The Pirelli Foundation with the students in the IIS’s Future Class in Pescara

Since last September, a team of 28 young people, from various courses at the Istituto Volta in Pescara, has been at work at the institute, which is a centre of excellence among the schools in Abruzzo. Led by teachers and experts, they have been studying and creating prototypes and innovative content designed to meet some of the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. For this project, the students have access to an innovative “Future Lab” teaching space equipped with advanced technologies. The students also have the collaboration of companies specialised in the fields of industrial automation, biotechnology, and sustainability, as well as that of research centres and the world of academia. One of the companies involved is Pirelli. The Pescara institute was the first school in Italy to choose the Pirelli CYCL-e around e-bike rental system to move around safely, with a means of transport that is easy to use and sustainable. This micro-mobility project for schools has helped, and will continue to help, young people to think about sustainable mobility by finding out about the potential offered by e-bikes fitted with Pirelli tyres.

The Pirelli Foundation contributed to the project in two virtual interactive meetings with the students, telling them about its experience in promoting its heritage, and about the various digital projects that it has launched over the past few years, which can become models for the students to follow and from which they can draw inspiration for projects of their own. One of the many projects in the Future Class programme will be that of creating a virtual tour to promote the region. In particular, the students were taken on a virtual guided tour of the Pirelli Foundation to see the evolution of the company’s commitment in the field of sustainability, through books, podcasts, exhibitions and documents.

The importance of digitising business archives and museums. The case of the fashion industry

A good business culture that has put itself on show, whilst taking advantage of the tools for digitalisation that are now available. This is what has happened in the past few months, as the economic and social system has felt the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Alongside the dissemination of knowledge, recent events have provided an opportunity to better assess – in a process that is still ongoing – how much more needs to be done to make more efficient use of new technologies for the dissemination of business activities.

An analysis of what has taken place in the fashion sector has been carried out by Chiara Pompa (researcher at the Department of Science for the Quality of Life at the University of Bologna), in her work “La memoria ‘estesa’ della moda. Come valorizzare l’heritage aziendale con la tecnologia” (The ‘extended’ memory of fashion. How to enhance corporate heritage with technology), which appeared a few weeks ago in ZoneModa Journal.

Her study begins with the observation that in the last few months of lockdown and social distancing – essential measures for countering the spread of Covid-19 – the fashion world has opened the doors of its digital databases, sharing its cultural heritage with the online community. This is a sign of a great corporate culture that is accessible to all, but also of initiative, explains Chiara Pompa, which is “able to provoke reflection on the accessibility of fashion archives, as well as on the uses that can be made of these.”

Pompa analyses the events of recent months from various perspectives. Indeed, while the digital opening of the archives has served to provide useful information on the progress of digitisation, it has also highlighted the limited use of so-called Extended Reality in the corporate archives and museums of the “fashion system”, which has adopted this technology mainly in B2B and B2C retail.

As such, beginning with an analysis of the current state of affairs, Chiara Pompa attempts to trace potential paths for future research projects in this field, with a view to enhancing and facilitating access to fashion heritage through augmented and virtual reality technologies. This would also result in a greater appreciation of the usefulness of business archives and museums which, when properly understood, can serve not only as “historical collections” but also (and above all) as “living workplaces”, at the disposal of businesses and more.

La memoria ‘estesa’ della moda. Come valorizzare l’heritage aziendale con la tecnologia  (The ‘extended’ memory of fashion. How to enhance corporate heritage with technology)

Chiara Pompa (Università di Bologna)

ZoneModa Journal. Vol.10 No.2 (2020)

A small book by a great historian, this volume helps to improve the reader’s understanding of the current age in which we live and work

Good culture, and good business culture in particular, is nourished by an awareness of the present, but also of the past. This is an observation that should be taken on board, but which in reality is often pushed aside in favour of the easy appeal of the immediate. Reading this short book of just over a hundred pages by Adriano Prosperi – a distinguished historian and now Professor Emeritus of modern history at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa – entitled “Un tempo senza storia. La distruzione del passato” (A time without history. The destruction of the past) serves to strengthen this awareness, which renders culture (business culture included) an irreplaceable condition for action.

Prosperi’s intention was to write a book that is both a defence of history and a concerned examination of the society of oblivion in which we live. Drawing from his lengthy experience, the author comments on the condition of a society in which history, as a discipline, is belittled and marginalised, and where forgetting the past is a phenomenon linked to the disappearance of the future from the perspective of new generations, while the re-emergence of Nazi-esque mythologies is linked to a hatred of those who come “from outside”.

Past and present, along with the role of memory and history, but also the civil commitment of individuals and organisations, are the themes at the heart of Prosperi’s analysis, which describes the disturbing state of our society. A society in which individuals move and live, and where production organisations and markets take shape and spring into action, as well as where public opinion and political movements that seem to favour exclusion over welcome gain momentum. The pages of this book paint a picture of a society in which positive visions that are linked – for example – to corporate social responsibility, the protection of others and safeguarding the environment, appear to be in danger of being pushed aside on the long road of history.

Prosperi writes in a dense, passionate manner, and his work is not always an easy read. And yet reading “Un tempo senza storia” is worthwhile for us all,it can help us to look at both the past and the present in the way we should, and move into the future with a firm, decisive stride.

Un tempo senza storia. La distruzione del passato (A time without history. The destruction of the past)

Adriano Prosperi

Einaudi, 2021

In Italy, there are 13 million people aged from 25 to 64 years with a low level of education – barely beyond secondary school. 39% of the country’s population is in that age group, and indeed, 20% of all adults across Europe are in the same boat. And they are struggling with work, especially in this intense time of change, where the focus is shifting towards the digital economy. But also, and above all, they are in crisis with regard to their own status as citizens, because not knowing very often means not understanding, and thereby not being in a position to exercise one’s rights – to make decisions, choose and criticise. The serious shortcomings in education not only represent a grave economic and social issue (low labour productivity, difficulties in maintaining competitiveness and so on) but also, and above all, pose questions on the issue of democracy.

It is important to remember the lesson of Piero Calamandrei, one of the fathers of our Constitution, “If we wish to construct and then maintain and perfect democracy, we can assert that in the long run, school is more important than Parliament, the Judiciary and the Constitutional Court.” And furthermore, “Transforming subjects into citizens is a miracle that only schools can perform.” Development and democracy, and welfare and engagement go hand in hand.

The issue of the appalling state of eduction in Italy was quite rightly revisited a few days ago, with a large front-page headline in “Il Sole24Ore” (“Low education levels for 13 million adults”, 27 January). The piece featured an open letter to the government from experts from various educational establishments, with a very clear request, a substantial part of the Recovery Fund must be invested in knowledge and skills, or in other words, in schools and continuing education. And that means doing things properly, with serious, well-constructed projects – precisely what the EU, in allocating over 200 billion euros, is asking us to do. That is to look to the Next Generation, to young people, and provide them with qualified training.

In these tragic and painful times of Covid-19 and recession, the Conte government has shown very clear shortcomings in the education sector. It has gabbled about desks with wheels to facilitate social distancing, but has failed to come up with a serious coherent policy. It has tolerated the inconsistent choices on school closures by the various regions. It has spent more time on discussing whether or not to open ski lifts or – the latest theme – whether to go ahead with the Sanremo Festival. But it has not developed any form of strategy to help students and teachers to cope with the task in hand, teaching and learning, studying and understanding. Nor has it met the needs of a large number of children who require digital support. 11% of households have no internet connection (the situation is much worse in the southern regions) and in many homes, a single computer is used by both parents and children for work and study. Of the many social sectors that have been drastically affected by the pandemic, schools have found themselves in a particularly difficult position, with repercussions that young people – and to some degree, the whole country – will feel over the coming years.

“Distance learning” compensates for some of the failings, but only in part. The “chronic educational poverty” repeatedly denounced by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, has so far not been met with any clear response in terms of investment decisions and reforms.

Other data are also worth bearing in mind. If we look at linguistic, numerical and digital literacy needs, the proportion of the adult population in need of a skills update is estimated at between 50-60%. As a matter of fact, we are also facing a real return in illiteracy, a functional illiteracy, one which does not allow interaction with the digital world. And the OECD has documented that almost 70% of Italians are below “level 3” in terms of their understanding both of written text and mathematical concepts, with “level 3” representing the minimum threshold for being able to live and work in today’s world.

Furthermore, we have a low number of university graduates, 19.6% in the 25-64 age group, compared to a European average of 33.2% (with a very low incidence of degrees in STEM subjects – those relating to science, technology, engineering and mathematics). This is coupled with a very high school drop-out rate, with record numbers in the southern regions.

The repercussions in terms of job opportunities are obvious, companies cannot find the qualified workers they are looking for, and young people cannot find a job. A vicious circle that is a determining factor in Italy’s very low growth rate and profound social dissatisfaction, with a negative outlook for the country as a whole.

The figures for on-the-job training are also alarming with only 24% of Italians participating in training activities, compared with 52% of the OECD average (and there are serious doubts regarding the quality of this training, and the degree to which this meets the real needs of businesses).

We don’t study, we don’t train, we don’t grow. In the age of the “knowledge economy”, this is a very serious handicap and it serves to exacerbate the social divide, and deprives young people of any hope for a better future.

As Alberto Orioli comments in “Il Sole24Ore”, “In this desert of skills and knowledge, the country is declining and growing ever poorer. Not only in terms of talent, but also in knowledge and critical sense. We are becoming a nation of simple, rough souls, the ideal prey for social neo-conformism. And this perhaps suits some people.”

The various bodies that provide training have quite rightly called upon the government to “focus strongly on investing part of the resources provided by the Recovery Fund in continuous training, not only to address the skills gap and to support employment, but also to drive the modernisation of the public administration system and the digitalisation of the economy and the school education system”, with a view to achieving “the European target of 50% of adults participating in training activities at least once every 12 months by 2025.”

Indeed, the crisis – as the letter addressed by the training bodies to the government insists – is teaching us that reacting to the emergency and building sustainable solutions for the future requires skills and resources that are entirely human, and first and foremost, skills – basic, cross-cutting, social, scientific and entrepreneurial – that are essential to enable us to deal with uncertainty and create opportunities from new technologies, the growth of international trade and the extensive heritage of cultural and natural assets that Italy can lay claim to.”

It was back in 1890 that Pirelli began making its “Milano type”, the first tyre for velocipedes – a means of transport that was rapidly evolving at the time, ultimately turning into the modern bicycle. Over time, bicycles became increasingly popular, starting a huge new trend in transport. The twentieth century ushered in the dream of speed, with the launch of some of the greatest car races, such as the Targa Florio and the Le Mans Grand Prix. This was the age of the great motoring expeditions, which pitted teams of drivers against each other on routes they had never tried out before: racing from China to France and then to Spain. And even across the oceans, from New York all the way back to Europe. In the wake of these great races, the automotive industry began mass-producing cars, which circulated more and more throughout the century. Mass motorisation during the economic boom of the 1960s gave Italians a chance to discover a new-found freedom. Cars, but also motorcycles and scooters, enabled them to reach their workplaces, and also to travel around and discover a country that was rising up again. In the late 1940s, Pirelli became the first Italian company to produce tyres for motor scooters, including the legendary Vespas and Lambrettas. The 1973 oil crisis brought the years of the economic boom to an abrupt end. This led to a pressing need to find alternative energy sources and the research and development departments of car manufacturers started looking into the use of electricity. Their studies eventually led to the production of the first electric or hybrid cars. A vision of sustainable mobility came about in the late twentieth century and early 2000s. The search was on for new forms of transport, especially in urban settings, that would respect the environment and reduce emissions. In other words, electric cars, but also a rediscovery of the bicycle. Pedal-assisted bikes are increasingly being used to get around town, often through bike-sharing schemes that redefine the concept of mobility.

A world on the move, from the velocipede to future mobility. Always on Pirelli tyres.

“We’ve prompted meetings between scientists and journalists, between technicians and poets. Without fear of committing heresy, we’ve sent reporters into studios, classrooms, and laboratories to surprise big name, who are as illustrious as they are reluctant, with magnesium […] “. And again: “One of our ambitions was precisely this: to provoke and stimulate an analytical form of prose rather than the same old commemorative pieces – a report rather than an ode, a comment rather than a sermon […]. I’m looking forward to the day when the Realm of the Useful is rekindled by culture, by metaphors, and intelligence. […] Pirelli magazine has tried to encourage its contributors to come up with pondered impressions, but we still have a long way to go to improve on our precision and breeziness.”

These quotations from the historic Pirelli magazine capture and convey an idea of Leonardo Sinisgalli’s commitment and work during his four years as editor-in-chief of the magazine, as well as his idea of culture and his poetic vision. With a profound understanding of mathematical sciences, he truly epitomised Pirelli’s multi-disciplinary culture, with its never-ending search for creating harmony between technology and the arts, keeping the right balance between them, and fostering dialogue and an exchange of ideas between the scientific and literary intelligentsia. Art and industry thus came together to form a new humanism, which found one of its loftiest expressions in the pages of Pirelli magazine. Leonardo Sinisgalli had first come into contact with the Milanese company back in 1937, when he worked at the Società del Linoleum, part of the Pirelli Group. Here he met Giuseppe Luraghi, and when they met again after the Second World War, they founded and later directed Pirelli magazine and, some time after, Civiltà delle macchine, a bimonthly published by Finmeccanica.

What is the secret behind a good advertising idea? What calculations does nature make when creating the perfect shapes we see all around us? What is the sensation we feel when we admire the grooves in tread patterns created not by nature but by ingenious research in Pirelli’s laboratories? What wonders lie behind the work of humans and machines? And then, how was the wheel invented? Where did Leonardo da Vinci’s extraordinary genius and talent come from? These are just some of the topics covered by the engineer-poet in the 18 articles he wrote for Pirelli magazine from 1948 to 1952.

During these years. Sinisgalli called on many leading figures in the worlds of journalism, literature, and art to contribute to the publishing project, requiring the best artists of the day for the advertisements, posters, and advertising campaigns. Pirelli also entrusted him with the curatorship and coordination of “the Company’s advertising events”, both for the Gomma Group and for the Azienda Impermeabili. This meant that also the advertising campaigns of the time reflected his tastes and artistic vision, as we see in the case of the advertisement for the Stelvio Pirelli tyre, under the title “Nature’s countless calculations” in 1952 and the first Pirelli promotional film “News from the Turin Motor Show” in 1951, a short film in colour directed by the brothers Nino and Toni Pagot, which won numerous awards.

Sinisgalli’s vision and legacy in Pirelli did not come to an end, partly thanks to his successor, Arrigo Castellani, who revived the tradition of bringing artists to the factory in the 1960s and continued to involve journalists and intellectuals in the adventure of Pirelli magazine, using the art of literature to talk about work, science and technology.

A recently-published online paper helps to clarify the relationship between sustainable business and ethical business

Doing business for more than just profit alone: this is now a well-established approach within a large proportion of production organisations. And yet it is a concept that needs to be confirmed in practice, and which always finds new reasons for being. As such, “Sostenibilità e Impresa: una Sfida per il Futuro nell’Ottica di una Maggiore Competitività” (Sustainability and business: a challenge for the future with a view to increasing competitiveness) – a paper by Vincenza Vota (from the Department of Economics at the Università degli Studi dell’Insubria), recently published in Economia Aziendale Online – Business and Management Sciences International Quarterly Review,is a useful read.

Vota presents an argument that links and explores in more depth the connection between sustainable business conduct and corporate social responsibility. The starting point of the paper is the statement that “sustainability is not only a tool for reducing the distortions created by modern capitalist systems; in today’s society, it also represents an opportunity for the creation of value, and a factor in increased competitiveness”. In other words, companies are not “sustainable” because they are “good”, but rather because they use this approach to gain a better position in the market, and thus achieve greater efficiency.

According to Vincenza Vota, however, the concept of sustainability has become inextricably entwined with that of business ethics. This had led to ethically and socially responsible behaviour becoming welded to sustainable corporate actions.

The aim of this paper, then, is to “investigate, defining the key traits of a new business model according to which there can be no creation of value without taking the environmental and social context of reference into consideration, beyond the mere economic profile.” Vota thus provides an outline of “a model in which non-financial communication tools assume a particular importance”, able to “monitor and communicate the sustainability objectives pursued by companies”. After highlighting that the social and environmental reports produced by companies are two of the best ways to explain sustainability and business ethics in a comprehensible and complete manner, Vota concludes by emphasising how consumers and the social context in which a company operates have played a decisive role in the evolution of the goals of a business.

Vincenza Vota’s paper thus condenses a complex subject that is still evolving into just a few pages.

Sostenibilità e Impresa: una Sfida per il Futuro nell’Ottica di una Maggiore Competitività (Sustainability and business: a challenge for the future with a view to increasing competitiveness)

Vincenza Vota

Economia Aziendale Online – Business and Management Sciences International Quarterly Review Vol. 11-4/2020

The ability to face the future is in part dependent on the methods that enable organisations to cope with risks.

Preparing for the future without being able to predict it. If we think about it, a large proportion of business activities can be summed up in this manner. Production planning, market analysis, hypotheses on changing patterns of behaviours and actions by competitors and many other elements besides – all designed to enable companies to deal with whatever the future holds for them. And while we cannot really predict the future in any real way, we can still prepare for what might reasonably happen. But also for elements of surprise. In other words, risk must be included in any prudent business planning. Reading “La nuova scienza del rischio. L’arte dell’immaginazione della difesa e della protezione” (The new science of risk: the art of the imagination of defence and protection) by Federica Spampinato could thus prove a useful exercise for many.

The reader is led through an exploration of a topic that has perhaps been given little airtime in business management techniques to date; a topic that entails more than just the “old-style” calculation of probabilities. The new science of risk, as explained by Spampinato, offers a different, more concrete take on risk, which makes it possible to imagine and prevent the dangers that lie around the corner. The fundamental assumption is that while “zero risk” cannot exist, “zero consequence” can.

After clarifying the concepts of “future” and “risk”, the author presents the reader with a number of new theories on how the risks to which organisations may be exposed can be addressed. Specifically, Spampinato begins by looking at Cindynics, the science of risk, a French discipline that appeared at the end of the 1980s, before moving on to KELONY®: a post-probabilistic mathematical model that places human beings back at the heart of the decision-making process, so that we can act in the best possible manner even in the worst possible conditions, using our imagination as well as new methods of ensuring that activities and production areas are safe.

For Spampinato, the overall goal is to build a society that is more aware, with the ability to consider the protection of human beings beyond profit, both within the civil environment and within companies and organisations.

Whilst readers may not agree with everything Spampinato says, “La nuova scienza del rischio” is nonetheless a worthwhile read.

La nuova scienza del rischio. L’arte dell’immaginazione della difesa e della protezione (The new science of risk: the art of the imagination of defence and protection)

Federica Spampinato

Guerini e Associati, 2020

On 28 January 1872, the twenty-three-year-old Giovanni Battista Pirelli founded “GB Pirelli & C.”, a company for the manufacture and sale of articles in elastic rubber. This was an entirely new industry in Italy, in a sector that was also in its infancy in other countries. But what was behind this innovative entrepreneurial decision, which led to the creation of a company that is now about to celebrate its 150th anniversary? In 1867, Giovanni Battista Pirelli, who was born in Varenna, enrolled at the Istituto Tecnico Superiore di Milano (later, the Politecnico University), initially on the civil engineering course, but after his first year he switched to industrial engineering.

In 1870, he was one of the first to graduate from the course, together with other brilliant young people such as Alberto Riva, Cesare Saldini, Angelo Salmoiraaghi, to name but a few, who also went on to lead successful entrepreneurial ventures. As the best student on his course, Pirelli obtained a 3,000-lire scholarship financed by a noblewoman, Teresa Berra Kramer, to travel abroad and examine a new industry that could be started up in Italy, drawing on the examples of production that were already under way in the most industrialised areas of Europe. Guided by his teacher, the engineer Giuseppe Colombo, Giovanni Battista decided to study the rubber industry, which would be of strategic importance for the development of Italy. This had been clearly shown a few years earlier by the story of the Affondatore. This was an Italian warship that had sunk in 1866 between Ancona and Falconara and that could not be salvaged until a French industrialist had provided the rubber tubes required to raise it to the surface. In November 1870 Pirelli thus left Italy and went to Switzerland, where he spent longer than planned (a total of 4 months) due to the Franco-Prussian war, which prevented him from entering Germany. In Switzerland he mainly visited textile factories, with which he was favourably impressed. When he saw Pirelli’s enthusiasm, Colombo urged him not to “lose sight of the objective of rubber: this will be an entirely new industry, while that of silk has already been exploited so much here that little margin remains.”

Pirelli continued on his way in March, arriving in Germany – where he had to stay for another 4 months while waiting for the Paris Commune events to blow over and where he mainly visited metalworking companies, but also his first rubber factory in Mannheim. After three weeks in Belgium, he finally arrived in France, and went to Paris, where he stayed for ten days. In nine months, out of a total of 138 companies he visited, only six were in the rubber sector. Financial and time constraints meant that he never made it to the United Kingdom, where the rubber industry had developed considerably. He also found great difficulty in gaining access to rubber factories, due to the reluctance of entrepreneurs to open the doors of their companies to him. The few cases in which Pirelli got his way were thanks to the influence that the Politecnico University had on local entrepreneurs. One of these was Antoine Aimé Goulard, who introduced Pirelli to François Casassa, a Parisian manufacturer, who showed him round his factory in Charenton-le-Pont, in the Île-de-France region.

On his return to Italy, again with the assistance of professors Colombo and Francesco Brioschi, Giovanni Battista managed to raise the capital he needed to set up his company. The few relationships he had entered into with foreign manufacturers during his trip also helped him start up his business, and Goulard himself was appointed as the technical director of Pirelli & C. in February 1872. As we read in the agreement signed by the two of them, Goulard was to give Pirelli “all the details, and with the greatest precision, of the technical processes used for manufacturing items in elastic rubber” and he was to provide “all such clarifications as may be requested by Pirelli himself”. Goulard was also required to “supervise and train the workers and ensure the proper progress of the work”. While the first factory was being built along the Sevesetto, outside of Porta Nuova in Milan, Pirelli procured the machines he needed to start production. These included purifiers, masticators, mixers, and rolling presses, which he purchased himself in the United Kingdom and, where possible, from Milanese companies such as Edoardo Suffert. The factory started operating in June 1873, with 40 workers and 5 office staff, on an indoor area of 1,000 square metres. The first articles to be produced were pipes, belts, valves, and gaskets.

This was the start of an adventure that has never stopped since.

Telling the story of businesses in order to tell the story of Italy. Giving voice to the men and women who are at the heart of the stories of factories, industrial workshops and construction sites, the networks in which production and services are intertwined – spaces in which new ways of doing things are invented every day. And in so doing, giving the dignity of representation to people in an active country, dedicated to bringing about change and to improving the status quo – the polar opposite of the stereotype of “l’Italia alle vongole”, that is, a slovenly, conformist, family-oriented and patronage-focused nation. Stereotypes, as we know, are often based on a degree of truth, but commonly end up being a profound misrepresentation of the prevalent ways of living and being of a people, a community, a nation. In all likelihood, the Italy of business looks rather more like the “real” Italy than the lazy, dishonest mask that is often presented. The drive to embark on new projects is more than simply an unwillingness to make do with what we have.

In actual fact, Italy is a land of creativity, of companies that, despite everything, continue to invest, grow, innovate and conquer leading positions in international markets, and it is precisely these companies that marry competitiveness with social inclusion, historical memory and cutting-edge technologies. They build well-being, they create jobs. They are one of the key drivers of change. As such, these companies deserve to be considered as a linchpin for the EU Recovery Fund programmes on the green and digital economies, and they demand a better narrative than the one that has unfortunately long been widespread in major swathes of public opinion, political circles included. In short, they are in need of better representation.

These observations are behind the idea of a “Business Literature Award”, supported by ItalyPost, in order to highlight literary works that provide an original account of the world of industry and services, the link between work and territory, the ability to “fare, fare bene e fare del bene” (which translates as “do, do well and do good”), the drive to relaunch the country through economic processes and the evolution of technologies. To enable the dissemination of the positive values of business culture, a vital cornerstone in the sustainable development of Italy within the wider context of Europe.

The response from authors and publishers right from the first edition of this award has been overwhelmingly positive. Around sixty books were received by the jury, along with numerous requests for information and clarification, and it received substantial media attention. Of the twenty titles selected by a technical committee, the jury (composed of key figures from economic and cultural circles) selected a further five, which now face the most difficult test: the books will be read, judged and voted upon by a popular jury (two hundred people), and the winner will be declared at the Festival Città Impresa in Bergamo in May.

In the meantime, a number of things can already be said with regard to the works selected: the twenty books that made it through the first round are all of high quality, and describe and document the problems, tensions and features of a changing economic world – which is almost undergoing a metamorphosis – with accuracy. These books include essays, biographies and investigations, works that draw together elements of real life with some of the narrative structures typical of fiction. And in choosing these works, the jury did not get bogged down in questions regarding literary genre and style (in reality, genres have been mixing with one another for some time now) but instead focused on incisiveness, readability and above all, the capacity to portray and communicate the complexity of today’s economic and business landscape.

These characteristics are particularly evident in the titles that made it to the final five: “Fabbrica Futuro” (Future Factory) by Marco Bentivogli and Diodato Pirone, Egea; “Fronte di scavo” (The front of excavation) by Sara Loffredi, Einaudi; “La classe avversa” (The opposing class) by Alberto Albertini, Hacca Edizioni, “Instant Moda” (Instant fashion) by Andrea Batilla, Edizioni Gribaudo and “Questioni di Stilo” (Questions of style) by Cesare Verona, Giunti.

The first of these is a study of the transformation of Italy’s biggest automotive group, above all during the era of Sergio Marchionne’s profoundly innovative leadership, with its focus on global markets, product quality, labour productivity and relations with international investors. The second book reconstructs the extraordinary story of the excavation of the Mont Blanc tunnel in the early 1960s, a masterpiece of engineering and construction in the very best Italian tradition, and a shining example in terms of the time taken to complete it and the efficiency of the results (indeed, it is an example that still holds today). The third looks at the company structure from the inside, through the hardships and changes that affect roles and skills, triggering fear and conflict, and providing the fuel for dreams. The fourth book provides an original analysis and description of the world that exists between fashion and the textile industry, with particular attention paid to the creativity and dynamism of the small and medium-sized companies that are typical of the North East of Italy. Finally, the fifth work retraces the history of a great Italian brand, with a number of extremely interesting witness accounts of the evolution of a family business that defies time and links an ancient product – a fountain pen – with the latest production technologies and the most sophisticated marketing strategies.

Each is an exemplary story of doing business, and of the relationships that are established through this, between research and production, between the world of work and the local territory, between creativity and the strict implementation of plans and programmes, and between imagined projects and the way in which these are transformed into reality. When put together, these narratives represent an extraordinary and highly effective account of an Italy in motion; a nation which – above all in these times of widespread crisis – merits attention, and deserves to be listened to.