‘Europe will be forged by crises and will be the sum of the solutions adopted for those crises’, said Jean Monnet, one of the fathers of European unity and High Commissioner for the Coal and Steel Community. It was from this institution that all the others, from the Common Market to the European Union, the European Parliament and the ECB and the euro, would later emerge, crisis after crisis. At a time when the EU is in danger of being crushed by the aggressive actions and confrontations of the world’s ‘great powers’ (primarily the US and China, but also Russia), it is worth remembering the figure of Monnet and the pragmatic yet visionary approach of the other heads of state and government who established Europe (Adenauer, De Gasperi, Schuman and Spaak, to name a few, followed by Mitterrand, Kohl, Delors and many more). This is precisely why we must not lose sight of the importance of a common policy on security and defence, energy, innovation, industry, scientific and technological research, and artificial intelligence. We have discussed this in recent blog posts, even speculating about the potential involvement of Mario Draghi.

But perhaps the response to the crisis and the opportunity to be seized are not only institutional, political, industrial and financial, although these are nonetheless essential. A cultural and social shift is also necessary, as with all true voyages of discovery.
Above all, we need a fresh pair of eyes. To rethink Europe, to find answers to the fractures and risks, to ‘mend’ the tears and improve the balance. We need the vision of women. And that of the younger generations.
Let’s try an unconventional approach that is different, but not an alternative, to the institutional one. We need to rebuild and relaunch strong values and ideas for a better future. Let’s start with a seemingly minor figure in the great history of Europe: Ursula Hirschmann.

She came from a wealthy German-Jewish family of great intellectual depth (her brother, Albert, would soon become one of Europe’s leading economists). Ursula found herself joining her husband, Eugenio Colorni, and two other anti-fascist friends, Altiero Spinelli, Ernesto Rossi and Rossi’s wife, Ada, in exile on the island of Ventotene. In those terrible final years of the 1930s, they were passionate about the idea of a new Europe.
Their discussions resulted in the ‘Ventotene Manifesto’, which had a significant impact, stimulating political awareness and the desire for change in the following years, right up to the present day. Ursula, the only one not sentenced to exile and therefore free to travel, distributed the first clandestine copies of the ‘Manifesto’ and stimulated debate.
Following the murder of Colorni by a Nazi-Fascist gang during the Resistance, Ursula became the partner and later the wife of Altiero Spinelli (their daughter, Eva, married Amartya Sen, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics). They shared ideas, political passions, generous visions of the future and a strong sense of cultural and civic responsibility. Ursula herself was the driving force behind the group ‘Femmes pour l’Europe’ for years, which was particularly active on issues of rights and political commitment to institutional renewal.

Remembering Ursula Hirschmann and reconsidering the Ventotene Manifesto (which is very topical, as President Sergio Mattarella also noted, despite the schematics linked to the historical context in which it was drafted) raises a fundamental question today: how can we involve women, especially the younger generations, as much as possible in the debate on the renewal and revitalisation of European institutions, making use of their intelligence, creativity and ability to manage complexity?
And this is a key point: making history and remembering the ‘mothers of Europe’ can provide strong foundations for the role of women in current European institutions.

We should talk about the political ideas of Anna Kuliscioff and her humanitarian socialism, as well as those of Simone Weil, Hannah Arendt and Sophie Scholl, who openly challenged Nazism through the group ‘The White Rose’. Remember Maria De Unterrichter Jervolino, the most active of the 21 women elected to the Italian Constituent Assembly in 1946, who championed women’s causes, education, and European unity. And recall that there have been many great women at the top of EU institutions and the most committed national governments throughout European history. Consider Louise Weiss, who opened the first sitting of the European Parliament in 1979 by speaking about peace, and Simone Weil, the president of that Parliament. Remember Sofia Corradi, the inventor of Erasmus, who taught millions of young people how to be and feel ‘European’ by attending shared educational programmes. Finally, we come to current events involving Ursula von der Leyen, Roberta Metsola, and Christine Lagarde at the ECB, and the figure of Emma Bonino remains highly relevant. Women in national governments, such as Angela Merkel in Germany for a long time and Giorgia Meloni in Italy today, have played a significant role in upholding Europe’s democratic values and principles, as well as its Atlantic alliances.

However, the discourse on Europe’s recovery is broader than the presence of women at the top of the EU. Above all, there must be a commitment to discussing how to actively utilise the soft power of women within the process of relaunching new ideas, languages, cultures of rights and responsibilities, horizons and reforms of participation and governance.
It is precisely this soft power that has special characteristics compared to the theories of Joseph Nye that have been applied to international relations for a good deal of time with a good degree of success. If culture, dialogue, confrontation and respect for diversity are strong values typical of democracies, they must be made available in international political confrontations.
Women’s soft power is sensitive to the ability to ‘take charge’ and the value of ‘care’. A soft power stemming from a civil and circular economy. A ‘generative economy’ and sustainable soft power. Soft power stemming from community values. This is quite the opposite of the aggressive, militarised, Darwinian and narcissistic politics that unfortunately dominate the contemporary world stage. We have written several times in this blog about the failures of narcissism, which is a myth of vanity, loneliness, impotence and death.
And then there were Martha Nussbaum‘s ideas on capabilities, namely the need to leverage education, health and a dignified quality of life. And the implications of a demographic that draws inspiration from the conditions of sustainable development and not from the primacy of the financial and technological power of finance and Big Tech. A more feminine Europe would be more attentive to people, not only in terms of gender differences and values, but also in terms of caring for the quality of life, the future, the  environment, cities and the family in its various historically assumed forms. These are cross-cutting topics on which literature, economic approaches and basic culture have women as key interlocutors. This is also because women use words such as kindness, love, attention, affection, understanding, dialogue, solidarity and recognition of the other more frequently and with greater relevance than the traditional male relationship lexicon. They have the tools to try to reform politics as the science and government of the city-state.

In short, I would like to give examples from everyday life and demonstrate the civil and personal qualities of Italian women. They have now broken through the ‘glass ceiling’ (although there is still much to be done), and they are more responsible, attentive and active in their professional lives than ever before. They preside over courts and universities, hold governmental, administrative and political responsibilities, lead companies (including large ones), direct and edit prestigious national newspapers and periodicals, manage important publishing houses, organise theatres and hold delicate public offices. They have also presided over RAI and other television and film institutions. They are scientists and researchers of international standing and have considerable influence in professional, intellectual and public spheres, competently and rigorously contributing to all major topics of public discourse. They read widely and write well, with original language and a deep focus on balanced judgement. Their gaze is competent, profound and ‘light’ (they are the best heirs of Italo Calvino) and is partly estranged from the traditional stylistic trappings of male power. They are sensitive to the relationships between economic issues and their social and personal repercussions. It is this gaze that serves to restore depth and humanity to Europe, and to guide the new generation of 20- and 30-year-olds between university and entry into the world of work.

There is a legacy to take in hand: Aldo Moro‘s final speech in parliament on 28 February 1978, a few days before he was kidnapped and killed by the Red Brigades. In it, he said: ‘ This country will not be saved; the season of rights and freedoms will prove ephemeral unless a new sense of duty is born’.
It is one of the finest examples of public discourse not only of the ‘leaden’ 1970s, but of the entire history of the Republic. Today, it must be reread with fresh eyes, especially by young people, who must study and delve into our history lucidly and critically. They should also bear in mind the lessons of two great women from that time: Tina Anselmi, a Christian Democrat and follower of Moro who was the first female minister in the history of the Republic, and Nilde Jotti, a Communist and the first long-serving president of the Chamber of Deputies.
Like all elders, I watch, remember and think about my grandchildren. I think about my granddaughters, Iolanda, Olivia and Sveva, (and yes, you too, little Emilio, before you say, ‘What about me?’). Not only do I think about them with tenderness, but I also feel a strong sense of responsibility towards them. What kind of democratic and civilised Europe are we creating for them, even with our ancient yet skilful hands?

There is an obstacle to overcome in order for this female contribution to have political agility and the necessary conditions to be realised: the gender gap. The choices to be made concern policies for birth, work, services and participation — good civil government.
The best newspapers have been writing about this issue for some time, but political, government and public investment decisions do not pay sufficient attention to it.
One recent survey in particular focuses on the status of women and was published in Il Quotidiano Nazionale (La Nazione, Il Resto del Carlino, Il Giorno) on 19 December, based on data from the University of Padua. The title is exemplary: Italy ‘is no country for mothers’. It documents how, in 2024, the number of births reached an all-time low of just under 370,000 and how, in 2025, this figure fell further still, with the average age at childbirth rising to 32.6 years. It also notes that ‘45.4% of women between the ages of 18 and 49 are childless’. And while motherhood is a right, not an obligation, and the absence of children should not be a social stigma, this data is heavily influenced by general working conditions, wages, services, and housing costs.

Other figures on gender inequality in the workplace show that 68.9% of women without children are employed, compared to 65.6% of mothers with one child and 60.1% of mothers with two or more children.
This is therefore a demographic issue with strong political implications. It also has discriminatory effects, contrary to the dictates of the Constitution. This issue must be addressed quickly.

The road leads back to Europe and the necessary empowerment of women. Next Generation EU, the largest European fund for growth, training and quality of life, has only partially met the expectations for which it was conceived, desired and financed by Parliament, with the EU Commission raising the necessary funds on the markets. Looking to the future, we need a stronger, more determined female voice. A more human one.

(Photo Getty Images)

Pirelli and its winter products have inspired successful and memorable communication campaigns, thanks to an effective blend of technical content and value-driven messages. Together, they have shaped an innovative and engaging narrative: the allure of a season defined by comfort, safety, and pleasure

“Why do these artists forget the snow and the mountains? The skis? The icicles hanging from the roofs?” At first glance, Bob Noorda‘s stylised drawing for the advertising campaign for the Inverno tyre raised some doubts. We know this from a handwritten note on the back of the sketch entitled “per l’inverno il pneumatico inverno” (the idea being: “For winter: the Winter tyre”) preserved in our Historical Archive and catalogued as “tempera and collage on card with acetate sheet, with lettering”. The work dates from 1954 and is among the first commissions Pirelli entrusted to the young Dutch-born graphic designer. It was created to promote Pirelli’s first winter tyre, the Inverno, launched in 1951 and distinguished by its herringbone tread pattern. The author of the note, whose identity remains unknown, would clearly have wanted more realistic elements, like those that appeared in the advertisements designed by Ezio Bonini in the same years. Noorda had only recently arrived in Milan and was part of a community of graphic artists and designers who approached advertising as a design discipline. Their aim was clear, instant communication, achieved through the recognisability of the graphic element.

In this sketch too, Noorda eliminates everything superfluous. Yet his essential style is by no means pure abstraction. The impeccably clean lines of the decidedly wintry tree echo the herringbone tread, conveying with striking clarity the tyre’s defining technological feature.

Pirelli would go on to commission a remarkable number of works from Noorda and appoint him as art director in 1961. The relationship between the Milanese company and the Dutch designer quickly evolved increasingly reflecting Pirelli’s values, including in communication: an embrace of innovation.

In the autumn of 1959, the launch of the Pirelli BS3 was an international event. A press conference at the Turin Motor Show — a veritable shrine of the auto industry at the time — was attended by the President of the Republic, Giovanni Gronchi. Coverage by leading newspapers around the world soon followed. The Pirelli BS3 was a tyre built around a carcass onto which three different tread rings could be mounted separately. It was perceived as a revolutionary invention, as we see in articles published in Rivista Pirelli no. 5 of 1959, and in the house organ Fatti e Notizie no. 10 of 1959. The project was launched by the engineer Carlo Barassi, then head of the Technological Office of Pirelli’s Tyre Technical Department at Milano Bicocca. During the particularly snowy winter of 1955–6, Barassi had revived an earlier invention by engineer Lugli that had never found practical application: a tyre in which carcass and tread were independent and interchangeable, vulcanised separately and held together solely by the pressure of inflation. In other words, “a tyre with a coat”.

From the outset, Ermanno Scopinich was involved in the communication campaign. It was he who created the evocative photographic and video shoot for the presentation, with the ice stadium in Cortina as its backdrop. The tyre’s technological advantages and its practical benefits for motorists are woven together in the ten-minute clip with feelings of comfort, driving pleasure and safety. The behind-the-scenes story of the product — its manufacturing processes and the expertise of skilled technicians — alternates with shots of skaters chasing an Alfa Romeo Giulietta, which remains steady on the ice thanks to the almost magical tread design of the BS3. Once again, it is Pirelli’s vision of winter that comes to the fore, balancing technological innovation with the promise of a new horizon: a season to be enjoyed to the full.

The third “winter tale” that we tell in this article centres on the hot-water bottle, Pirelli’s very first and long-standing product, created to offer comfort and protection from the cold. Listed in the catalogue as early as 1880, it inspired sketches and advertising campaigns in the 1950s, created by renowned artists such as Lora Lamm, Raymond Savignac and the Pagot brothers, many of whose works are now preserved in our Historical Archive. Yet Pirelli’s narrative has always been told in different ways and across multiple channels. By speaking different languages, it has reached different audiences, on different levels of meaning.

If we decide to turn our attention to the hot water bottle, not from the point of view of advertising but from that of journalism, we can take a look at the article by Marise Ferro published in Rivista Pirelli no. 5, 1949 “Quando l’anima è intirizzita” (“When the soul is numb”). This short autobiographical piece builds a world of meanings around the hot-water bottle, transforming it from just another useful object into an object of desire. It opens with a remark she remembers (“I have a friend who, when she is in pain, lies down and says: ‘You suffer less lying down!’ Then she adds: ‘If only I had a hot-water bottle!’”). And it continues with reflections (“The soul is often numb, as we all know; not for nothing do we live without knowing why… a hot-water bottle soothes our moral suffering as it does our physical pain.”) and memories (“My wartime winters were made even more cruel by the impossibility of achieving that minimum warmth needed to have, at the very least, a warm hand while I wrote…”). Through a chain of associations, the text arrives at a shared present that unites author and reader: “Now the war is over, Europe is in pieces, we are all completely broken and terribly poor, yet livelier than ever, and with rubber hot-water bottles of every size, every colour, every quality. How beautiful they are! In the shop windows they catch the eye even of the most distracted passer-by. The green one? The red one? The black one, as glossy as anthracite? The only difficulty is choosing…”. The image of shop windows with colourful Pirelli hot-water bottles tells the story of a season in search of light-heartedness and a measure of comfort after the years of war. This finds a contrasting yet harmonious counterpart in the autumnal landscape that closes this “ode to the hot-water bottle”, leaving us with a sense of absence, and the desire to have one of our own. “The mists are already drifting magnificently into Milan… bringing the fairy-tale of the countryside, the scent of still water, the incomparable autumnal signature of Lombardy.”

A legal analysis of the Olivetti experiment is published

The aim of ‘L’impegno di Olivetti per il Mezzogiorno: il diritto e la “Comunità’, la pianificazione e la fabbrica di Pozzuoli’ (Olivetti’s commitment to Southern Italy: the law and the “Community”, planning and the Pozzuoli factory), a study by Andrea Zauri (University of Salerno) recently published in Iura & Legal Systems,  is to examine Adriano Olivetti’s corporate culture and experience in Southern Italy from historical, economic and legal perspectives.  This provides an interesting point of view and is useful for gaining a better understanding of an entrepreneur who is held up as a model by many, yet continues to be rediscovered.

Zauri’s investigation begins,  capturing in a few lines the connection to be explored: the relationship between the legal and social dimensions of a significant experience, such as that experienced at Olivetti’s factory.  ‘What is this community factory?’ It is ‘a workplace where justice reigns,  progress dominates, beauty shines, and love, charity, and tolerance are not just empty words’.

Zauri recalls that, for Olivetti, the concept of ‘community’ formed the core of society and was the foundation for all social experiments.  The community and the factory were inseparable, based on the experiences of Ivrea and Pozzuoli.  It was not simply a utopia, but a practical result of Olivetti’s actions:  an ideal workplace and a reality. Zauri asks himself,  ‘What further purpose could be attributed to industrial work?  Was it possible to aspire to better conditions, not only economic ones, as a result of time spent in the factory?  Could a factory be included among the factors that improve individuals’ lives, as well as their social, industrial and territorial contexts?”

The article therefore analyses the relationship between law and economics through the example of the factory opened in Pozzuoli by Adriano Olivetti, and follows the implementation of the fundamental right set out in our Constitution.

Although Andrea Zauri’s research is not always easy to read, it is important because it offers a fresh perspective on a well-explored subject, providing a unique interpretation of Olivetti’s production culture.

L’impegno di Olivetti per il Mezzogiorno: il diritto e la “Comunità”, la pianificazione e la fabbrica di Pozzuoli

Andrea Zauri

Iura & Legal Systems – 2025/4, B (5): 62-72

A book that provides a good summary of the new borders and new relationships of exchange and power

Businesses are not monads, but components of a dense and complex network of relationships that is constantly changing.  They have always been this way,  and even more so today.  They are production organisations that are permeable to external and internal stimuli, in which women and men must continually make decisions to improve their destiny. Having the correct information on which to base your business decisions is important and often decisive.  For this reason, reading ‘Linee invisibili. Geografie del potere tra confini e mercati’ (Invisible lines: geographies of power between borders and markets), written with care and wisdom by Luca Picotti, is therefore a valuable undertaking.

The book, which is just over 140 pages long and has four chapters, is based on the following observation:  if the economics of trade still apply in a world organised into states, borders, and relative jurisdictions, then a new perspective, that of legal geography, can provide insight into the mechanisms of trade relations during a period characterised by various fractures. From value chains and duties to trade triangulations, financial sanctions, multinationals and digital infrastructure,  everything moves across a complex chessboard criss-crossed by invisible lines. Therefore, we need to understand where these lines are, when they are activated and how they break down and shape reality.

The path towards a greater understanding of reality and its changes begins with a summary of ‘what has happened in recent years’, specifically ‘globalisation under siege’. Readers are invited to consider the ‘complexity of the world’, and thus the discrepancies between theory and international practice. Picotti then considers two major themes.  The first is conflicts that have taken the form of economic wars. The second is those arising from new technologies.

Luca Picotti’s book aims to provide readers with the information they need to understand reality,  and it certainly achieves this goal.

Linee invisibili. Geografie del potere tra confini e mercati

Luca Picotti

Egea, 2025

The Romans, if they were eloquent people (eu loquere, with the eu meaning well and therefore distinguishing the eloquentes from the simple loquentes, chatterboxes who often speak nonsense), loved to express themselves like Cicero, Tacitus or Seneca, with propriety of language and precision. To name what we now call a ‘city’, they used two different words.  They used urbs to refer to the physical structures: the streets and squares, the palaces and baths, the temples and theatres, the markets and houses. They referred to people gathered in communities as civitas, a community of cives, or citizens, who were linked by common values and interests (often not without conflict), as well as by language, habits, myths, customs  and rules.

This is a subtle, elegant distinction between ‘urban’ and ‘citizenship’.  But it also indicates all the points in common through the differences.  The urbs is inhabited by the cives, and the two interact for better or worse. Centuries of urban civilisation and ‘civil’ questions tell us that beautiful cities can improve the human, professional and cultural qualities of their inhabitants. To quote just one example from the many pages of great literature on the subject, here is Elio Vittorini‘s poetic summary from Le Città del Mondo (The Cities of the World):  ‘It is the most beautiful city we have ever seen.  More beautiful than Piazza Armerina.  More than Caltagirone.  More than Ragusa, Nicosia and Enna… Perhaps it is the most beautiful city in the world.  People are happy in beautiful cities, and the more beautiful the city, the more beautiful its people, as if the air were better there.’

Like that of Sciascia and Pirandello, Vittorini’s Sicily is a metaphor for other conditions, places and tensions. However, Vittorini, who left Sicily and then lived happily in Milan after a period in Florence, grasped an essential point in the relationship between the beauty of the urbs and quality of life, and between urban functions and the complex of rules (not only legal ones, but also civil and community ones) that inspire, organise and guide communal life.

This highlights some of the characteristics that we call ‘attractiveness’ today  and emphasises the tensions, conflicts and harshness of transformations. It also offers hope and shows the constraints,  as described by Pier Paolo Pasolini in his depiction of the discomfort of the suburbs,  Luciano Bianciardi‘s ‘bitter life’,  and Italo Calvino‘s recollection of a city’s failed responses to many expectations.  Not to mention the criminal gloom of the ‘metropolis of a thousand lights’, as depicted in the noir novels of Alessandro Robecchi, Gianni Biondillo, Francesco Recami and Piero Colaprico, good successors to Giorgio Scerbanenco, who wrote that ‘the Milanese kill on Saturdays’.  These are just a few metaphors of an urban condition whose underlying characteristic is a controversial and harsh relationship with complexity, imbalances and a painful perception of human existence. aggravated by particular urban conditions.

The ‘rising city’, so beloved of certain rhetoric (of which Boccioni‘s genius was completely innocent), is also the city that, at certain junctures, reeks of hell.

It is worth bearing in mind this conceptual and poetic backdrop, particularly as the debate on cities is gaining traction in the media and political circles. The focus is on the most striking phenomena, such as security, the cost of living, widening social disparities and the difficult integration of immigrants.  These are all serious and real issues that profoundly affect the sensibilities, fears and judgements of cives and voters, yet the underlying reasons between innovation and conservation that have always characterised the ‘city phenomenon’ are avoided.

Cities, particularly metropolitan areas, the ‘large cities’, are living, complex organisms that are subject to market pressures, as well as the challenges of urban planning and political leadership. They are the epitome of modernity: impetuous and innovative, and therefore in many ways anarchic and intolerant of plans and rules. Yet they are also sensitive archives of history, with ageing social classes who prefer the elegant, memory-filled form of the traditional urbs. 

Milan, Greater Milan, the metropolitan city, the ‘infinite city’, is an excellent example of this. It is more attractive than other Italian cities because it is the only truly European city. It attracts people, intelligence, productive ideas, the cultural avant-garde, capital, businesses and innovations. The rest of Italy is, after all, a large province which often views Milan with suspicion and hostility, even if it is fascinated by it. Its population is growing, thanks in part to over 230,000 university students (making it the largest university city in Italy) and it is a favourite destination for the nouveau riche, who can enjoy favourable tax rates (200,000 euros a year and more) as well as an excellent quality of life with luxury shopping and exclusive clubs. Multinationals are flocking here (34% of all foreign companies in Italy are based in Milan) and real estate investors are pouring in, with billions of euros worth of investment.

But is this enough? Of course not. The fabric of a city isn’t made up of the highest-ranking figures, billionaires and the most creative ‘talent’ and ‘excellences’ (even the rhetoric of ‘talent’ and ‘excellences’ has done its damage, as has the obsession with locations and ‘exclusive’ events). However, it is sustained by a sizeable middle class comprising working individuals and families, growing couples, professors, artists, journalists, managers, labourers, tram drivers, shopkeepers and office workers.  The middle classes.  People.

All these social groups need homes and services.  The urbs‘ structures and the civitas‘ civic values of integration are needed  as cement,  as well as good reformist politics.

In the 1950s, Italy experienced a significant social exodus, with millions of people moving from the impoverished south and the impoverished north-east towards cities undergoing major industrial development, beginning with the Milan-Turin-Genoa ‘triangle’.  People also moved from impoverished, laborious rural areas to the cities in other parts of the country.  This was an extraordinary and impetuous transformation for cities, communities and social contexts, and attempts were made to manage the phenomenon with ambitious projects. One example was the ‘Piano Casa’ (Housing Plan), launched in 1949 by Amintore Fanfani, who was then Minister of Labour. This plan aimed to build 350,000 new housing units by 1963, and was accompanied by the strengthening of the INA Casa (National Housing Institute) and a vigorous cooperative movement. The underlying idea was to build new social and middle-class housing estates.  However, these projects were far from flawless and had their limitations and errors (there was also massive speculation in the building industry by ‘hands on the city’, which was often criminal and involved the mafia). Then there was the profoundly reformist land law, designed to promote orderly development free from speculators, which was signed by Christian Democrat minister Fiorentino Sullo in 1963. This law was at the root of the first major crisis of the centre-left government led by Aldo Moro, which had just been formed in October 1963. But cities continued to grow, and Italians became a nation of homeowners, seeking security.

However, this was not without its shadows and mistakes: Baggio and Quarto Oggiaro in Milan, Falchera in Turin, Corviale in Rome, CEP and Zen in Palermo, Librino in Catania and Le Vele in Scampia are names that have come to symbolise poor, sloppy and mediocre social urban planning. Roberto Guiducci has written lucid and insightful pages on this subject in several books and in the introductory pages of the Pirelli magazine.

Today, this issue is back in the news,  and it is a European issue.  All large cities are suffering greatly when it comes to affordable housing, especially for the younger generations, for young couples in London or Madrid, Paris, Frankfurt, Barcelona, Amsterdam or Milan who want to build a future where knowledge, innovation and relationships are concentrated, and where quality of life is high. ‘The European plan for 650,000 homes a year is starting’, writes Il Sole 24 Ore on 16 December, describing an EU Commission programme that aims to mobilise €153 billion every twelve months.

If Europe’s future in terms of security, technology, real sustainability and innovation is to be based on the ‘knowledge economy’, it is precisely the younger generations that we must look to,  starting with providing them with affordable housing and services, integration  and the development of job and career opportunities.

The same reasoning applies to Italy  and Milan. Following a decision by Mayor Beppe Sala‘s council, the city is discussing a new housing plan to build 10,000 new homes per year for ten years, using public and private resources. The plan also encourages companies to consider housing as a welfare option for their employees. Assolombarda has made this a priority, and ATM is already well ahead in this regard in order to retain bus, tram and underground drivers in the city. In addition, 28,000 Aler homes (managed by the municipality and the region) need to be restored and renovated to make them available to low-income citizens.

It is worth repeating:  Milan is not a ‘model’, but it is undergoing profound social change.  While it is a market city, it cannot be left solely to the market.  It needs effective urban and housing policies, and it must revive its traditions of productivity and social inclusion, both economic and social. Everything is connected: young people’s employment prospects, wages, opportunities for women to advance in their careers and decent pensions (Il Giorno, 21 December). The key issues are balanced development, social equity, and rebuilding confidence in a better future.

Ultimately, it is a question of democracy. Once again, we see the relationship between urbs and civitas.  It is about housing policy, with quality construction and affordable purchase prices.  It is an idea of Milan where citizens work, but also go to the theatre, listen to music, play sports, visit bookshops and consume and learn.  Thanks to social policies, they can also think about having children, safe in the knowledge that they can rely on schools, hospitals and nurseries.

Vittorini was absolutely right when he wrote about the connection between beautiful cities and beautiful people.  His son, full of enthusiasm, asks his father, who is lost in thought as he looks at a woman preparing the oven, ‘Was my mother beautiful?’  She certainly made good bread.

(Photo Getty Images)

The path to becoming a Benefit Corporation is analysed in terms of the obstacles and opportunities faced

Changing your production culture is a significant process affecting many companies. It is not an easy path and must be undertaken with awareness. This is what is happening increasingly more often to companies that become Benefit Corporations. The research conducted by Laura Rocca, Monica Veneziani, Andrea Caccialanza and Claudio Teodori, titled ‘Benefit Corporations: The Moral Legitimacy That Requires More Rules’, tries to address and explain this.

This recently published study examines and explains why Italian for-profit companies convert to Benefit Corporation status, and how they deal with the consequent hybridisation that leads to a new business approach.

The survey is based on data from 118 companies and uses a pragmatic and moral legitimacy lens to measure the value of companies from several points of view, not just the practical productive aspect. The results show that the main trigger is pragmatic legitimacy:  managers seek to build trust with internal and external stakeholders who can influence business activity.  It is this need for ‘collective legitimacy’ that drives companies to change their identity and their practices. This is because, as the research explains, companies identify as members of a business community that promotes the ‘common good’.

While this is the ultimate goal, the survey’s authors identify the main obstacles that must be overcome. Firstly, amending the company’s articles of association represents the greatest cost. The research therefore addresses other concerns and uncertainties that arise within companies embarking on the journey towards becoming a Benefit Corporation, and highlights the need for stricter control parameters and penalties to reach the end goal.

Laura Rocca’s research certainly addresses a complex and delicate issue, contributing to a better understanding of it.

Benefit Corporations: The Moral Legitimacy That Requires More Rules

Laura Rocca, Monica Veneziani, Andrea Caccialanza, Claudio Teodori

Business Strategy and the Environment, 2025; 0:1–17

A ‘toolbox’ has been published to help us better understand the everyday (not just business-related) choices made

This means choices made by humans and artificial intelligence, and the comparisons and contrasts between them.  These contrasts are increasingly common and touch on multiple aspects of human and business action, and must be properly understood. Jacopo Paoletti, a manager and entrepreneur specialising in the digital economy and computer engineering at the crossroads of marketing, communication and technology, wrote the recently published book ‘AI Economy. Economia, impresa e umano nell’era dell’Intelligenza Artificiale’ (AI Economy: Business and Humans in the Age of Artificial Intelligence) in an attempt to understand the subject.

The questions the author answers are of this nature:  what does the economy become when decisions are made by humans assisted by agents operating on data? And how does consumption change when products are offered based on statistical desire?  In short, one must always question who really chooses and who really decides.
One possible answer begins with an observation:  artificial intelligence is becoming what electricity was for industrial capitalism:  an invisible infrastructure that reorganises everything it touches.  It is not just a powerful technology, but a new condition of reality that affects the foundations of the economy, business, consumption and humanity.
The book therefore seeks to be a kind of toolbox, a guide to help readers better understand AI and its consequences,  based on some firm principles: breadth of view, balance of treatment and absence of fear of tomorrow. Readers are guided through an interdisciplinary reflection on how AI is not only transforming the role of humans, but also macro- and microeconomic processes and the internal functions of various industries. Power, value, work, freedom, justice, the perception of time, desire, possibility and the categories that have informed our civilisation for centuries are reconsidered in light of new algorithmic logics. Numerous original contributions from entrepreneurs, managers, experts, professors and university researchers are also included in the book.

One of the introductory passages, written with economics in mind, is particularly notable:  ‘True intelligence is not in domination, but in the fine tuning.  And if we can tune into the rhythm of this new economy, perhaps we can not only understand it, but also steer it’.

AI Economy. Economia, impresa e umano nell’era dell’Intelligenza Artificiale

Jacopo Paoletti

Franco Angeli, 2025

‘Watchman, what is left of the night?’ The question posed in the Book of Isaiah (21:11-12) resurfaces whenever we need to find answers to fear and uncertainty, and to the dramatic turning points of life that accompany extremely difficult human and social conditions. It is a desperate appeal against anguish, loneliness and the unknown.

Yes, ‘what is left of the night?’  The watchman’s answer is ambiguous:  ‘Morning has come, but also the night.  If you would inquire, then inquire. Come back yet again’.

In short, our journey to the end of the night will eventually come to an end, but how? It is by no means certain that dawn will bring better times, but there is hope, and there is defeat. One thing remains certain:  we must ‘ask’, that is, get busy, choose, understand the meaning of what has been done and try to change the course of time. The words of Shakespeare, spoken by Ophelia in Hamlet, come to mind: ‘I leave you rosemary for remembrance, violets for thoughts…’

How much night remains for Europe, caught between the abandonment theorised in the White House National Security Document of the Trump administration and Putin’s aggression, heavy strategic competition with Beijing’s economy, and internal tensions between nationalistic selfishness, bureaucratic stupidity, and a lack of political culture regarding the future?

The rosemary for remembrance speaks of a time when Europe was proud of its economic power. Sheltered by the security guaranteed at low cost by NATO, and therefore above all by the US, Europe was able to strengthen its democratic systems and expand investment in well-being, quality of life, and welfare systems. Europe, on the whole, was a happy part of the world: a cultured and civilised space in the West where democracy, free enterprise, sophisticated culture and social solidarity flourished. There was also manufacturing Europe: the success of technè and know-how; the wonder of technology; the beauty of Bauhaus-inspired design; and a soft power presumed to be envied around the world. Good culture often stimulates arrogance, and there was also the sophisticated critical thinking of the Frankfurt School. What more could you ask for?  Almost no one thought about the night watchman anymore.

Then everything changed, and not for the better. The violets now speak of profound anguish because ‘positive’ and ‘integrated’ globalisation has collapsed and been replaced by unruly and overbearing free trade (trade agreements that are well-written and observed, the pursuit of mutual benefit, sustainability agreements and ‘gentlemen’s agreements’ that are attentive to the common interest and values in order to build economic value). Today, Joseph Nye‘s concept of soft power (cultural diplomacy, building positive relationships, multilateral appeal, empathy based on shared interests and values, and the authoritative role of international organisations) is studied, remembered, praised and mourned, especially a few months after his death in May this year. However, it is also sidelined in the libraries of the new powerful lovers of hard power, especially high-tech hard power.

Here we are again at the darkest point of the night. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago shattered the positive relations between the EU and Moscow, putting an end to the convenience of low-cost energy, a favourable condition, especially for German industry, which is a major consumer of Russian natural gas. Tensions in the Middle East, such as Hamas’ deadly aggression and Israel’s harsh military response resulting in tens of thousands of civilian casualties in Gaza, including thousands of children, have exacerbated the climate of hostility. After eighty years of peace, Europe has found itself at the centre of a series of conflicts. Moreover, we have done everything we could to avoid fully understanding the deadly lessons that came to us from the wars and massacres in the Balkans in the nineties.

The situation is becoming increasingly bleak for us Europeans.  The West seems to no longer exist, with the USA on one side and Europe on the other.  ‘Is the West still a community of destiny?’ asks Andrea Malaguti with concern (La Stampa, 14 December). More precisely, the White House seems ready to talk about Europe, but only in terms of individual states with which to cherry-pick agreements and deals. The EU is never taken into account in the strategic document we mentioned at the beginning.

This anti-United Europe stance has old, authoritative roots: ‘ What is Europe’s telephone number?’ Henry Kissinger, the US Secretary of State in the 1970s, used to joke.

‘The EU is going the wrong way’ is one of Trump’s most recent and harshest criticisms of Europe’s stance on Ukraine. Authoritative commentators recall that Trump considers ‘Europe an enemy’ (Nathalie Tocci in La Stampa on 12 December) and ‘some European parties true enemies of civilisation’ (Yascha Mounk, also in La Stampa). Giuliano da Empoli writes in the same publication,  ‘We are at the end of the West, and Europe is just whistling.  Thus, the imperial logic is reborn.’  Germano Dottori, an analyst at Limes, claims,  ‘Donald wants to weaken Europe. He could reach an agreement with Moscow and move towards a new Yalta’ (Quotidiano Nazionale/Il Resto del Carlino, 12 December).

Tensions, dialogue, changes of pace, certainly, uncertainties, which Putin is leveraging to strengthen his position in complex diplomacy.

Giovanni Orsina, a historian at Luiss University, is confident overall:  ‘The US and the EU have a deep bond;  breaking up is not possible’ (National Daily/Il Resto del Carlino, 12 December).  And the Italian government is certainly convinced too, as evidenced by a statement from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni that ‘unity between the EU and Washington is crucial for a just peace in Ukraine’ (Corriere della Sera, 9 December).

So, how is Europe responding? What is the EU doing? Is it really aware of the very serious crisis we are going through, which requires strong, strategic and politically challenging choices?

From this point of view, too, careful reading of the newspapers helps us to understand.  We are living in dramatic times; democracy is at stake.  Europe must wake up and react,’ claims Michael Ignatieff, Professor of History at Harvard (La Repubblica, 9 December). And Giampiero Massolo, former Secretary General of the Farnesina, is convinced that ‘the EU is not on the margins, there are countries capable of cooperating’ (Quotidiano Nazionale/Il Resto del Carlino, 9 December). And Mounk adds, ‘The EU must restart from the Draghi plan’, i.e. from the ambitious project of building the single market, and from a trillion-euro annual investment over ten years to strengthen Europe’s strategic autonomy, security (including energy), innovation and industry. Bernard Guetta clarifies, ‘Europe is a strong and advanced economic power.  That’s why it’s Trump’s target.  But it must bridge an enormous gap and attract democracies that no longer wish to submit to the USA and China’ (La Stampa, 14 December).

The EU is not, in other words, on the margins, even if it is in considerable difficulty: it is weak and internally divided, and still reeling from the controversial positions of its main historical ally, the USA.

Ferruccio de Bortoli is right when he writes, ‘We Europeans are educated but weak’ (Corriere della Sera, 9 December),  and he is right to recall our strengths:  the rule of law, the achievements of the market economy and civil values.  He insists that those who govern in Brussels and the capitals of major European countries must not abdicate their responsibilities, and must defend democracy, autonomy and strategic security, starting with freedom and security in Ukraine. However, Massolo argues that ‘in the security sector, Europe’s defence depends more on collaboration between willing governments (including British and Asian partners) than on EU institutions’. And the US cannot be done without for the foreseeable future’ (Corriere della Sera, 14 December).

In recent debates, figures such as Mario Monti and Romano Prodi have reiterated the urgency of Europe making its own security choices in dialogue with the US, while being fully aware of its own strengths, including ethical, cultural and economic ones. Renowned economist Marcello Messori hopes for ‘more EU cooperation to counter Trump’s anti-integration plan’ (Il Sole 24 Ore, 12 December). A number of prominent European figures, including Jacques Attali, Pascal Lamy, Enrico Letta, Paolo Gentiloni, Josep Borrell and Javier Cercas, have signed a manifesto reiterating the urgent need for action on ‘European independence’.

It’s a tough challenge, but it’s important to be clear (as the saying goes, a pessimist is an optimist with experience). Yet historical experience teaches us that it is precisely in difficult times that unexpected leaders emerge from the ruling class, capable of taking responsibility and defending their rights.

It is often said that cinema is a factory of illusions, but it can also offer glimpses of truth and possibility. The future will reflect on it.  ‘Darkest Hour’ is an excellent 2017 film directed by Joe Wright and starring Gary Oldman in a masterful performance.  And it tells the story of how, during the tragic hours following the defeat at Dunkirk, Winston Churchill was faced with a dramatic decision:  whether to yield to pressure from large sections of his party and negotiate a peace with Hitler, or to resist. He is confronted with a frightened, confused and distrustful Parliament, and in the end they are dragged along the line of continuing the war against the Nazis.  Parliament approves with deep conviction, and his main opponent, Lord Halifax, is forced to admit, ‘Churchill mobilised the English language and sent it into battle’.

It was not a victory of clever rhetoric, but of democratic, political and civil values. This is a true ‘warning to Europe’, to use Thomas Mann‘s words,

and we are in times of this magnitude.  The night of Isaiah’s vigilant watchman certainly cannot lead to European defeat.

(photo Getty Images)

Pirelli and winter are two worlds that come together under the banner of innovation. Through documents preserved in our Historical Archive, we explore the product inventions, communication campaigns, partnerships and projects that – in cities and in the mountains, on the roads, on the slopes and even at home – have helped transform the cold months into a new season to enjoy, safely and with pleasure.

The hot-water bottle was Pirelli’s very first product for the winter. It appeared in the catalogue as early as 1880 as one of the brand’s first “diversified” (i.e. non-industrial) items, offering comfort and protection from the cold. It proved to be remarkably enduring and increasingly common in homes, and in the 1950s it featured in sketches and advertising campaigns by famous names such as Lora Lamm, Raymond Savignac and the Pagot brothers, as well as in articles praising its invaluable benefits. In Pirelli magazine no. 5 of 1949, the writer and journalist Marise Ferro penned a piece entitled “Quando l’anima è intirizzita” (When the Soul is Numb), a veritable “ode to the hot-water bottle – the rubber one, soft, elastic, long-lasting, and generous” because “a hot-water bottle soothes moral suffering just as it does physical pain”.

The first Pirelli soles came out in 1890: “elastic rubber specialities for footwear”, along with galoshes designed to protect ladies’ shoes from the rain. These soles enjoyed considerable commercial success and earned a notable place in our story devoted to Pirelli and winter. After the Second World War, and particularly in the 1950s, they were among the rubber items that improved the skiing experience. Together with jackets, mitts, ski pole baskets, straps and buckles for bindings, ankle guards, mats and full camping sets, boots with rubber soles were praised in Pirelli magazine no. 1 of 1949, in an article entitled “Gli accessori che fanno felici” (Accessories that Bring Happiness), which explained how “rubber has made its entrance on the snowfields to make skiing more enjoyable”. It continues: “A skier’s accessories need to have various different qualities: they need to be practical, long-lasting, and compact, making them ideal for use. There are lots of accessories that can improve a skier’s life. And they are all made of Pirelli rubber.”

The tradition of rubber boots held sway through much of the second half of the twentieth century, with generations of soles for the mountains made in varied designs. In the 1960s it culminated in the highly specialised Superga G3 boots, which were used in major expeditions in Afghanistan in 1965 and in the Caucasus in 1966. These adventures were documented in the house organ Fatti e Notizie, no. 12 of 1965 and no. 5 of 1966.

In 1950, two innovations made car journeys to ski resorts easier and more relaxed – a habit that became increasingly common during the decade in Italy and beyond. These were the “Pirelli patented luggage rack” and the “Pirelli patented ski rack”, designed by a Pirelli engineer, Carlo Barassi, and an architect, Roberto Menghi. Pirelli later ceded them to Kartell, which brought them to market.

“You will travel without unpleasant surprises” promised the advertisement on the inside back cover of Pirelli magazine no. 1 of 1948. It introduced rubber crosspieces, a Pirelli product designed to make car journeys to the mountains safer by ensuring that the “chains do not slip.”

Pirelli’s first winter tyre with a herringbone tread was the Inverno, which came out in 1951, based on the 1930s Artiglio tyre. In the years that followed, leading figures in advertising and design – Bob Noorda, Ezio Bonini and Franco Grignani – were called in to promote it. “Senza catene per l’inverno” (“Winter without Chains”) is the tagline in Noorda’s advertisement published in Pirelli magazine no. 6 of 1952, summing up the benefit offered by the Inverno. Bonini took up the theme in his 1952/3 campaign “Per l’inverno il pneumatico Inverno” “For winter, the winter tyre”, declaring: “Safe on slippery, wet roads, on smooth, compacted snow, without the loss of power caused by chains.” In 1955, Grignani added: “Have a good winter journey with Pirelli Inverno”, explaining that it came “… without the bother of chains.”

In 1957, the moment came for a new Inverno. It appeared on the cover and in a double-page spread in Fatti e Notizie no. 1 of 1958. The article opened: “Today the idea of winter as a season spent stuck indoors, where life stagnates, belongs to the past. As an active season, full of life and work, winter is a season of our age: a fifth season.” This idea of a “fifth season” accompanied the launch of the new winter tyre and reflected Pirelli’s broader view of winter: a season of opportunity, movement and innovation, calling for products that could improve everyday life and sporting activity, easing difficulties and offering comfort, safety and top performance.

The story continues with the Pirelli BS3, the “Battistrada Separato 3” (Separate Tread 3) – made of a casing and a tread not vulcanised together, making it easy to replace. Such an advanced design, which remained in production for some years, effectively pioneered the concept of seasonal tyre changes, making it possible to transition seamlessly between summer and winter performance. Fatti e Notizie 1959, no. 10 contained an extensive feature on this ingenious Pirelli creation. In the 1961 Monte Carlo Rally, 28 competing cars were fitted with the BS3, with 23 successfully reaching the finish line. The BS3 paved the way for Pirelli’s first true winter tyre, the Cinturato MS35 Rally. In television commercials of the time, it appeared alongside Sandro Munari at the wheel of his Lancia Fulvia, in which he won several races, including the 1972 Monte Carlo Rally. In its road version, it gave rise to what would become today’s extensive, highly specialised Pirelli Winter range. Launched in 1979, these tyres were designed for snow and ice but equally reliable on dry roads. A few years later, the range expanded with low-profile and extra-low-profile tyres, thus broadening its applications, as described in the article titled “Una sicurezza che si chiama Winter” (Safety Called Winter) in Fatti e Notizie no. 9 of 1985. In the 1990s, winter tyres took a decisive step forward: larger sizes, better performance on dry and wet roads, and greater noise reduction. In 2004, the new Winter Sottozero ensured top performance even in normal road conditions, from October to April. It was the first dual-season winter tyre, as we read in Fatti e Notizie no. 365 of 2004.

Pirelli Winter continues to this day, with eight tyres for cars, seven for SUVs and one for vans. The latest, launched this year, is the Cinturato WINTER 3, whose promise remains faithful to Pirelli’s original vision for winter products: “Enjoy the pleasures of winter…!”

What is quality of life? Widespread prosperity, skilled and well-paid work, comfortable housing, effective services for health, schooling, culture and sport. And then a condition that stimulates enterprise and innovation, a civilised and safe environment, the possibility to plan a better future for oneself and one’s children. In short, a life that is pleasant, free and worth living. Come to think of it, much of what Italy generally offers, despite its shadows and disparities. Even if we do like to attribute to this country of ours the definition that Benedetto Croce gave to Naples, in the wake of European travellers on the Grand Tour: ‘A paradise inhabited by devils’.

However, quality of life cannot be assessed only in the microcosm of the local community, in the ‘overland’ Italy, or in the dimension of the ‘particular’ at a time of dramatic crises in geopolitical relations, fractures in international trade, and resounding productive and social upheavals caused by digital technologies. It is linked to major themes such as freedom, social inclusion, and strengthening democracy, which is being undermined by authoritarian forces.  Thus, it is also linked to the revival of Europe, an area that, during the second half of the 20th century, developed, experimented with and grew the model of an original synthesis between liberal democracy, the market economy and welfare; between freedom, innovation and solidarity.

Quality of life indeed. So it is worth thinking not only about ‘what we are not, what we do not want’, but also about political and social projects worth considering and realising, in the name of a better human and civilised condition.

Let us look at Italy, then, putting aside stereotypes, prejudices and clichés.  Recent surveys provide us with data and analyses to help, including the annual quality of life ranking from Il Sole 24 Ore (1 December), the Censis report on the social state of the country (5 December), and ISTAT data on the economy, employment and wages.

Let us take a closer look, starting with the ‘well-being maps’ of Il Sole 24 Ore (the first edition of the census dates back to 1990).  Trento, Bolzano and Udine lead the way, with the business newspaper proclaiming the ‘triumph of the Alpine arc’.  Then come Bologna, Bergamo, Treviso and Verona. Milan is eighth, having recovered four positions since last year, although it drops to second-to-last place for ‘safety’. It is followed by Padua, Parma, and so on for all 107 Italian provinces.

One noteworthy fact is that Siena, ranked 21st overall, has the highest quality of life for women.  This is a situation that political, economic and social forces would do well to carefully reflect on, given that the gender gap is closing too slowly and is one of the most negative aspects of the situation in Italy.

Reggio Calabria is at the bottom of the list again this year, preceded by Syracuse, Crotone and Naples.  As always, the south is performing poorly:  to find the best-placed southern city in the ranking, one has to go to 39th place with Cagliari, while Bari is 67th and Palermo 97th.  Rome, the capital, is in 46th place, having gained 13 places over last year.

The 90 indicators used take into account wealth and consumption, business and work, demographics, society and health, the environment and services, justice and security, and culture and leisure. In-depth analysis is provided by gender, age and social conditions. This year’s analyses show a country that is still divided, but is slowly improving, despite the ongoing issues of stark inequalities, ageing populations, demographic stagnation, young people leaving the country, low wages and hardship.  And in the most dynamic and attractive metropolitan areas, social problems are growing, starting with housing.

In the opinion of many Europeans, Italy is a country where people live well, thanks to a comprehensive welfare system (especially with regard to social security) and a national health system that works better than elsewhere, partly due to the public-private partnership.

And yet, widespread discontent is growing. ‘The winter of our discontent’, to quote the opening lines of Shakespeare’s Richard III, is gaining more and more supporters. Social unrest is becoming increasingly acute, especially among the middle classes, who feel they have lost purchasing power and are experiencing a deterioration in living conditions. ‘Wages in a nosedive:  -8.8% compared to 2021,’ writes La Stampa on 6 December, citing Istat data. Wages will grow slightly this year, thanks in part to labour contracts being renewed, but not enough to close the gap that separates us from the rest of productive Europe.

These issues are reflected in the findings of the 59th annual Censis Report, which portrays a disheartened Italy that is struggling to make ends meet, is disillusioned with current politics and is increasingly abstaining from elections (at the last regional elections, for example, less than half of the electorate voted). Most worryingly of all, 30% of respondents expressed their support for autocrats such as Putin, Orbán, Erdoğan, Xi Jinping and Trump. In short, democracy is in a bad way. The perceived poor quality of life and loss of hope are undermining its foundations.

The preferred international leader is Pope Leo XIV, with 66.7% support.

In their free time, Italians have a lot of sex (62.5% declare having very frequent relationships, even ‘virtual’ ones).  They spend a lot of money on smartphones, but not on books.  They complain about low incomes, and they age badly.

What’s going on?  ‘Politics no longer knows how to listen; it only looks at the polls, and it neglects the middle class. And yet, it is precisely these people who have resisted fears and decline and worked to save Italy’, comments Giuseppe De Rita, president of Censis, who has always been a keen critic and observer of the changes in our social situation (La Stampa, 7 December). Politicians and trade unions would do well to listen to him.  It is the salaried middle class, especially the industrial middle class, that acts as the connective tissue of our industries, providing ideas and manpower to companies striving to grow and emerge from the crisis.

Chiara Saraceno, a sophisticated sociologist, offers an insightful summary, emphasising ‘the mistrust in Europe and welfare, with 78.5% having no confidence in essential health services in a country that lives from day to day. Deindustrialisation is taking its toll, and a growing segment of society is becoming impoverished.’

What would it take to change things? Rebuilding trust in  employment, especially  among young people,  in politics,  in good administration,  in enterprise and business,  and in opportunities to build a better future,  also to better cope with demographic decline and the ‘brain drain abroad’,  and to attract capital and investment, and promote creative intelligence.

Therefore, the Treccani Institute is right to choose ‘trust’ as its word of the year, based on the number of clicks from young people on its website.

Trust is a personal horizon, and above all it is political and professional.

Trust that Italy will succeed. Above all, it is a matter of trust in Europe, precisely at a time when the EU is experiencing deep difficulties and crisis.

Here is another point to consider:  Europe’s future and responsibilities, starting with the US National Security Strategy document that has been causing a stir in international, and especially European, public opinion for a few days now. It affirms ‘the economic decline of Europe and the real and even darker prospect of the erasure of civilisation’, which is being undermined ‘by unstable minority governments trampling on the principles of democracy to suppress opposition’, while the EU ‘undermines political freedom and sovereignty’.  Sovereignty that must be returned to nation states, with the end of the EU.

It is the formalised (but far from unexpected) fracture of the West as we knew it in 20th-century liberal democracies, and the realisation of Europe’s isolation with regard to its own security. It is also the crisis of the union between freedom and welfare that we discussed at the beginning, when we were under the protective military umbrella of the US and NATO.

Now, in order to defend and revive those European values, the EU ‘dances alone’ and must learn to survive. In the face of what Corriere della Sera (8 December) calls the ‘Putin-Trump Axis on Europe’, the Kremlin having declared its full agreement with the US document’s positions, La Stampa (8 December) speaks of ‘Atlantic Divorce’, while Quotidiano Nazionale (Il Resto del Carlino, La Nazione and Il Giorno) headlines ‘Europe under siege’.  Moscow declares, ‘We are with Trump’, and La Repubblica also headlines ‘Europe under siege’.

What should be done?  The comments in major Italian newspapers between Saturday and Monday were already indicative of both the unease and the need for a clear reaction. Antonio Polito, writing in Corriere della Sera, quotes Mark Twain as saying that ‘the news about the death of Europe seems grossly exaggerated’, even though the crisis must be tackled with foresight and responsibility. This requires opposition to the pro-Putin and pro-MAGA populist movement within Europe. This is a difficult political and cultural battle, but Europe is not without resources to fight it.

Andrea Malaguti, writing in La Stampa, calls for ‘a return to the solidarity of the countries that created the European Union’, without ambiguity, in order to carry more weight within NATO and relaunch Europe as an economic power and a major international player. He suggests starting with the implementation of the Draghi Plan. Agnese Pini, writing in Quotidiano Nazionale, notes that ‘we must make transparency and the rule of law our identity because the strength of Europe is not a mythical past or ethnic homogeneity, but the promise of equal rights for all, including minorities’. In short, to build an ‘alternative narrative of European civilisation’ and to ‘stop seeing ourselves as an appendage of someone else’s world’.

Europe must be reformed, strengthened, freed from bureaucracy and relaunched, without breaking ties with the US or considering running NATO alone (we cannot afford it and don’t have the technological or militarily capability). However, we must insist on our autonomy, and the relationship between the EU and Britain is essential in this respect. In Il Sole24Ore, Sergio Fabbrini discusses ‘European defence in the post-American era’, exploring ways to maintain security and democracy while engaging in dialogue with other international players interested in achieving global balance, as an alternative to the current rough confrontation between the US, China and Russia.

In short, it is a question of values and freedom. This is certainly a new course for the EU. We should remember Jean Monnet‘s lesson that Europe has always found a way to relaunch itself in the face of difficulties.

Thus, it is worth listening to Jürgen Habermas, one of the most influential German political philosophers and one of the fathers of 20th-century democratic thought.  Europe is alone, caught between Chinese expansion and Trump’s hollowed-out democracy. Therefore, ‘further political integration, at least at the heart of the European Union, has never been so vital to our survival as it is today, yet has never seemed so unlikely’ (from a lecture delivered on 19 November at the Siemens Foundation in Munich). Habermas is right, as is another great European thinker, Michel Foucault, who said, ‘Freedom is not something you possess; it is something you practise’.   What we need now is a liberal and democratic vision and a reconstruction of trust.

(photo Getty images)