The new edition of Archivi Aperti (“Open Archives”) is set to run from 15 to 24 October 2021. The event is promoted by Rete Fotografia and this year examines the theme of the land and landscape, and the relationship with society in photography. A multi-view, collective discussion on the role of photography as part of a new model of sustainable development. We shall be taking part again this year, offering exclusive guided tours of the exhibition Skyscraper Stories: The Pirellone and a Sixty-year Celebration of Corporate Culture and the Regional Government of Lombardy, curated by our Foundation with the architect Alessandro Colombo. Through photographs, illustrations and archive footage, mostly from the Pirelli Historical Archive, the exhibition, which is promoted by the Pirelli Foundation and the Lombardy Region, Government and Council, tells the story of the building, which began as the headquarters of Pirelli and then became the seat and symbol of the regional institution.

The exhibition on the 26th floor of the Pirellone (with a catalogue published by Marsilio and a dedicated website 60grattacielopirelli.org), opens with a model of the building from the Gio Ponti Archives and is divided into five “movements”, from the construction of the tower to the present day. A timeline shows the most significant events in Italian and world history from 1956 to the present day. Photographs and top-name reportages, including works by Paolo Monti and the famous series by the Dutchman Arno Hammacher of 1959, which show how the building progressed, to a design by the Ponti-Fornaroli-Rosselli and Valtolina-Dell’Orto studios and the engineers Pier Luigi Nervi and Arturo Danusso. Tales of life in the building and descriptions of the interiors, design and work, are seen through the eyes of great photographers such as De Paoli, Aldo Ballo, Calcagni, and Dino Sala and of historic agencies such as Publifoto. During the years of the economic boom, the tower was the star in photo reports and fashion shoots by masters such as Ugo Mulas, and became a set for the new Italian cinema with directors such as Luchino Visconti, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Carlo Lizzani.

In 1968 Uliano Lucas immortalised an immigrant in front of the tower: a powerful, iconic shot that the photographer himself talks about in one of the video installations that accompany the visitor on this long journey, through the voices of those for whom the building became part of their lives. It is an opportunity to explore the architectural history of Milan and admire the city from on high.

Guided tours will be held on Wednesday 20 October and Thursday 21 October 2021, with three slots (2.30, 4 and 5.30 p.m.), and a special tour for families with children aged 6 to 10 in the 5.30 slot. Admission is free, subject to booking. Please write to visite@fondazionepirelli.org..

Come and see us!

The path towards a balanced and sustainable development, improving conditions and lasting over time, includes unprecedented concepts that blend together wealth building and social cohesion, productivity and solidarity. Here we find the true political, agenda-setting value of that “recovery agreement” announced by Prime Minister Mario Draghi at the Confindustria Assembly, taking his cue from the speech delivered by Carlo Bonomi, president of the entrepreneurs association. We need positive industrial relationships, built on dialogue rather than on ideological clashes and prejudices. Arrangements concerning work and incomes. Agreements that promote investments, innovation, competitiveness, the inclusion of women and young people in production processes, but also the appreciation of older employees’ know-how and skills, which should certainly not be scrapped.

Draghi’s request, addressed not only to industrialists and trade unions but also to party leaders, is crystal clear: though fierce at present, the current economic recovery trend remains fragile (Italy’s GDP rose by 6% this year, and is expected to grow by 4% in 2022), it’s just a “rebound” marking a recovery from the disastrous losses experienced during the long COVID-19 season. And as such, it needs to be consolidated: through investments, innovation, the creation of steadfast employment opportunities.

In fact, the most dynamic Italian enterprises, the manufacturers with a presence on the international markets and with well-established competitive practices, have been investing, emphasising quality, growing, for a long time. Yet, it’s the whole country that needs to grow, from its services to its public authorities, in order to recover its productive power and so avoid plunging back down into a stagnant economy. Moreover, we also need to pay back the huge public debt Italy has racked up to tackle the economic and health emergency.

The funds (i.e. mainly loans that will have to be repaid) provided by the PNRR (Piano nazionale di resilienza e ripresa), the Italian recovery and resilience plan, are an extraordinary asset and should be ultimately devoted to the innovation and development of Italy, to investments in the environment and in the digital transformation, and to the generation of quality. Thus, they need to be spent quickly and wisely, and they should also be accompanied by key reforms (affecting public authorities, laws, the job market, training and education, etc.).

Hence, we need positive industrial relationships involving social stakeholders, entrepreneurs associations and trade unions, in order to have an open, well-reasoned conversation that acknowledges the value development can bring and that doesn’t wear itself out in biased, one-sided disagreements. The challenge posed by sustainable development is too significant, the future of our children and grandchildren is too fragile – in terms of environmental safety and opportunities for a better life – for us to let this opportunity go to waste.

Indeed, crucial moments in our republican history readily come to mind – times when social forces, properly motivated by institutions and policies, succeeded in identifying and pursue a future for the greater good.

Without a doubt, when times are uncertain is worth remembering the core values that underlie politics and economics and, above all, re-reading article 1 of the Italian Constitution: “Italy is a democratic Republic founded on labour”, where “labour” is meant to represent the essence of personal and civic identity, of freedom, of individual and social fulfilment, rather than the mere trade of goods and services for remuneration – labour understood within a context of rights and duties, and as a lever for development.

During those hard post-war years, when Italy was on its knees, the agreement struck by Confindustria, led by Angelo Costa, with the CGIL (Italian General Confederation of Labour), headed by Giuseppe di Vittorio, promptly and quickly identified common priorities: “First the factories, then the houses”. And over time, when confronted by crucial crises, social forces have always managed to reach a selfless and responsible understanding and take charge of the common good. The fight against terrorism and the response to the economic crisis in the 1970s were, in fact, the results of another agreement between Confindustria, headed by Gianni Agnelli, and the trade unions unified under the leadership of Luciano Lama, CGIL secretary. And let’s not forget the concerted action instigated by Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, first minister of Finance and subsequently Prime Minister, who led Italy out of the crisis in the early 1990s and onto the path towards the euro and European integration.

These were key periods in Italian history. Periods in which Italy knew how to well manage itself, showing its colours as a forward-looking, selfless nation, proactive and inclusive, able to define and pursue a proper shared commitment.

And today, we are facing a new blank chapter – we need to overcome this long stagnating period, defeat the pandemic crisis, be the protagonists in our age defined by the knowledge economy and sustainability.

Once more, “labour” is taking centre stage – not in the form of small, short-term jobs or endless subsidies, but rather as a fine prospect, the means to take on the transformation brought about by digital technologies and global markets. And, therefore, as a vehicle for the integration of training and education, qualified expertise, productive innovation, flexibility, creativity (note that the “quota 100” pension scheme or the “citizenship income” – the welfare allowance dependant on income and citizenship – are not part of this future). And, of course, for the enhancement of occupational health and safety, as the current number of accidents and deaths in the workplace is entirely unacceptable.

The challenge involves business and education, the job market (to resolve this absurd issue whereby, in Italy, there are millions of unemployed and under-employed people while companies – rightfully – complain they can’t find suitable staff), and entails a welfare system that can act as a suitable cushion when people switch jobs.

When referring to the “recovery agreement”, the Draghi government seems to see such a future very clearly, and it’s indeed getting the right tools to tackle it. Companies (as exemplified by Confindustria) are also ready to play their part and the trade unions are displaying a responsible willingness to discuss matters. Growth, then, can take a step forward.

A recently published book offers a viable path for its achievement

Organisational culture as corporate driver, placing human beings first and global well-being before mere profit. These concepts are becoming increasingly integrated within organisations of production, yet they need to be fully comprehended before they can be applied in real terms. This is why reading Comportamento Organizzativo: cultura organizzativa (Organizational behavior. Organizational culture) by Jesus Reyes can be useful – it is a kind of “manual” collecting good organisational practices that place people at the centre.

The book revolves around the possibility that the conditions whereby the human component, i.e. the “elemental part”, within the internal dynamics of a company is neglected could be the result of changes occurring within corporate organisations. In other words, the human capital – the part of the organisation that moves the entire organisational team – might end up taking the back seat. This basically means underestimating the importance of managing human talent, something that can happen when companies are overwhelmed by change.

Reyes, then, guides the reader through the following chapters, which are oriented towards a series of changes in corporate culture and organisational behaviour. The new “management of human talent”, he explains, must take place through the generation of habits and values embedded in people’s proactive behaviours and attitudes. Only then roles and functions undertaken within interpersonal relations can change – for the better. An objective that is certainly not easy to achieve, though the only objective possible within a phase of major change in economic and social systems, and subsequently in the way that organisations of productions, expected to reconcile efficiency and effectiveness, are planned and realised.

To achieve change, to be the first, to build a new organisational image – Reyes tells us – we simply need to break with traditional schemes and incorporate new case studies and models for value generation.

Comportamento Organizzativo: cultura organizzativa (Organizational behavior. Organizational culture) 

Jesus Reyes

Edizioni Sapienza, 2021

How human resources and their role in organisations should be viewed

Resources almost comparable to other raw materials in the productive cycle, or women and men committed to achieve a common goal? The role of human beings within organisations (and production, too), has always been a topic for discussion, and continues to be seriously debated today, as so-called “human resources” need to get to grips with the work reorganisation demanded by digitalisation.

As such, the management of human resources becomes a crucial factor in the transition experienced by any productive organisation, as well as an element that characterises any culture of production.

Giovanni Masino’s contribution in Humans, resources, or what else? eBook of the research program “The organization workshop (a collection of research studies curated by Massimo Neri), centres around this “misleading dichotomy” between resources and people.

Masino starts from an observation: “The so-called ‘management of human resources’ and, more broadly, the study of the relationship between people and organisations, is an issue that relevant literature discusses using, intentionally, terms such as ‘resources’ and ‘human’. These are terms that embody a certain conceptual premise and that, indirectly, lead towards different ways to study and interpret organisational undertakings and how they are planned, transformed and managed.” A company’s raw materials, then, or its vital part?

Masino continues by scrutinising the importance of “human deliberateness” as a feature of “human resources” and thus the significance that goals set to organisations, and therefore to people, acquire. This is where, according to Masino, the targets that managers establish for themselves within a company, as well as its working methods, come into play. “It is a matter,” writes Masino, “of changing the way we think when we set objectives.” Sharing and contribution, then, as elements that are increasingly gaining a foothold in modern and engaging corporate cultures.

Risorse o persone? Una dicotomia fuorviante  (People or things? Una dicotomia fuorviante” (People or things? A misleading dichotomy)

Giovanni Masino, University of Ferrara

in Humans, resources, or what else? eBook of the research program “The organization workshop, Massimo Neri (curated by), University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 2021

It was back in 1971 when Maestro Accardo, just thirty years old and already considered to be one of the world’s greatest violinists, was invited by Pirelli to take part in the 6th Music Festival at the Pirelli Cultural Centre. On 24 November, in the great Auditorium of the Pirellone in Piazza Duca d’Aosta in Milan, the company’s headquarters at the time, the Maestro, together with the pianist Lodovico Lessona, performed a programme that included music by Petrassi, Webern, Ravel, Mozart and Beethoven, displaying the full potential of the violin, from the classical era to the contemporary.

The bond between Pirelli and Maestro Salvatore Accardo, who in 1996 founded the Orchestra da Camera Italiana with students and former students of the Accademia Walter Stauffer in Cremona, has been renewed in more recent times. In 2012 the maestro and the musicians of the Orchestra were invited to the Pirelli Auditorium – but this time in the new company headquarters designed by Vittorio Gregotti in Milano Bicocca – to work on and try out a new musical programme to be performed during the concert season later that year. The company’s employees and their families also took part in the dress rehearsals.

Pirelli has always been committed to promoting culture in the workplace, and from that moment on it has renewed its bond with the Maestro each year. It has given its support to the orchestra, making the company premises available for rehearsals and having the musicians interact with the employees’ children in corporate welfare activities.

In 2017 the Maestro and his orchestra were involved in a new musical project to create an original work that gave a voice to the contemporary factory – the light-filled, sustainable and “beautiful” Pirelli Industrial Centre in Settimo Torinese. The sounds and rhythms of production inspired Il Canto della Fabbrica, a piece commissioned by the Pirelli Foundation from the composer and violist Francesco Fiore and specially written to be performed by Salvatore Accardo’s violin.

The world premiere of this musical composition was performed in front of more than a thousand people, including numerous Pirelli employees, as part of the MITO SettembreMusica Festival inside the Settimo Torinese plant, the factory that inspired the work.

A thesis discussed at the University of Padua sheds light on the links between these two key aspects of business management

The circular economy seen as the cutting-edge version of an economy more attentive to the impact it has on environment and society. The kind of economy that also affects business management – not only its production profile, but its social aspects, too.

Giorgia Masconale’s thesis, recently discussed as part of the Master’s in Economics programme offered by the M. Fanno Department of Economics and Business Sciences at the University of Padua, revolves around just such themes. The thesis is entitled “L’implementazione dell’economia circolare nelle aziende: la gestione sostenibile delle risorse umane” (“Implementing the circular economy in businesses: the sustainable management of human resources”), and its premise is that “the circular economy has a strategic impact on company’s human resources functions whose role, therefore, becomes more significant in the achievement of sustainable development and of a competitive advantage.” Hence, Masconale starts her argument by investigating the “roots of the circular economy”, and then swiftly moves on to an in-depth exploration of corporate models and structures needing to adapt to the principles of an economy that has changed and that, in some way, has become more pervasive than the previous, traditional one. The author goes on to delve into aspects such as recovery and recycling, extending the useful life of a product, and the concept of product as a service, and after having contextualised these business management elements, she proceeds to scrutinise the relationships between human resources management and the circular economy.

A culture open to innovation, incorporating reactive leadership, transparent communications and a flexible structure facilitates the achievement of environmental sustainability, and all business functions within a corporate organisation can bring a tangible contribution towards the attainment of set sustainable goals.

Giorgia Masconale concludes, “HR functions play a very deft role, as they oversee the point of intersection between the organisation and the people who will become its social fabric. Moreover, by managing processes and behaviours, HR functions are in charge of implementing change, and therefore of the development and dissemination of a new culture of responsibility.” She adds that, “Traditional functions acquire new life as they are reinterpreted in terms of sustainable development, becoming key factors in the transformation of plain organisations into responsible organisations: entities in tune with an evolving world, able to show resilience and, with it, new opportunities for competitiveness.”

Giorgia Masconale’s thesis is a valuable read, providing an honest and concise overview of the relationships between two major, complex themes of corporate culture and business management.

“L’implementazione dell’economia circolare nelle aziende: la gestione sostenibile delle risorse umane” (“Implementing the circular economy in businesses: the sustainable management of human resources”)

Giorgia Masconale

Thesis, University of Padua, M. Fanno Department of Economics and Business Sciences, Master’s in Economics programme, 2021

Human history and business practices can be unravelled through the history of materials, too.

Making. Planning. Devising. Building. Progressing. The development of human societies moved through these stages, too, and indeed keeps on doing so. The ability to think, then, but also to give shape and material form to useful objects – tools for living, travelling, communicating. Factories and manufacturers. Materials, then, as the key elements of development, yesterday as today. And also the founding elements of a corporate culture that, over time, developed and evolved, in line with the evolution of materials. This is what we learn by reading Il segreto delle cose. Storie di uomini e materiali (The secret of things. Stories of individuals and materials), by Silvano Fuso, a recently published book whose narration takes us through the stories of some of the most important materials in history.

The book takes its cue from an observation: the availability of new materials has always had an impact on the development of human societies. It’s not a coincidence that the prehistoric ages are identified with the name of the material that was increasingly being used: stone, bronze (and copper), and iron. Nowadays, too, materials accompany our social and economic progress: new metal alloys, plastics, semiconductor materials, new ceramic, magnetic, electric, optical materials, up to the so-called smart materials and nanomaterials. All sectors are dependant on them: construction, technology, logistics, medicine, communications, but also the arts, architecture, design.

On the strength of these premises, Fuso has written 14 chapters, dedicated to 14 materials and their uses – from the humblest and simplest to the most complex – smartly summarising the subject we now call “materials science” but that, after all, is no less than a journey through the history of manufacture, which is also the history of humankind.

Il segreto delle cose. Storie di uomini e materiali (The secret of things. Stories of individuals and materials)

Silvano Fuso

Carocci editore, 2021

Milan is fast, Milan is frenetic, Milan hurries too much, Milan never stops. These are stereotypes, clichés. In all fairness, they do harbour some truth, but they are limited, as they reduce complex realities to banal, threadbare sketches. It’s therefore important to keep on working on one particular trait of the city, among others: the willingness to learn, reflect, try to properly understand the meaning of what needs doing. And then, of course, actually do it – with determination, efficiency, a certain level of effectiveness, and, yes, nowadays with some speed, too. Always bearing in mind, of course, what Alessandro Manzoni (Don Lisander to his friends) taught us through the words of Grand Chancellor Antonio Ferrer, as he addressed his coachman in a well-known section of I promessi sposi (The betrothed): “Adelante, Pedro, con juicio” (“On, Pedro, with care”). And indeed, it’s probably no coincidence that the most successful slogan of the Pirelli Foundation, Milanese to the core, is “la potenza è nulla senza controllo” (“power is nothing without control”). Just another way to say “juicio”.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reshuffled trends and habits. It has radically changed economic and social strategies, highlighted vulnerabilities, imposed new criteria on the relationships between work, health and social coexistence. Hence, new maps are needed to chart new ways of thinking, consuming and producing – to create new job opportunities, and thus promote a better growth.

Yet, the speed at which technology is challenging space and time boundaries, this “immediate immediacy” of the “everything now”, should not be fuelling the digital obsession for constant “real time”: an obsession that, to be honest, characterises part of Milan’s citizens. On the contrary, we need to be able to stop, think, try to understand, in order to build our recovery in responsible fashion – or, rather, to boost “regeneration”, to use a term favoured by Assolombarda in its most recent considerations.

The “culture of making” that deeply distinguishes Milan goes hand in hand with widespread knowledge, strong relationships between companies and universities (whose quality and authoritativeness are rising on the international stage) and the cultural world (such as publishing houses, theatres, art spaces).

In a nutshell: the speed of Milan is contemplative.

And what is Milan so quickly contemplating? This was the topic of a debate held in mid-September as part of the “Amare Milano” (“Love Milan”) project; a long afternoon of discussions conducted under the shade of the magnolia of the Palazzo delle Stelline’s courtyard, organised by the Centro Studi Grande Milano association. An event chaired by its president Daniela Mainini and dedicated to the memory of Carlo Tognoli, one of the best and most loved mayors of Milan. The discussions centred on one of the metropolis’s key characteristics: to have a vision and translate it into practice, to think big yet keep the feet on the ground – the project’s ambition and a pragmatic approach to accomplish reforms. Reforms in politics and authorities, as well as in business. Applying those good practices that were acquired over time in order to build a solid network of relations between public and private.

Milan, today, is a dense web that comprises different attitudes, tensions, visions – often contradictory ones, which need to be harnessed to a development plan mindful of the wealth diversity can bring, but also aware that excessive disparities in income, relations and possibilities can hinder environmental and social growth. Then again, this is Milan’s underlying nature: to be both competitive and inclusive, profit-oriented yet caring.

The campaign for the election of the new mayor of Milan and city council is almost at its end (and all polls indicate that Beppe Sala, incumbent mayor, is the favourite candidate for re-election). However, those who know Milan will also know that, over the years, Palazzo Marino, the seat of the city council, has developed a strong culture of continuity, even when mayors belonging to different political parties are elected – yet another underlying trend, among others, driving the metropolis.

A trend that needs to be stressed and that sees Milan as the central hub within a system of economic relationships that comprises the whole productive area extending from the north-west of Turin and Genoa to the north-east, where we find globalised medium-sized companies and districts accelerating productivity, and further expands towards the dynamic Emilia-Romagna region, nicknamed the “Motor Valley”, with its hi-tech industries and know-how spanning from the machine tools industry to the robotics and automotive sectors. An economy spread out along the A1-A4 motorway axes (from east to west, from north to south) and deeply integrated with Europe, its strengths including manufacturing, finance, services, universities, culture, all within a network encompassing metropolises, medium-sized towns and socially dynamic territories. A unique phenomenon in Europe, and a very “glocal” one, to use the clever portmanteau of ‘global’ and ‘local’. A geo-economic dimension whose flows (of ideas, people, projects, works, goods, exchanges) are strongly tied to local identity. And Milan is at the heart of all this, with its culture and spirit, its opportunities and plans – a genuine “middle ground”, as its original Latin name, Mediolanum, suggests.

An enterprise such as “Milano & Partners”, whose strong collaboration with the public sector (especially with the council), social stakeholders and private companies, is a great boon when it comes to attracting financial and intellectual resources, and as such can play a major role: a role that’s broad-minded, open to dialogue and innovation, open to new projects.

Hence, we’re back to that much needed conflation between contemplation and speed, plans and implementation, and we recall a Latin adage, apt for such a productive city: “Festìna lente”, “make haste, slowly” – move swiftly but with caution.

Latin historian Suetonius attributed the phrase to Emperor Augustus, and it became the motto of Aldo Manuzio, a printer and publisher who lived in Venice during the Renaissance period, when the city’s trade was at its zenith. Words also beloved by mayor Beppe Sala and by archbishop Mario Delpini, who criticised the hectic pace of a greedy cupidity that widens social gaps (“inequalities are increasing, there’s a part of Milan that’s moving too fast and is making far too much profit”). But also beloved by some companies, especially those related to industry and services, those tied to the real economy and that fully grasp the need for the coming of a new season bringing an environmental and social sustainability based on (mainly international) investments, employment, quality of life.

From this perspective, the future is crystal clear: a future marked by the circular and civic economy, that is, where sustainability becomes the pivot on which competitiveness rests.

In this fast and contemplative metropolis, brimming with enterprise and “polytechnic culture”, open to reform and ensuring that development remains well rooted in social responsibility, two essential hues transpire: green and blue. The former symbolising the environment and environmental and social values, the latter the emblem of innovation and well-managed digital technologies “designed for human beings”. Two colours entwined around Milan, a city whose roots are deep in historical self-awareness while it looks to the future, and that could indeed become the best illustration of “Festìna lente”.

Ignazio Visco’s reading of Dante Alighieri enhances corporate culture for all

Classics and the economy, or, rather, companies and classics. Not two separate worlds disconnected from each other, but two strictly interrelated ways of living in society, illustrating how ephemeral any boundary meant to rigidly compartmentalise human activity is. An aspect that is often missed through a quicker, more superficial reading, but fully grasped by Ignazio Visco, Governor of the Bank of Italy, in his speech “Note sull’economia di Dante e su vicende dei nostri tempi” (“Notes on Dantean economy and vicissitudes of our times”), delivered at the Dante2021 Festival in Ravenna.

Dante, therefore, and economy, production, exchange, finance, exploitation, doing business. Visco offers an unusual take on the poet’s brilliance, based on observing what Dante Alighieri might have lived through in his time. The Governor’s way of reading classics is nonetheless a cautious one (we should never read history purely through our modern eyes), and as such takes the cue from Dante’s life and civic commitment.

Taking The Divine Comedy and Convivio (as well as other texts) as his starting point, Visco runs through some of the major themes concerning the economy (both past and current), such as finance, profits, production, exploitation, imbalances, economics and ethics. Dante, therefore, is seen as a figure foreseeing many of the issues that, still today, are central to our economy and politics. “The innovative power in Dante’s analysis,” writes, for instance, Visco, “lies in identifying the global nature of instability, which he directly observed and masterly described in The Divine Comedy, and as such the need for institutions to change in order to handle it. Nowadays, the financial crisis that occurred in the first decade of this century, the sovereign debt crisis linked to the euro in the second decade, the crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic that we are still dealing with, all share the same characteristic: the need for a supranational response.”

“Dante,” adds Visco, “reminds us that ‘the individual’s need for human society … is established for a single end: namely, a life of happiness, which no one is able to attain by themselves without the aid of someone else, since one has need of many things which no single individual is able to provide. Therefore the Philosopher says that human being is by nature a social animal.’ (Convivio, IV, 1). How happiness can be reached is not really apparent, but the imperfections and limits deriving from greed threaten to compromise, as we would say today, an efficient allocation of resources and the stability of the monetary balance, with undeserved effects on equitable distribution, too. Hence, there is a need for an external intervention that could re-establish and preserve balance, and whose scope extends beyond national boundaries.”

Be mindful of efficiency, we would say nowadays, but also of humankind, and of the environment.

Ignazio Visco’s reading of Dante Alighieri is certainly very different from all others. And it is a good reading for those, too, who wish to enhance a careful corporate culture, nourished by calculations and logic but also by knowledge refined by history and human actions that go well beyond today’s balance sheets and digitalisation.

Note sull’economia di Dante e su vicende dei nostri tempi (Notes on Dantean economy and vicissitudes of our times)

Intervention of Ignazio Visco, Governor of the Bank of Italy

Dante2021 Festival, Ravenna, 11 September 2021

A collection of 26 stories about start-ups that can teach everyone a great deal

The beginning of an adventure is perhaps the best part of it. The idea of exploring something new, exchanging views with others, thinking about the next steps, planning them, getting the tools (whether physical or mental) ready, focusing on the goal, dreaming about it. This is also true for the world of production and economy, as, on close examination, every enterprise is an adventure (encompassing women, men and things) and as such must be carefully planned and managed. A departure and a journey, then, and knowledge. This is why one should keep informed, study, learn. And this is why Storie di startup dalla A alla Z. Case study, esempi pratici e insight raccontati direttamente dai protagonisti dell’ecosistema startup (Start-up stories from A to Z. Case studies, practical examples and insights directly narrated by protagonists in the start-up ecosystem), a recently published collection of 26 stories about start-ups gathered by Vincenzo E.M. Giardino, makes for useful reading.

The book has a simple purpose: to gather, through the voice of authoritative stakeholders within the start-up system – that of up-and-coming, fledgling companies with (or at least aspiring to) a great future – the narratives of those visions that lead to the creation of an innovative, unconventional, offbeat enterprise.

The stories in Giardino’s book are varied, and they are all accompanied by a drawing on the first page that summarises the company’s strength points, the dreams of the narrator. Stories that are indeed placed in alphabetical order (from A to Z), according to a key concept. Hence, there are chapters dedicated to, for example, ambition, business plans, the ecosystem, market orientation, the “mission statement”, open innovation, technological transfer, and much more. Chapters can be consulted randomly and are addressed to a wider number of people, to anyone who might have something to do with start-ups.

Vincenzo Giardino’s book, then, should be read with care (and perhaps re-read after having witnessed other start-ups embarking on their own adventure), though at times, even in some introductory sections, clarity of language gives perhaps too much way to jargon terms that can become irksome while reading.

Storie di startup dalla A alla Z. Case study, esempi pratici e insight raccontati direttamente dai protagonisti dell’ecosistema startup (Start-up stories from A to Z. Case studies, practical examples and insights directly narrated by protagonists in the start-up ecosystem)

Vincenzo E.M. Giardino

Egea, 2021