of politics, this call by Ferrara makes a fundamental point: in the context of major choices which affect the future of everyone, we need a debate which is open, frank, free, charged not with propaganda but with the knowledge of values and interests, of facts and consequences. We need, in fact, good politics and sound information.

It is precisely in this context that it is worthwhile recalling another warning by President of the Republic Mattarella, at the centenary of the end of the Great War: “No State can manage on its own. And it is precisely the memory of that so dramatic and painful conflict which must drive us to reinforce the cooperation between peoples. We shall not return to the Twenties or the Thirties. I do not fear the reappearance of the ghosts of the past, even though I am preoccupied by the compulsions of egotism and supremacy of certain interests above those of others”. A historic recollection, against “the nationalism which took us into war”. With a modern-day echo: “In the run up to the Great War, severe manipulations were carried out to the detriment of public opinion: a risk, given the dangers which circulate on the web, of which it would be prudent to be wary today also”.

Europe has generated widespread wealth, from the founding values of the “Ventotene Manifesto” (signed in 1944 on an island for antifascist exiles by four highly cultivated personalities, Altiero Spinelli, Ernesto Rossi, Eugenio Colorni and Ursula Hirschmann) to the political choices of the “founding fathers of Europe” Alcide De Gasperi, Konrad Adenauer, Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman and Paul-Henri Spaak, and from the first open markets through to the current-day features of the Euro, of the European Central Bank and of the common fiscal and social policies. Exchanges. The integration of productive sectors (the links between German industry and Italian industry, from the automotive sector to mechanics, from robotics to chemicals, are increasingly close). And that extraordinary popular experience known as Erasmus, those scholastic exchanges which over the course of thirty years have allowed four million students to live at the heart of other countries in the EU, to feel that they are truly European, in the construction of an identity which is rich and multi-faceted. And also peace and international cooperation, one of the longest periods of peace and well-being in the whole history of Europe.

It has been a complex and contradictory process, naturally, like all mankind’s historical constructions. Altogether different from one lacking limits or mistakes. Now, as we already start to think about the prospect of the Spring 2019 elections for the renewal of the EU parliament, there is a clearly emerging responsibility on the part of those sitting at the head of governments and institutions to be able to construct a public debate which is sound, competent, and strong in its ability to forge a credible reform project and one which is not driven by demagogy and contentiously rhetorical animosities. The framework is that of a Europe riven by tensions and contrasts, with nationalistic and populist tendencies, ranging from the far-from-liberal rigidities of the “Visegrad Group” (Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, whose well-being, by the way, depends heavily upon EU financing and investments by the main countries of Europe), the fractures of Brexit and the fragility of the traditional axis between France and Germany, the new tendencies of the policies from Italy’s League/Five-Star government, which seek to change the traditional pro-Atlantic and European threads of Italian foreign policy and to espouse instead the USA of President Trump and the Russia of President Putin, both of whom, even though for different motives, are hostile to the EU and indeed, even worse, actively employed towards its dissolution. One of the leading players in this move is actually the Vice-Premier Matteo Salvini, Minister of the Interior and leader of the League, the strong man of the government: “In Russia I feel at home, whereas in some other EU countries I do not” he declared during a visit to Moscow, in mid-October 2018, provoking a flurry of controversy. And, furthering the debate on this issue, here we have the worried opinion of Colin Crouch, a well-respected political scientist: “The nationalists of the Old Continent are at the service of a plan inspired by Trump and Putin: to destroy the EU”.

There is thus a Europe undermined by the forces of global power struggles which have a tendency to weaken it. But Europe is a collection of values which are too important for us not to undertake to avoid them being hit by a crisis. And therefore it is a Europe which is essential, which needs to be reformed and reinforced, as a guarantee of the best balances, both international and internal: a Europe of welfare, of sharing, of social inclusion, of freedoms and of liberal democracy. A “heritage of humanity”, if one wishes to adopt the categories used by UNESCO. A force for positive economic development. More Europe, then. And a more political Europe. Marta Dassù, a sophisticated analyst of international politics, and manager of “Aspenia”, the magazine of the Aspen Institute of Italy, is also convinced of this: “restoring the links between the democracies of the Western world, in this era of the rise in authoritarian regimes, gets us back to the best interests of Europeans and of America”.

“Europe needs more integration,” is how Mario Draghi, Chair of the ECB, summarises it, having been aware for some time of the risks which are being incurred by the aggravation of the clashes between a “sovereignist” Italy heedless of the constraints on ordinary public finances and the “hawks” of the countries of the North which have never appreciated any “Mediterranean” version of Europe and which are always ready to hit on Italy in order to concentrate power and resources within the “Continental” and middle-European land mass.

Europe needs criticisms and reforms, not blows with a pickaxe, for the good of the “common dwelling house”. And Italy was one of the founders of this Europe, and then, over time, one of its primary partners. A role which should be reconfirmed and defended, particularly at a time in which Europe and integration have to make important strides forward for change and improvement.