An essay retraces the Ivrea experience with digital natives in mind

Olivetti beyond Olivetti. This is the message and the legacy left by Adriano Olivetti. Today, being revived through digital tools and the internet. This is a unique take on the distinctive corporate culture of the Ivrea company and the way in which Adriano Olivetti led it throughout his life as a man and entrepreneur.

“La cultura olivettiana negli anni della grande digitalizzazione” (The Olivetti culture in the years of great digitalisation), an essay by Galileo Dallolio in the book “Olivetti: una complessità virtuosa” (Olivetti: a virtuous complexity) edited by Lorenzo Capineri, attempts to summarise the main features of the industrialist’s texts and activities that can be found on the internet. A way to build a kind of “memory ladder” to encourage dialogue with digital natives. In other words, to rediscover Olivetti on the internet in order to share Adriano’s experience and message with young people.

The pages of Dallolio’s research trace some of the most significant steps of the Olivetti journey: the beginnings in the 1930s, the Community Movement between the 1940s and 1960s, the many cultural activities that formed the backdrop to factory production.

The author sets out four hypotheses to simplify the complexity of Olivetti into something that is accessible to young people. First, the identification of “Olivetti themes” that can be analysed and explored through the Internet, then the focus on Olivetti personalities and structures that serve as important models of the Ivrea corporate culture. This is followed by digital research on topics related to Olivetti (from urban planning to information technology), and finally the use of “lists of topics” found on the Internet, again related to Olivetti and its factories (using this technique, Dallolio’s research presents a timeline that successfully summarises the steps of the entire industrial experience of Ivrea).

Galileo Dallolio’s research is indeed a novel way of re-examining the cornerstones of Adriano Olivetti’s way of doing business.

La cultura olivettiana negli anni della grande digitalizzazione

Galileo Dallolio

In Lorenzo Capineri (edited by), “Olivetti: una complessità virtuosa”,

pages 43-79, Firenze University Press, 2024.

The wait is almost over! The winners of the fourth edition of the Campiello Junior are about to be revealed. The brainchild of Fondazione Il Campiello and the Pirelli Foundation, the award honours outstanding works of Italian fiction and poetry for young readers. The award ceremony will take place on Thursday, 10 April in Vicenza, where the verdict of the jury of 240 young readers, divided into two age groups (7-10 and 11-14 years), will be announced.

To introduce the six finalists, who were chosen on 5 December 2024 by the Selection Jury, chaired by Pino Boero, the Pirelli Foundation invited the authors to read an excerpt from their books and share what the books are about.

These interviews will be published on this page and on the social media channels of the Pirelli Foundation and of the Premio Campiello.

13 February: Simona Baldelli, Il ciambellano e il lupo, Emons Libri e Audiolibri  (11-14 years shortlist)
20 February: Ilaria Mattioni, La figlia del gigante, Feltrinelli Editore (7-10 years shortlist)
27 February: Chiara Carminati, Nella tua pelle, Bompiani Editore (11-14 years shortlist)
6 March: Guia Risari, I giorni di Alban, Giunti Editore (7-10 years shortlist)
13 March: Beatrice Masini, Una casa fuori dal tempo, Mondadori Editore (11-14 years shortlist)
20 March: Vivian Lamarque, Storia con mare, cielo e paura, Adriano Salani Editore (7-10 years shortlist)

Additionally, on 8 and 9 April, the six finalists will take part in two exclusive interviews, in which they will discuss their books and share their most treasured childhood reading memories.

For updates on the Premio Campiello Junior and its associated events, please visit www.fondazionepirelli.org and www.premiocampiello.org.

Digital techniques to assist corporate museums

Talking about yourself and being able to tell your story. These are considerable challenges for anyone. Even – and often especially – for those people and organisations that haven’t tried for some time to explain who they are and what they do. This is also a difficult challenge for companies, but there are specific tools such as design and digitalisation that can help. This is what Francesca Morelli (University of Florence) focuses on in her study “Il ruolo del Design per la valorizzazione dei Musei d’Impresa nell’era digitale” (The role of design in the development of corporate museums in the digital age), published a few days ago in the ZoneModa Journal.

Morelli begins with a statement of fact: in line with the latest trends, the museum system is increasingly integrating digital tools to improve the visitor experience, making it more engaging and interactive. Through digitalisation, museums can revitalise themselves, attract a wider and more diverse audience and make their heritage more accessible. These are opportunities that businesses in particular are well placed to exploit.

Francesca Morelli looks at the Corporate Fashion Museum, which is dedicated to the environment of “hereditary brands”, and tries to identify the digital solutions, identities and strategies used by corporate museums to highlight their unique characteristics, values and histories. After a general overview of the techniques and background, the research looks more closely at the use of these technologies by corporate museums in the fashion sector, considering not only at the techniques used but also at how they have evolved. The theoretical analysis then provides key examples by studying companies in the Florentine district, namely Salvatore Ferragamo, Emilio Pucci and Gucci. The final part of Morelli’s work then identifies “good practices” that can be adopted in corporate museums (both in fashion and other sectors).

Il ruolo del Design per la valorizzazione dei Musei d’Impresa nell’era digitale

Francesca Morelli (University of Florence)

ZoneModa Journal. Vol. 14 No. 2 (2024)

A “manual” has been published to guide the reader through the mechanisms of markets and production

First understand, then act wisely. A lesson that always applies, to everyone. Including, of course, those who find themselves at the helm of a company or organisation. In other words, Luigi Einaudi’s motto – “know to decide” – always applies, even if it is often forgotten. So it is vital to equip yourself with the right tools to understand not only where you are, but also the consequences of your actions. “Il primo libro di economia” (Economics: The Basics), written by Tony Cleaver (an economist who has taught for a long time in Anglo-Saxon and now South American universities) and now published in Italy, is perfect for those who really want to understand not only the principles of economics, but also the economy in which they are operating.

The book covers the key concepts of economics and the main mechanisms that drive it, such as how different economic systems work, the successes and failures of market economies, the impact of emerging markets on the world economy, the interactions between price, supply and demand, the role of banks and the financial industry, the conditions that allow us to overcome recession and reduce poverty, and the impact of the economy on the environment. However, the subject is not organised in the same way as a university economics textbook, but in successive chapters that deal with specific topics from case to case: economic systems, neoclassical economics and the price mechanism and market equilibrium, supply-side dynamics, macroeconomics, money, banking and financial markets, international trade. Cleaver then turns to the issue of poverty and environmental protection.

Useful references for further reading are given at the end of each chapter, and a glossary of key terms is provided at the end of the book. Cleaver’s book is a good introduction to economics, especially for those who have to apply it to everyday life.

Il primo libro di economia

Tony Cleaver

Einaudi, 2025

Italian industry is going through a challenging period: industrial production has been in decline for almost two years (22 months to be precise) and only 6% of companies see an improvement in the economy (Bankitalia survey); “La Repubblica”, 15 January) and Confindustria is not hiding its serious concerns either. Its president Emanuele Orsini has highlighted the negative impact of high energy prices (Italy has the highest prices in Europe, which is unsustainable for industry) and the risks of increased tariffs (which the new US president, Donald Trump, has also announced for the EU). He has therefore called on the government in Rome and the Commission in Brussels to draw up an “industrial plan” that prioritises energy (starting with nuclear power) and the recovery of productive investment (Il Sole24Ore, 26 January).

In a nutshell, there are dark clouds on the economic horizon, with Germany, a former manufacturing giant and industrial engine for the whole of Europe, still in trouble, especially in the automotive sector, and with EU growth down to 1% in 2025 (there was talk of 1.2% in October). Growth in Italy is slightly worse: 0.6% in 2024 (the government hoped it would be 1%) and 0.7% in 2025.

“Industry is struggling, but no one is worried”, criticises Ferruccio de Bortoli (“Corriere della Sera”, 18 January), pointing out that Palazzo Chigi is not paying attention to the poor productivity performance and the shadow cast over exports, Italy’s traditional strength.

The issue of the industrial crisis is by no means a marginal one. And we certainly cannot console ourselves with the positive data on GDP and employment that come from the solid results in tourism. Apart from the negative factors caused by an increasingly excessive and overwhelming tourist presence (known collectively as “overtourism”), especially in cities of art and in the most ecologically fragile places, the fact remains that tourism is an essential component of GDP and a source of income, work and widespread well-being, but it is also subject to a certain volatility of flows, generates work that is sometimes seasonal, precarious and poor, and in any case does not affect the political and strategic influence of a country in the international context.

A few months ago, in an attempt to stir up a sense of urgency about Europe’s slide into decline, the Financial Times warned Brussels and other capitals of the danger of Europe quickly becoming a Grand Hotel, where the world’s rich and powerful go for elegant and lavish holidays.

To avoid this, we need to return to the centrality of industry, to quality production that stimulates innovation and change and produces resources in the long term, to production choices that address issues related to energy (and therefore security) and durable goods, to skilled collaboration between industry and research, to major strategic production and competitive options.

“Building the future of industry and our country“, is how Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani (Il Sole24Ore, 25 January) puts it, insisting on the need to “strengthen and defend the pillars of Italian manufacturing and Made in Italy”, namely “food, fashion, furniture, design and technology” and to prioritise “strategic industrial sectors for security, health and social development, such as pharmaceuticals, defence/aerospace and information technology”. He speaks of decisions to combat the crisis in the automotive sector (the car industry has declined by 34% in two years) and appeals to the responsibility of Brussels: “Stopping economic decline is a European challenge.”

How? By looking more closely at the data and facts, and within the general framework of the crisis, looking for the factors that can be used to implement actions and commitments for recovery. Taking into account the opinion of leading economists and the conclusions of the latest Symbola report “Italy in 10 Selfies” on Italy’s positive achievements.

Let’s take a closer look. “Made in Italy is an industrial heritage to be protected and invested in,” says Marco Fortis, vice-president of the Edison Foundation, an economist who is one of the most aware and well-informed on the state of Italian industry (“Il Soile24Ore”, 16 January). Italy remains firmly in fourth place in the world export rankings, behind China, the USA and Germany and ahead of France, Japan and South Korea, excluding motor vehicles (which account for only 8% of world exports). This means that in the main manufacturing sectors, Italian industry continues to be competitive, especially in the higher value-added niches of mechanics and mechatronics, robotics, pharmaceuticals and chemicals, rubber and plastics, aerospace, luxury shipbuilding, furniture, clothing and agri-food.

It’s true, we have a low productivity problem. We are severely impacted by the demographic crisis and the shortage of skilled labour (already a serious problem and destined to deteriorate in the future). High energy costs and the difficulties associated with inefficient bureaucracy and high taxation are having a negative impact. But despite all this, we persevere.

We cannot rely for long on the abilities of the “Italian genius”, especially in the face of technological evolution. But we still have some good cards in our hand.

“It’s not a debacle, our industry remains competitive”, confirms Gregorio De Felice, Intesa Sanpaolo’s chief economist (Corriere Economia, 20 January), speaking of a “cyclical and not structural crisis” (with the exception of the automotive sector), of geopolitical uncertainties, of limits linked to the difficult application of the rules of Industry 5.0, the postponement of investments while waiting for the fall in interest rates, but also the positive factors linked to the transformation of a large part of the Italian industrial apparatus, after the great crisis of 2008/2009, in the direction of better and higher productivity: “Italian companies have a greater capacity to react than their German counterparts”.

Italy has another strength: the significant number of our companies that consider sustainability, both environmental and social, as a fundamental competitive advantage (Pirelli has long been an exemplary case), rather than a marketing and communication choice or a clever greenwashing positioning.

There is no doubt that these are troubled times, with a geopolitical landscape of contrasts and conflict. And with the growing disengagement of major international players (starting with the US, with Donald Trump’s new presidential strategy) in terms of ESG guidelines and restrictions to combat climate change. The Green Deal is being called into question. And even within the EU, there is a critical reflection on the damaging rigidity of the environmental policies pursued so far (bureaucratic and ideological, say the critics, thinking in particular of the decisions on the primacy of electric cars and the fines for internal combustion engines). The aim is to quickly arrive at new environmental and social policies based on compliance with ESG objectives, but also on “technology neutrality” to achieve them. A new Green Deal generation, at the heart of which is the defence and revival of the centrality of European industry in the face of competition from the US, China and, soon, India.

Returning to Italy, as noted, the annual report “Italy in ten selfies” by the Symbola Foundation and Unioncamere (Il Sole24Ore, 14 January) contains some very interesting information. It accurately documents Italy’s record performance in the circular economy (the best in Europe for the recycling of special and urban waste: 91.6%, against an EU average of 57.9%), for “green” steel (the share of steel produced using the electric arc furnace cycle is 86%, against 68% in the US), for the strength of the world’s largest operator in renewable energy among listed utilities (Enel, through Enel Green Power), and for Made in Italy, which is at the forefront of organic farming companies and export capacity in the pharmaceutical and furniture sectors.

We compete well and sustainably: “Italy grows when it does Italy well”, confirms Ermete Realacci, president of Symbola. In other words, “it is at its best when it crosses its hostoric DNA with an uniquely Italian way of doing business, which combines innovation and tradition, social cohesion, new technologies and beauty, the ability to speak to the world without losing touch with its regions and communities”.

In short, a productive sustainability that is sensitive to both environmental and social issues (work, general well-being). And it respects competitiveness and development. An industrial sustainability. A good way to grow better.

(Photo Getty Images)

“Only those who have a village in their memory can have a true cosmopolitan experience.” The quote belongs to Ernesto de Martino, one of Europe’s foremost anthropologists. And it applies to all those who try, albeit with difficulty, to hold together the value of roots with that of discovery and adventure, the identity of origins with the new identities of work, family, friends and companions that are gradually found. Multiple identities, in motion. Without forgetting. And without falling into the trap of nostalgia. We should also remember another essential lesson, that of the French philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas, who taught us how and how much identity lies in relationships, “in the eyes of the other”. In short, the local dimension that faces the world. The pride in one’s roots, which opens up to a deeper understanding of the relationships between oneself and others, and thus of the community, the civitas, the other and the various social and cultural collectives. After all, no man is an island. Neither an isolated, fearful and hostile valley.

In these tense days, when there is much debate about Italian identity and the historical roots of our culture, the words of de Martino and Lévinas come to mind and should be heeded with increasing commitment. And that means changing the training processes and the content of what we teach in our schools.

The Minister for Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara, has announced that from 2026-2027, Latin will be reintroduced in middle school (albeit as an optional subject, for one hour a week), history will focus on the “Italic peoples”, the Greeks and Romans, and the origins of Christianity (in high school, the focus will be extended to the rest of world history). And once again, the work of our poets is to be memorised and the Bible read and studied alongside the great classics of the Iliad and the Odyssey. “We will take the best of our tradition to create schools capable of building the future,” concluded the Minister.

The ensuing debate, which continues passionately in the written and digital pages of the media, pits roots against cultural openness, the local against the global, nostalgic rhetoric against innovative perspectives. “Contested knowledge” is how Agnese Pini, director of the Quotidiano Nazionale (Resto del Carlino, La Nazione and Il Giorno, 19 January) brilliantly sums it up. Beyond the dispute, however, “education and schooling are the sowing of perspectives, the field on which the creativity and fertility of a people are measured, and the perimeter within which the people recognise themselves. They are therefore the mirror of the foresight of politics, institutions, parties and governments”. A foresight, it must be added, that is often lacking.

With regard to the “clash of identities” that affects schools and other areas, Antonio Polito, writing in the Corriere della Sera (19 January), notes the negativity of the tendencies, not only in Italy, towards “social fragmentation”, worries about “a society that is falling apart because of conflicts between ethnicity, gender, body, social class and sexual orientation”, and comments: “The time of identity cannot conceive of the person except as a part. We should resist that. Because the person, as Ratzinger said, is a whole that refers to a whole.”

This timely reference to the Pope as a refined theologian allows us to come to terms with another essential, open and discursive dimension of our European culture: that “integral humanism” which inspired the philosophical reflection of Jacques Maritain and provided for some of the finest pages from the Christian personalism of Emmanuel Mounier.

It is therefore time to lift our gaze from the polemical passions that characterise Italian political debate and look instead to the horizon of necessary transformations. Drawing on the wisdom of Zygmunt Baumann: “If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of ten years, plant a tree; if in terms of 100 years, educate people.” It is therefore both a political and a cultural challenge. An intellectual mission that, to be truly such, does not require nostalgia, but a taste for the generous writing of “stories for the future”, of new maps inspired by the “future of memory”.

How? An important suggestion is to be found in the speech given by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, last Saturday at the ceremony to launch Agrigento‘s programme as the Italian Capital of Culture 2025.

“Those who are open to the world know that life is the fruit of dialogue,” said Mattarella, recalling that “the country’s wealth lies in its plurality”. And “culture is the fruit of encounters”.

These words are clear and explicit, full of the positive and strong values of a project: the construction, or rather the strengthening and revival, of an open and plural culture as the substance of democracy, a better awareness of one’s own national values (this is precisely the meaning of history, the positive value of tradition, which, to quote Gustav Mahler, is not in “the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire”), but also of one’s own responsibility in the redefinition of new and better balance in Europe and the world. Of a new and better yardstick for knowledge, education and the depiction of the world.

Mattarella also said, “We live in a time where everything seems to be compressed and exhausted in the moment of the present, where technology sometimes claims to monopolise thought instead of placing itself at the service of knowledge”. Culture, on the other hand, “turns to a broad horizon, rebelling against any compression of our humanism, which has made our civilisation great”.

Once again, a speech of great scope. And it is all the more appropriate that it was given in Agrigento, a city with strong historical roots in the civilisation of Magna Graecia, with ancient and sophisticated cultural ancestors (Empedocles, political philosopher and scientist, considered a master by Aristotle) and literary wealth between the twentieth century and the present day (Luigi Pirandello, Leonardo Sciascia, Andrea Camilleri). A heritage to be defended.

The city was run down by administrative mismanagement in the 1960s and 1970s (including the mass construction of illegal buildings known as the “Sacco di Agrigento”), weakened by mafia violence in the provinces, and deprived of basic public services (especially water), which has long placed it at the bottom of the quality of life rankings of Italian cities. However, it remains magnificent, with the architectural and cultural remains of the Valley of the Temples. And in search of redemption, of rebirth.

This is where it makes sense to talk about knowledge and the future, about culture and economic and social development. It is here that we should think about how to slow down growth on a European and Mediterranean scale.

These are our key words: culture, knowledge, humanism.

Who is interpreting them in the present? And who will create them in the future? Let’s go back to the discussion about training, about schooling, about the relationship between tradition and innovation. About the fundamental values of our civilisation.

The future belongs to engineers who have studied philosophy, and to philosophers who understand the deep meaning of science and the freedom of research. To lawyers who know the value of the diversity to be protected, even if the rule is, according to Kelsen, impersonal and abstract. To literary engineers or chemists like Primo Levi and Sinisgalli. To entrepreneurs who know how to combine market culture and social responsibility. To mathematicians, physicists, statisticians, economists, cyberscientists and ethicists who are responsible for designing and writing the algorithms of artificial intelligence. To young people who think about the environment and sustainability on the issues of work and the fight against inequality.

In a word, to culture. More precisely, a “polytechnic culture“, full of humanistic and scientific knowledge, poetic beauty and passion for innovation. After all, it was the great artist Michelangelo Pistoletto who turned the infinity symbol into a work of art, similar to a horizontal 8, a mathematical dimension with the power of a dreamlike poem.

A speech by the Governor of the Bank of Italy provides an outline for a better understanding of the situation we are currently living through

War is on the rise, geopolitical tensions are rising, uncertainty and instability are rampant. It is a complex and challenging economic and social situation that the world is experiencing and that companies, institutions and individuals are having to deal with. This is the situation discussed by Fabio Panetta, Governor of the Bank of Italy, in his speech entitled “Peace and Prosperity in a Fragmented World” at the “Economy and Peace: a possible alliance” conference on 16 January 2025 organised by the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation.

So, peace and prosperity. Panetta argued that “the number of wars, which declined after the fall of the Berlin Wall, has risen again in the last fifteen years and reached its highest level since World War II in 2023”. It seems that peace is a long way off. So much so that the Governor himself points out that “after years of strengthening international cooperation and economic integration, history now seems to be taking a step backwards”.

From all this, Panetta goes on to examine the consequences of an observation: “Without peace, humanity cannot prosper; nor can the economy”. The speech then delved into the details of this reality, including debunking the notion that a war economy is actually good for the economy as a whole and has long-term effects. Just as it is equally wrong to think that war production can generate innovation instead of scientific research.

Panetta then went on to argue that growth and economic integration should be seen as the instruments of peace. And that, indeed, in modern economies, “development is based on integration and international trade”. Recalling the history of the decades after the Second World War, the Governor went so far as to confront “the discontents of globalisation and geopolitical changes”. This is an important part of the landscape of Panetta’s research: globalisation has also had undesirable effects, and the lack of reforms can slow down income distribution and the welfare equation.

He then went on to ask a crucial question: what should be the economic policies “for peace”? Openness to exchange and balance in relations seem to be the two general indications. Two goals to be achieved by means of a set of tools to be applied. For example, tackling inequality, strengthening education and training, accelerating social protection and ensuring access to effective health care, debt management. Again, Panetta points to the importance of supportive development policies.

In his conclusion, one of the Governor’s sentences sums it up perfectly: “The economy seems to have globalised without a ‘global consciousness'”. Fabio Panetta’s speech is a worthwhile read for everyone.

Peace and prosperity in a fragmented world

Fabio Panetta

“Economy and peace: a possible alliance”

Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation, 16 January 2025

A book has just been published that discusses economics based on trust

Have faith despite everything. To believe, in other words, that in the end the night will not triumph over the light. Even in everyday life, in the economy and in social relations. It is a question of optimism. That doesn’t mean not seeing the problems, but looking beyond them to find the best solution. So, the economics of optimism. This is the title of a recently published book by Luciano Canova (a professor of behavioural economics), which discusses economic relationships from an unusual point of view.
“Economia dell’ottimismo. Perché la speranza evita il fallimento delle nazioni” (Economics of optimism. Why hope prevents the failure of nations) is a remarkable exercise in interpreting the cardinal principles of economics, but also of human history and behaviour, from a different perspective than usual. Canova begins by taking the following into consideration: the economics of optimism shows us how a confident vision of tomorrow has been crucial in the history of economic thought, and how it can still be for us and our planet.
The author begins with an observation: looking at the world today, with all its inequalities and crises, it’s hard to argue that there hasn’t been progress, even compared to half a century ago. Some data are indisputable, such as the staggering drop in infant mortality, the steady rise in literacy, the global decline in poverty. Objective data that go hand in hand with a fundamental idea: it is necessary to combat both nostalgic thinking, which leads to the idealisation of the past, and apocalyptic thinking, which paints the future in dark colours. In other words, it means acquiring the critical capacity to interpret well what has been and to make good use of what is available today.
Moving between economics, behavioural science and psychology – and drawing on the reflections of Nobel laureates such as Esther Duflo and Amartya Sen, as well as the studies of Paul Romer and Erik Angner – this seven-chapter book leads the reader to appreciate the economics that teaches us to be optimistic. The main features of this idea and its history are first outlined and then some themes are examined: happiness, risk, social relationships, health, cooperation, the fight against poverty, hope. The features of each concept are outlined and examples are given. This is not, it must be emphasised, a hymn to ignoring the problems that exist, but a “handbook” that teaches us to take risks, to innovate, to embrace uncertainty and to face the unexpected. All this while remaining alert to the dangers of overconfidence and of closing our eyes to problems until they overwhelm us. In other words, it is an economy of prudent optimism that Canova describes.
Luciano Canova’s book offers a new perspective that does not diminish the great problems of our time, first and foremost climate change, but makes it clear that only by recognising them and projecting ourselves beyond them in a positive way will we be able to find creative and truly effective solutions.
The conclusion is beautifully summed up in the quote from a poem by Dylan Thomas – Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night – which in its meaning recalls the final lines of Bertolt Brecht’s “Life of Galileo” about the “night” always being “clear”.

Economia dell’ottimismo. Perché la speranza evita il fallimento delle nazioni
Luciano Canova
Saggiatore, 2025

“The destruction of language is the premise for all future destruction.” The words of Tullio De Mauro, a sophisticated and sensitive linguist, also attentive to the political dimensions of the wise use of words (political in the sense of polis, to refer to a person’s capacity to be a responsible member of a community, a citizen, in short). And, on rereading his writings eight years after his death (at the beginning of January 2017), one is minded to seek a horizon of meaning and a perspective of intellectual engagement, as the development and expansion of social media have an increasingly radical impact on the quality of public discourse, the formation of opinions, the political leanings of communities and, more generally, on cultural processes. On the dynamics of knowledge, in short.

A mechanism that affects the roots, values and functioning of liberal democracy, of that intertwining of freedom, enterprise, work, market and welfare, of common values and legitimate interests that has been the supporting structure of Western thought. It is a system that we are dismayed and saddened to see in crisis, but which, despite all its limitations, deserves to be defended and revitalised in the face of the dangers of authoritarianism, of overbearing technocracies and of the temptations of so-called “illiberal democracies”, which are also widespread in Europe.

And the fight against the degradation and impoverishment of language is part of that protection. Avoiding the shallowness of likes and emoticons and the trivialisation of standpoints (almost always emotional, hasty, passionate, simplistic to the point of crudeness). To escape the pitfalls of opinion-forming untethered from facts, which are becoming increasingly more insidious with the spread of fake news, especially on social media, which the major players on the internet refuse to control in the name of a misunderstood respect for “freedom of opinion” (not least Facebook). Knowing how to distinguish between the sharpness of common sense and the superficiality of generic common sense. And build new and better tools of critical awareness.

This is a fundamental task, especially in view of the pitfalls of an artificial intelligence, which (beyond the positive implications linked to scientific research and medical diagnostics and high-tech applications for industry and services) in its “generative” form, sets in motion sophisticated mechanisms of manipulation and thus profoundly changes the panorama of knowledge and dialogue.

A political and cultural challenge is essential. And this calls for a renewed intellectual commitment. Because, if the crisis of the traditional way of conceiving intellectual work is true and well-founded (“Thinking is tiring”, wrote David Bidussa, with acute and somewhat painful irony, reasoning on “the past, present and future of the intellectual”, for the Feltrinelli editions), it is equally necessary for all those who, in their personal and professional choices, measure themselves by the creation of ideas, by research, by philosophy and science, by law and technology, by economics and artistic creativity, by writing AI algorithms and by genetics, to take responsibility for action, analysis and critical judgement. In short, with the construction of thoughts and their expression in words. All functions that require freedom, a sense of responsibility

and autonomy. And a critical eye. Reading for the “simple pleasure of it” and the context. And for the grateful remembrance of Jorge Luis Borges‘s reference to “the righteous”, who counts among them “those who enjoy discovering an etymology”, along with “those who are happy that music exists” and “those who tend their garden, as Voltaire wished”. Literature has a salutary value for free thought and the civilisation of life.

From this perspective, it may be helpful to remember the lesson of Susan Sontag: “We live in a culture in which intelligence is denied relevance altogether, in a search for radical innocence, or is defended as an instrument of authority and repression. In my view, the only intelligence worth defending is critical, dialectical, skeptical, desimplifying” (the quote is taken from “Women, the Arts and the Politics of Culture: an Interview with Susan Sontag”, 1975: fifty years ago).

So let us return to the good use of words. If Emilio Isgrò, one of the greatest artists of our troubled times, plays creatively and ironically with removing words to highlight banalities and emphasise the few undeleted words that regain weight, there is Giulio Guidorizzi, a scholar of the anthropology of the ancient world, who, for Raffaello Cortina Editore, has devoted almost 250 clear and essential pages to “The Greek lexicon” or “A civilisation in 30 words” (including chaos, love, the soul, justice and law, patriarchy, hospitality, fate, myth, poetry, politics and wisdom). Our cultural roots and therefore the foundations of our future.

And then there is Giuseppe Antonelli, Professor of the History of Italian Literature at the University of Pavia, who wrote “Il mago delle parole” (The word wizard), just published by Einaudi, in order to remind especially the new generations of the value of grammar as a tool of knowledge and therefore of freedom, but also of its charm (highlighting the link between grammar and glamour). There is an evocative quote from a film of great intensity and beauty, “Dead Poets Society”, directed by Peter Weir and starring Robin Williams as Professor John Keating, an extraordinary teacher of free souls: “You will learn to savour words and language. No matter what anyone tells you, words and ideas can change the world.”

So, we must understand. Knowing how to read and speak are tools of freedom. Let us also remember the lesson of Gianni Rodari and his “The Grammar of Fantasy: “’Everyone can use any meaning of any word’ seems a good motto to me, with a nice democratic ring to it, not because everyone is an artist, but because no one is a slave.”

What tools should we use? Simple. A book. A pen. Reading. And writing by hand.

Read from childhood and fill our homes with good books. And open and revitalise libraries, public and private, in schools, neighbourhoods, businesses, prisons and all places where cultural initiatives and activities to promote reading can be encouraged (something we have often talked about this in these blogs). Combine the paper book with animated words on digital screens. Discuss with the writer and enjoy the somewhat theatrical pleasure of reading aloud. And play with words, as suggested in the pages of a very popular book for parents and children in the mid-1980s, “I draghi locopei” by Ersilia Zamboni, to “imparare l’italiano con i giochi di parole” (learn Italian with word games) (“draghi locopei” is an anagram of the Italian for word games).

Read for pleasure and enjoyment, curiosity and a desire for knowledge. And write by hand.

We must, of course, be able to use computer keyboards and other digital devices with ease and competence. But without forgetting the gesture of a hand holding a pen or a pencil. Because, as authoritative scientific studies confirm, this gesture activates our brains in complex ways, stimulating neural networks, moving complex thoughts, setting in motion relationships that enhance learning. It creates better words and organises them more deeply and intelligently.

And we need quality words. Poetic words. And scientific words. Words heavy as stone and light as feathers. Sincere words. Free and responsible words.

Knowledge, for example, is a really beautiful word.

A series of pedagogical studies explores issues related to economy and civic life

A good education for a good society. An all-round civil life, attentive to humanity and nature, to regions and to responsible production. Also from the point of view of economy and production.  The task of institutions and the duty of individuals. A duty of care that falls to everyone.

These were the questions that many researchers discussed at the 7th International Conference “Educazione Territori Natura. Utopia, impegno e cura per trasformare il futuro” (Education, Territories and Nature. Utopia, commitment and care to transform the future), whose findings were later collected in a one-volume issue of LLL Lifelong Lifewide Learning by the Siped Working Group, Pedagogy of the Environment and Sustainability of Wellbeing. Ecological Transition, Justice, Educational Resistance, written by Cristina Birbes, Giovanna Del Gobbo and Monica Par.

The collection of research provides an accurate overview of the state of the art of pedagogy and the educational tools to be used in the vast field of the relationship between society and the environment, and therefore of sustainability in terms of the well-being of individuals and organisations.

The research series is made up of three parts: in the first, the major themes of contemporary education and pedagogy are considered; in the second, those of the relationship between education, the environment and sustainability; and the third deals with some issues such as innovation, sustainability, SMEs and energy issues.

And it is precisely by looking closely at the aspects related to corporate culture and production that the research highlights how the company “should be considered as an emblematic environment for the promotion of responsible communities” and how “categories such as sustainability, impact, responsibility and integral human development should be central as founding values to encourage the involvement of all stakeholders and, at the same time, promote a continuous improvement of the organisational context itself”.

Ambiente, sostenibilità e benessere. Percorsi pedagogici e approcci educativi (Environment, sustainability and well-being. Pedagogical paths and educational approaches)

Cristina Birbes, Giovanna Del Gobbo, Monica Parricchi (edited by)

LLL – Lifelong Lifewide Learning, vol. 20, 43