A recently published research study relates art history to corporate activities linked to the enhancement of corporate heritage

Museums as sites of “productive”, live culture, especially when they belong to a corporate system that draws from the past, as well as from the present, in order to build a meaningful future. Museums that collect, enhance and share heritage – not just corporate heritage but also, in terms of manufacturing, territorial heritage, both of which would otherwise be lost. Virginia Spadaccini’s study, recently published in ZoneModa Journal and entitled “The fortune of the Ancient World’s heritage within the context of fashion museums’ communication in Italy”, revolves around these concepts.

The aim of the study is not only to demonstrate the contribution and communication potential that classics bring to Italian art history and, therefore, to Italian fashion history, but also to analyse the ways in which some of the most important enterprises in the fashion industry have harnessed their historical and cultural heritage.

Underlying it all, is the notion that past history and art were prodigiously instrumental in obtaining validation from certain areas of the public opinion, as well as acting as promotional means that enhanced and revived organisations (including corporate ones) and perpetuating a craftsmanship legacy that we still notice nowadays and thus guarantees quality and reliability for the future, too.

Spadaccini, after an introduction that situates art appreciation within a more general historical context, proceeds to examine some instances of corporate museums that, more than others, have met their goal – such as the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum and the Gucci Garden, but also the Valentino Garavani Museum, the pioneering virtual fashion museum launched in 2011, which recalls the imagery of a modern temple such as the Ara Pacis Museum in Rome, with its “marbles” decorating the walls and large interior spaces marked by staircases and skylights. The researcher also examines different experiences, such as that of Brioni and Bulgari and, besides corporate museums and archives, also recalls some iconic exhibitions and fashion shows organised by luxury brands in cultural venues as a general expression of how the Ancient World’s heritage can be used as a tool in the narration of Italian fashion.

Spadaccini further notes that “A corporate museum’s activities are governed by the laws of profit, though profit cannot be measured in material terms, only immaterial ones: such institutions, as a rule legally classifiable as non-profit foundations, must bear maintenance costs that are significantly greater than their income. As such, the benefits they bring can be measured in superbly communicative terms: the image return that companies gain when they open a museum endows them with authoritativeness and greater engagement.”

As the author (from the University of Chieti-Pescara) concludes, the collaboration between cultural sites and major enterprises, as well as the strategies that support them, also fulfils another purpose: they do not merely “benefit brands in terms of image return” but also “institutions that, able to rely on factors such as their own financial means or guaranteed media coverage in fashion publications, succeed in recovering their financial situation and avoid the oblivion in which they seemed doomed to plummet. Hence, this seems to be the key starting point from which Italian museums could communicate and enhance fashion as indissolubly linked to craftsmanship and art, as a typically Italian trademark.”

The Fortune of the Ancient World’s Heritage Within the Context of Fashion Museums’ Communication in Italy

Virginia Spadaccini

ZoneModa Journal. Vol. 12 No. 1 (2022)

“We were born and raised amongst labourers, machinery and corporate developments and we soon learned to love work, workers and our Company, which embodied the best parts of our life.” Words that Alberto Pirelli wrote in April 1946, just as Italy, soon after the havoc wreaked by the war and the fascist dictatorship, was tentatively drafting its Constitution and, through it, new democratic and civic tenets, as well as building new and stronger foundations for economic and social development. Those were painful, difficult times, yet, even so, full of hope and faith in a better future. Angelo Costa, the president of territorial entrepreneurial institution Confindustria and Giuseppe di Vittorio, general secretary of the Italian national trade union CGIL – two men whose political positioning, cultural roots and social plans differed considerably – reached a pact concerning the reconstruction, which prioritised work: “first the factories then the houses”, and, in fact, “work” laid at the heart of the Constitution and of the new Italy.

Work, then, and the enterprises that generate it. The dignity that people find in work, as well as the development it entails. A social pact for growth. Words whose underlying meaning echoes that expressed by Alberto Pirelli, and that also resonated through the speeches that rationalised the paths undertaken by Enrico Mattei, founder of Italian energy company Eni, Oscar Sinigaglia, head of IRI (Institute for Industrial Reconstruction), Adriano Olivetti (whose family business soon became an exemplary model of positive relationship between industry and community), as well as a long series of other entrepreneurs who, in the big industrial cities and within industrious manufacturing regions, paved the way for the Italian economic boom. This underlying attitude, both ancient and modern, is best encapsulated by the words of the great historian Carlo Maria Cipolla: “Since the Middle Ages, Italians have been accustomed to producing beautiful things that the world likes in the shadow of bell towers.” Work, creativity, beauty (i.e. design, Italy’s pre-eminent cultural trait), quality manufacturing, the past and future of productive areas. Productivity and social inclusion in factories where rights and duties intersected, and people learned how to become citizens, too.

The long cultural, social and – why not? – ethical thread (“the morals of the lathe”, or, true industrial integrity) running through the history of work connects it to the history of Italian enterprise and to the choice made by Confindustria to hold its Assembly, last Monday, at the Sala Nervi at the Vatican. An event that included a meeting with Pope Francis and an audience of 5,000 people (entrepreneurs, members of Confindustria and their families). The president of Confindustria Carlo Bonomi emphasised the notions of work, dignity and future, while Pope Francis, also on the topic of work, focused on the needs of women and young people, further addressing, with some sternness, some of the issues tied to corporate responsibilities: the sharing of wealth through the “generation of work”, the safeguarding of rights concerning working mothers, the avoidance of excessive pay gaps. Indeed, Pope Francis was very clear on the latter, stating, “Despite the existence of different ranks and functions, wages cannot diverge too much. If the gap between highest and lowest salaries widens inordinately, the corporate community will sicken and, soon, the same will be with society.” And, more in general, he added, “Nowadays, the value attributed to work is not high enough,” especially when compared “to the value attributed to profits and top managers’ income.”

Thus, we should go back to core corporate values and, to this effect, Pope Francis provided an effective metaphor: “In the Church, we are all shepherds. If we no longer smell like sheep, we are no longer shepherds. The same is true for entrepreneurs, if they no longer smell like work…” – that is, the smell of industry, manufacturing, the factory, shared commitment, struggles, faith, hope.

Yet another matter addressed by Pope Francis was that of taxation – he urged companies not to shirk their duties, as taxes are a necessary obligation on the path of sharing: “The fiscal pact lies at the heart of the social pact”, he stated. As such, paying taxes, “which should be ‘fair’ and ‘equitable’” as the Constitution dictates, should not be perceived as “robbery” but as “a different form of wealth-sharing.”

Here, Pope Francis’s observation touches on an issue that the economic community has been debating for a long time: the damages caused by the greed of financial speculation, which, by exacerbating inequalities, harmed the production economy and disrupted the social balance. Economic players are increasingly aware of the need to prioritise an economy built on stakeholder values (concerning the community, employers, consumers, suppliers) rather than one ruled by shareholder values (pertaining stock profits and prices) and, therefore, the need to build economic models and mechanisms focused on environmental and social sustainability. Pope Francis’s rebuke could accelerate and consolidate such research and intervention activities.

These are the synergies that make the power of dialogue apparent and that highlight the similarities between different worlds such as Church and industry. The Holy Scriptures – as Pope Francis reminded entrepreneurs – talk of Judas’s 30 pieces of silver, but also of the Good Samaritan’s two silver coins, as well as of talents put to good use, vines grown with wisdom and knowledge, the merchants chased by Jesus out of the temple, and the benevolence of the wealthy. It’s a matter of choosing to do, do well and do good (an attitude that, incidentally, is rather widespread in Italian companies) and of conceiving companies not merely as entities confined by entrepreneurs’ actions and interests, but rather as “communities” of people collaborating for “the common good”.

Bonomi, by appealing to the best corporate culture that’s prevalent in the manufacturing world, mentioned “industrial humanism” and sustainability issues. And, indeed, the “Manifesto of Assisi” – presented in January 2020, promoted by the Symbola Foundation, the Franciscans of the Basilica of Assisi and signed by a number of prominent figures in society, culture and economy (including Confindustria and territorial entrepreneurial institution Assolombarda) – mostly reflects a philosophy that sees the Catholic and the entrepreneurial worlds interlinked within a deep and beneficial dialectic relationship. In fact, “the fair economy” is a common goal, urged by both the Pope’s encyclicals and by theories of economics that reread and reinterpret the teachings of John Maynard Keynes to relaunch a form of responsible liberalism with pronounced social leanings. The quality of sustainable development is another shared aim, particularly with the next generation in mind – something that, as current political strategies show, is a priority for Europe, too.

Yet another step forward could be taken if we examined more in depth the common roots shared by religious thought and financial activities. A topic that, in fact, is being tackled by some recently published good books, such as Tra cielo e terra. Economia e finanza nella Bibbia (Between heaven and earth. Economy and finance in the Bible) by Carlo Bellavite Pellegrini, published by Egea. And, above all, Capitalismo meridiano. Alle radici dello spirito mercantile tra religione e profitto (Meridian capitalism. Getting to the roots of the trading spirit amidst religion and profit) by Luigino Bruni, published by Il Mulino: after the Middle Ages, an era marked by the “great rules of market economy”, the path split into two. On one side, the Protestant Reformation and the teachings of Luther and Calvin (the same Protestant ethics at the core of Max Weber’s capitalism) led to a “Nordic model of capitalism”. On the other, the culture of Tuscan mercatores (private merchants) and Franciscans moulded what became, indeed, a new “meridian capitalism”. A wealth of ideas and practices, all still particularly useful today, as we reappraise the roles and future of entrepreneurship in terms of values, wealth and well-being, social inclusion – all attained through work, in point of fact. With a warning, however, as reiterated by Bruni: “The European economy was conceived by a spirit larger than the trading spirit. And if it were to lose this larger spirit, it’d be in serious danger of extinguishing itself.”

In difficult and controversial times, rereading the classics always proves to be a useful activity – such as rereading the Ecclesiastes, and see what they have to say about ‘time’, to remind ourselves that “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens/… a time to plant and a time to unroot/… a time to scatter stone and a time to gather them/… a time to tear and a time to mend/… a time for war and a time for peace”.

Nowadays, in these times of uncertainty and “risk society”, amidst environmental and social crises and geopolitical upheaval, pandemics that are still ongoing and recessions that ominously loom, it’s time for “gathering scattered stones”, for critical thinking and historical awareness, and, at the same time, for introducing new policies that will allow us to identify criteria and actions useful to “rethink globalisation” and create new and better opportunities for sustainable development.

In other words, we need to bring about “a time to mend”, as suggested by the Ecclesiastes, reiterating the values of a Europe founded on liberal democracy, a market economy, inclusion and welfare, republican principles that demand both rights and duties and an attitude inspired by discussion and dialogue.

A Europe that was able to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic better than Russia, China and the United States did (and, here in Italy, in a particularly effective manner, too – despite dark moments, failures, rifts and mistakes). All thanks to health systems that, in spite of their many differences, succeeded nonetheless in bringing together the inclusive strength of the public sector and the efficiency of the private sector, as well as high-quality collaborations between research institutes and life sciences companies. And all in all, though polluted by fake news, opportunist populist politicians, no-vax biases and a lot of oversimplified, and often grossly aggressive, hubbub on social media, even public opinion vagaries played a positive role.

In the end, scientific expertise and political wisdom (owing to the Draghi government) prevailed, leading to mass vaccination and the implementation of efficient health intervention protocols. Thus, Europe as a positive paradigm, too, a good role model for the world, and not only in connection to the health emergency, but also owing to its ability to address the following financial and social consequences, amid abrupt emergencies and long-term strategies, through the Next Generation Recovery Fund.

Thus, we circle back to time, to how important it is to have the “time to plant” – time dedicated to the creation of a new and improved political and social landscape; time that calls for wisdom, reflection, far-sightedness rather than ephemeral or fleeting moments that preclude memory and planning.

On the pages of the Corriere della Sera (Sunday 4 September), Sabino Cassese rightfully cautions us, once more, about the damage caused by a political rhetoric affected by the immediacy of opinion polls and the pursuit of consensus, by ‘likes’ on social media, which represent the exact opposite of reflection and insight. Harmful hastily conceived politics, the heedless promises of populist propaganda, the rashness of people inciting reckless and superficial feelings rather than responsible reasoning – a vicious circle that threatens to dishearten Italy, and as such its chances to react to the crisis and keep on growing. Indeed, current proposals to increase public debt in order to tackle the energy crisis and the forthcoming recession are an intolerable example of this.

It’s precisely in the middle of such an uproarious electoral campaign that Alcide De Gasperi’s wise words are worth remembering (“A politician looks to the next election, a statistician to the next generation”) and reiterate how the great issues we are facing today, from the environment to energy self-sufficiency and the preservation of our democratic values, must be addressed through both short-term responses to emergencies and long-term strategies – an approach that Europe, bolstered by its culture and democracy, must be able to apply at its best.

This is the call, loud and clear, that comes from enterprises concerned about the cost of energy, inflation, recession and the threat of social rifts, and which are looking at the EU for guidance.

Indeed, to major Italian companies the European market represents an opportunity for international expansion, via profitable value chains, quality manufacturing and high-tech services. The Euro is the key currency. EU institutions, from those in Brussels to the ECB, are the cornerstones on which to build investment and development policies. And European values, from the aforementioned liberal democracy to the culture of an open, competitive and well-regulated market, provide ideals and interests that shape expansion choices. In brief, to businesses, Europe means identity, opportunities and a way to attain, after years of pandemic and crisis, a new era based on confidence and environmental and social sustainable development, a path to competitiveness that begins in Europe, but only through solidarity and social inclusion.

In this “new paradigm”, characterised by a transition from a capitalism ruled by shareholders values (stock profits and prices) to one shaped by stakeholders values (mindful of employees, consumers, suppliers, the communities on which enterprises are built), Italian companies are in the lead, a position achieved over time thanks to vision and responsibility, combining technological with social innovation, productivity and care for the community. In these times of recession, these are companies that can do without a political crisis and a loss of values caused by short-sighted sovereignism and populism, which will cast doubts over their role and quality on global markets.

These are, indeed, the opinions of those who well know the strengths and weaknesses of the Italian industrial world, situated in the wide production region lying within the “A1-A4” motorways (loaded with people and goods and framing a key manufacturing area between Lombardy, Piedmont, Emilia and the north-east), as well as in other territories (from the Marche region to the many productive territories that are also beginning to characterise southern areas such as the Campania region, Apulia and Sicily) where, even in times of crisis, enterprise has shown to be extraordinarily lively. This is a world that has suffered from the irresponsible crisis in which, last July, the government led by Mario Draghi – the greatest internationally prestigious figure that Italy can boast of – and President Sergio Mattarella has been plunged into. A world that is now all the more concerned about safeguarding values and development interests, as well as possible political rifts between Italy, Brussels and the West.

Setting populist and sovereignist notions aside, the point of reference for the Italian industrial world is still the document drafted by the General Council of territorial entrepreneurial institution Confindustria last July, listing 18 key points to be considered by the future government, such as open markets, dialogue, central position in the Mediterranean area, attention paid to productivity and competitiveness, a balance in public finances, investments in infrastructure, both material and immaterial (education, culture, long-term training, etc.). Back to the Ecclesiastes – this is a time to “gather stones”, a time for sustainable development, a time to create opportunities for the next generations. In other words, a time for responsible behaviour.

A recently published book illustrates a different way of doing business

Doing business in a different way, as exemplified by what are termed “recovered enterprises”, whose number has risen to several dozens in Italy since the economic and financial crisis erupted in 2008 and up to now – a phenomenon that not only entails a different corporate culture, but also a new approach that could be adopted by many companies in a crisis.

Members of the Collettivo di Ricerca Sociale (Organisation for social research) have investigated the phenomenon of “recovered enterprises” for a research study funded by the Department of Sociology and Social Research of the University of Milano-Bicocca, as part of the scientific activities comprised in the 2018-2022 “Progetto di Eccellenza” (Project of Excellence) scheme. The investigation’s results have now been translated into book form by Romolo Calcagno (PhD in Sociology and Applied Social Sciences at the Sapienza University of Rome) and Leonard Mazzone (Post-Doc Research Fellow in Social and Political Philosophy at the University of Milano-Bicocca).

The study attempts to bring some order to the various “recovery” activities undertaken by businesses that collapsed between 2008 and the present day, and then acquired a new lease of life as cooperatives, “thanks to the synergy established between support communities of workers and public institutions,” explain the two authors. Thus, Calcagno and Mazzone first summarise what took place as “a prime example of a solidarity response that could potentially become widespread”, prompted by a number of negative effects resulting from changes in economic trends, which have driven “a growing portion of resources – human and non- – to react against becoming redundant.” As further emphasised, as well as reclaiming such resources and restoring their value, “recovered enterprises represent an emblematic example of mutual solidarity, of activities that society can employ to fight back market obsolescence, beginning from the workplace.”

As such, on the one hand this book is a summary of all that led to this and, on the other, it is the narration of various cases involving enterprises, workers and territories. After a first section that frames the theme within its historical and legal contexts (the “recovery” of enterprises is based on the “Marcora Law”), the authors proceed to examine 15 case studies of such “recovered enterprises”, in order to understand what actually happens within these particular forms of production organisation and therefore attempt to formulate a number of working proposals aimed at improving the outcome of their activities.

Undoubtedly, Calcagno and Mazzone’s book focuses on the stories of specific cases, and, in some respects, the analytical approach and the theoretical bases employed to interpret reality and results are equally specific. Nonetheless, this literary and academic endeavour provides readers with some unusual viewpoints that are useful to better understand the evolution of the Italian industrial system and a culture of production that is not at all uniform but rather diverse and vibrant.

Recovered enterprises in Italy. From a Collettivo di Ricerca Sociale’s research study

Romolo Calcagno, Leonard Mazzone

Castelvecchi Editore, 2022

Shifting from a linear to a circular economy: conditions, constraints, opportunities and timelines

From traditional factories to advanced ones that care about the environment and the impact of their activities on the territory and society, or, in other words, moving from a traditional economy to a circular economy, with all that this entails, including what is perhaps the most important feature, a new production culture that is different from the preceding one.

These are the topics that Piero Bonavero and Paolo Falconier tackle in “Economia circolare, istituzioni e imprese nella transizione post-pandemica: due esempi nel settore aerospaziale in Italia” (“Circular economy, institutions and enterprises in the post-pandemic transition: two examples from the aerospace industry in Italy”), their contribution recently published in Documenti geografici (Geographic documents), the open-access journal by Tor Vergata University of Rome.

As explained by the authors, the research paper aims to identify and illustrate some of the factors that, both now and in recent years, have determined – and continue to do so – an acceleration within the transition process from a linear to a circular economy within a European context, by taking into consideration what essentially comes down to three main themes: the entrepreneurial world’s changed attitude towards the topic, a greater drive for the transition provided by institutions operating on different geographical scales, and the health emergency brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, this latter factor has been seen – and rightfully so – as an opportunity, too: a “post-pandemic reboot” based on new organisational models of economy and society. This revised notion concerning production and doing business is, in its turn, also dependant on at least four other main transitions: the environmental, technological, economic and social ones.

Thus, Bonavero and Falconier’s contribution begins by fine-tuning the concept of circular economy and then explores the topic more in depth, shifting the focus from “theory” to “practice”. It then goes on to examine the role that institutions play and, more in particular, that of the PNRR (the Italian recovery and resilience plan), before analysing the cases of two specific companies currently engaged in the transition toward the circular economy – these are two Italian SMEs operating in the aerospace industry, LMA srl and Superelectric srl.

Finally, Bonavero and Falconier’s investigation concludes by emphasising the crucial value that institutions have in bridging the temporal gap existing between (short- and medium-term) costs, which companies must bear while transitioning towards the circular economy, and the (long-term) financial benefits that such a shift involves for these same companies – a challenge that must indeed be overcome, to ensure the gradual and effective advancement of corporate culture, too.

“Economia circolare, istituzioni e imprese nella transizione post-pandemica: due esempi nel settore aerospaziale in Italia” (“Circular economy, institutions and enterprises in the post-pandemic transition: two examples from the aerospace industry in Italy”)

Piero Bonavero – Paolo Falconier, in Documenti geografici, Tor Vergata University

https://www.documentigeografici.it/index.php/docugeo/article/viewFile/342/294

Archivi Aperti (“Open Archives”), the event promoted by Rete Fotografia now in its eighth edition, will run from 14 to 23 October. The theme for 2022 will be “Preserving the future: How will new technologies and the digital revolution affect photographic archive design?”, a reflection on the potential of information and communication technologies as tools for using and understanding photographic archives. We will be there once again this year, offering guided tours of the new exhibition Pirelli: Thinking Ahead, and workshop activities for children aged 8 to 11.

The new exhibition at the Pirelli Foundation focuses on the subject of innovation: throughout its 150-year history, Pirelli has constantly developed cutting-edge technologies, particularly in the field of racing. “From track to road” is the concept illustrated by the multimedia environment that welcomes the visitor: a timeline, consisting mostly of photographic archival materials, which retraces the success of the Long P in the world of racing. Shots that capture epic feats, such as the Peking-Paris Motor Race, the faces of cycling champions such as Coppi and Bartali, or driving aces such as Juan Manuel Fangio, Nino Farina, Nelson Piquet, or motorcycle record holders such as the engineer-rider Piero Taruffi.

A site-specific video installation called Inner Future is also on display. Created in collaboration with Narrative Environment Operas (NEO), it combines documents, films, photographs and archival objects to tell a story of great innovations that have made and influenced national and international history. The photographer Carlo Furgeri Gilbert shows us his view of the world of rubber with still lifes that transform raw materials into art objects, reports and videos that document the innovations achieved by experimentation in the Pirelli Research and Development laboratories, and images that give original insight into the finished product, the tyre, a “round black object” that never seems to change but that, inside, is the outcome of endless transformations.

Multimedia installations and archival materials will also be the starting point for a workshop entitled Ti racconto una fotografia (“Let me tell you a photograph”), for younger visitors. The children will learn how analogue and digital photographs are conserved and enhanced and they will find out how many stories photos can tell. A guided study of pictures pf bicycle, motorcycle and car races, both past and present, will make it possible to create a podcast together and plunge into the world of the greatest champions of yesterday and today.

The events will be held on Thursday 20 October and Friday 21 October 2022, with three sessions per day:

• 30 p.m. – guided tour (60 minutes)
• 00 p.m. – guided tour (60 minutes)
• 30 p.m. – workshop for families with children aged 8 to 11 (75 minutes)

Admission is free. Booking required, while places last, here:

Archivi Aperti 2022 – Guided tours of the exhibition Pirelli: Thinking Ahead – Pirelli Foundation

Archivi Aperti 2022 – “Ti racconto una fotografia” workshop for children aged 8 to 11 – Pirelli Foundation

We look forward to seeing you!

Cinema and television are certainly not immune to the lure of Monza. In 1950, the track was turned into a set, with Amedeo Nazzari together with the driver of the moment, Juan Manuel Fangio. Nazzari raced in fiction, for the film Last Meeting, a popular production by Dino De Laurentiis and Carlo Ponti, scripted by the writer Alberto Moravia, among others. Fangio himself raced for real, with the Alfa 159 making its debut at the Italian Grand Prix that year. Proudly emblazoned on his overalls were the “Alfa Romeo” and “Pirelli” logos. In 1951 the house organ Fatti e Notizie wrote about “Actors and Drivers” and even then, the Argentine champion may have sensed that he would become the most filmed driver in history. Fifteen years and five Formula 1 World Championships after Last Meeting, Juan Manuel Fangio appears aboard a red spider back on the Parabolica banking at Monza, in front of the camera. Then he stops, takes off his gloves, and looks at the audience: “I used to race with the Pirelli Stelvio, but this Cinturato is extraordinario!”

He was the star in a Carosello television commercial produced by Gamma Film and in a photographic reportage by Ugo Mulas. From cinema to television, and then back to cinema: A biopic, Fangio: A Life at 300 An Hour, came out in 1981. The director was Hugh Hudson, who just a few years earlier, in 1966, had directed The Tortoise and the Hare, a road movie for Pirelli that advertised the Cinturato tyre that Fangio had called “extraordinario”. And in 1981, another film directed by Hudson went on to win four Oscars: Chariots of Fire, with an unforgettable soundtrack by Vangelis.

Pirelli Foundation Educational is back, with a new educational programme for the 2022-2023 school year. A whole range of new features will be presented in an online meeting, open to all those who may be interested, on Monday 19 September at 5.30 p.m. on the Microsoft Teams platform.

The free educational courses, in the form of webinars, workshops, virtual tours, and guided tours of the Pirelli Foundation, both online and in person, will accompany students and teachers as they find out about Pirelli’s corporate culture. Participants will be taken on a 150-year journey to discover a “world beyond rubber” – a world of creativity, research, technology, and innovation. From experiments with increasingly innovative raw materials used for making tyres, which are only apparently just “round black objects”, to racing on two and four wheels, to reading the company house organs and examining the works created by the masters of visual communication, through to travel and the issues involved in sustainable mobility and road safety.

Primary schools will be able to visit the Pirelli Foundation to find out about the world of rubber, further their passion for reading or go on a virtual journey through the city of Milan and discover the strong bond between Pirelli and the Lombard capital.

Lower secondary schools will learn about the materials used in tyre manufacture, the most important racing champions and industrial cinema.

Lastly, upper secondary schools will examine Pirelli’s relations with the great international photographers, designers, and graphic artists who have created extraordinary advertising campaigns and with the architects who created the company’s workplaces. The students will also discover the technological innovations introduced over the decades by the Research and Development laboratories.

To register for the webinar on Monday 19 September at 5.30 p.m., which will present the educational programmes, please write to scuole@fondazionepirelli.org

On Thursday 22 September at 5.30 p.m., to complete the presentation of the new programme and to examine the issues at hand, Pirelli Foundation Educational invites teachers to the new virtual guided tour (on the Microsoft Teams platform), of the exhibition that celebrates the company’s 150th anniversary: Pirelli: When History Builds The Future. Teachers will also be able to visit the Pirelli Foundation in person on Monday 26 September at 5.30 p.m., with booking required, on a first-come-first-served basis. To sign up for these events, please write to scuole@fondazionepirelli.org

To keep up to date on all our activities, you can also sign up to the Pirelli Foundation mailing list from the homepage

Countless drivers have contended with the bends of the Monza circuit during the course of their career. The 1950 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix was the race of champions: different teams, same tyres, all Pirelli. There were Juan Manuel Fangio and Nino Farina with Alfa Romeo, the winner of the World Championship, and Felice Bonetto and Louis Chiron in Maserati. And then there was Alberto Ascari, a young driver for Ferrari, who returned to the spotlight on the track where he had already won the previous year: yet another “Pirelli driver”. Ascari triumphed at Monza in 1951: the world title was getting closer and closer and in the 1952 season, after six consecutive wins, Monza was the perfect place to don the crown of World Champion, ahead of his teammate Nino Farina. His victory meant that, for the third consecutive year, the world title went to Pirelli Stella Bianca tyres.

The yellow vans of the Pirelli racing service become the symbol of “a team of specialists, engineers and workers, who assist and advise the masters of speed in all races, on all roads”. Again in Monza, on 13 September 1953, Ascari started from pole position in the Italian Grand Prix in his Ferrari 735, but had an accident and was forced out of the race, leaving victory to Fangio’s Maserati. But now the die was cast: the five victories of the season gave him and Ferrari their second consecutive World title. For Pirelli tyres – the Stella Bianca underwent some modifications and emerged as the Stelvio – the Formula 1 World Champion title was already the fourth in a row. On 26 May 1955, Alberto Ascari was back in Monza, at a Ferrari test session with Eugenio Castellotti. At the end of the tests, he asked his friend to let him try the single-seater.

The crash came on his third lap, on a bend in the Vialone that, ever since, has since been known as the “Variante Ascari” in his memory. Pirelli magazine recalled him like this: “At Pirelli, everyone liked him. More than just a liking – true affection; an affection that went far beyond simple gratitude for him being the man who won the world championship twice, associating his name and that of Ferrari with the name of the company that fitted its tyres on his cars…”.

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The successes of Pirelli tyres in the world of racing were made known by the advertising campaigns that the company commissioned from the top Italian and international graphic artists, helping create what became the Pirelli style. Poster designers, draughtsmen, and illustrators were called in to work with the world of rubber and promote the products in unconventional ways. In 1914, Stanley Charles Roowy created one of the advertisements that made the greatest contribution to the dream of speed and to “Pneus Pirelli”: a red car blowing out flames and smoke. An icon of modernity, of speed, and of a thirst for breaking records. A special department devoted to “Propaganda” was set up in the company in the 1920s.

It was during this period that Pirelli was beginning to take part in races across all Europe on circuits and roads. This was made possible by its revolutionary cord technology, which gave the tyre greater resistance and greatly improved road holding. The office, which focused on advertising (“pubblicità e reclame”), the drafting of price lists, catalogues and miscellaneous advertising prints, also oversaw participation in motor races, which were viewed right from the beginning as a high-impact means of promotion. Its various activities also included the photographic documentation of Pirelli’s participation in the races: the Coppa della Consuma, the Garda circuit, and the Savio circuit in Ravenna.

And, of course, the Monza circuit. In 1924 the “Instruction manual for the use of the Pirelli Superflex Cord” explained how to make best use of the innovative low pressure tyre with its casing in cord fabric. One of the letters reproduced on the back cover was an enthusiastic comment from an engineer by the name of Nicola Romeo, the owner of a four-cylinder Alfa. By late 1924, the Pirelli Cord and Superflex pricelist could proudly claim the title “The Victory Tyre”. Monza was also the star in a splendid photo shoot by Federico Patellani in 1950, with the tyre-fitter mechanics in the pits wearing their Pirelli overalls and caps: a big-name photo-shoot from the track. And, once again, racing came to the fore in advertisements for the Long P.

It was in 1965 that the company came up with a new communication strategy – one that was destined to impose one of the company’s flagship products on the Italian market, after it had taken the world by storm: the Pirelli Cinturato. The campaign turned to exceptional endorsers, who appeared in portraits with slogans in their own languages: the Cinturato was “Ancora più sicuro” for Giovanni Bracco, “Sensationnel” for Louis Chiron, and “Ricama sulla strada” according to Gigi Villoresi. There were posters and hoardings everywhere with the smiling faces of racing champions, including Juan Manuel Fangio, José Froilán González, Umberto Maglioli and Piero Taruffi. Drivers who symbolised adrenaline-fueled, record-breaking feats, who conveyed their experience at the wheel of cars fitted with Pirelli tyres. Champions who, thanks to their amazing victories, provided the perfect voices to tell of the power, innovation and safety of Pirelli products, from track to road.

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