Analysis of the challenges facing the Italian cultural system confirms the strong significance of public-private collaboration

Promoting culture in different ways than before, by exploiting ways of organising cultural production which can be both efficient and accessible to all. We can take private companies as an example. Covid-19 also sets this challenge, which can be expressed on several levels. Claudio Bocci (former director of Federculture and now Managing Director of the Ravello Lab Committee) uses this set of ideas as the basis for his speech ‘Culture and local development: a new beginning’.

Bocci begins by noting that the pandemic has had a profound impact on the accessibility and management of cultural venues. He explains that it will take time to get back to the very high number of visitors to the great state museums which attract local citizens today. So, what can be done? For the author, it’s important ‘to make the capacity for communicating digitally more stable, it was set up in an impromptu manner during lockdown and will now become a strategic tool for interacting with the public’. The effective digitalisation of Italian cultural venues is certainly not an easy path, but it must be pursued with care and attention.

The digitalisation of Italian cultural venues involves a new technological mentality as well as a new attitude, which is itself a cultural novelty. Bocci then says that it will be necessary ‘to address the issue of managing cultural venues from an integrated perspective of public governance’. Actually, it’s more than that. Cultural venues will increasingly have to become ‘platforms for experiential well-being’ and therefore they deserve public financial support.

In order to help us understand his thinking better, in his speech published in Il capitale culturale: Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage, Bocci begins by addressing the issue of the ‘sustainability of cultural venues’, he then goes on to remind us of the recommendation of the Council of Europe’s Faro Convention, which emphasises both the protection of cultural heritage and the right of citizens to access and participate in cultural experiences. Bocci then asks for attention to be paid to new forms of collaboration between the public and private sectors, and almost sets a challenge: ‘We anticipate’ he writes, ‘that the corporate system will increasingly consider aiming high for different reasons’.

Bocci then underlines how these activities can also lead to greater social cohesion, create new, good jobs and, he concludes: ‘Cultural enterprises will have to increase their capacity for dialogue with the private business system, which is also sensitive to a new reference framework that sees increasing social responsibility as a company goal, alongside profit’.

Cultura e sviluppo locale: un nuovo inizio  (Culture and local development: a new beginning)

Claudio Bocci

Il capitale culturale: Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage, Supplement 11 (2020), pp. 81-89

Vittorio Merloni’s life as told by his daughter: the summary of a unique production culture

Corporate culture made personal. Which is the only way, after all, because culture is not made by machines, but by men and women who live and work. That’s why it is always a good thing to know about the lives of the people who have designed, built and managed companies. It’s therefore good to read Oggi è già domani. Vittorio Merloni. Vita di un imprenditore (‘Today is already tomorrow. Vittorio Merloni. Life of an entrepreneur’), by Maria Paola Merloni. She recounts the story of her father from the time he joined the company in 1960, to leading Confindustria in the early ’80s during one of the most difficult periods in the history of the Italian economy, through to conquering the Eastern markets, including his great successes and his most difficult decisions. Merloni led a successful life, but he also encountered problems and had to make choices, he has this in common with many other businessmen who have built their own production culture and can now teach a great deal to many people.

On the pages written by his daughter – who recently won the Biella Prize for Literature and Industry 2020 for this book – you read the story of an entrepreneur who simultaneously recognises the value of his land and ‘the world in his head’. The figure of a visionary emerges, one who was capable of scaling up a family business to an international company. He achieved this without ever losing his reserved character. He was not an example of an elite Italian businessman, but a man who managed to be both humble and a great explorer of production solutions that differed from traditional ones, along with new markets. This is the modest, ambitious, enterprising and thoughtful Vittorio Merloni, the one you can read about in the pages of this book, which ultimately tells the story of a business experience that becomes culture for everyone. It still gives us something useful today.

Some of the passages that summarise the good business culture of the protagonist are very clear. Such as a quote from one of Merloni’s speeches to the company that says he is convinced that ‘true development and generation of wealth are based on the work that one does and not on financial architecture for its own sake’.

Maria Paola Merloni’s book (written with Claudio Novelli) is not only the story of a father told by a daughter. It’s a story overflowing with something more than mere affection. It’s a story from which one gets the idea of a business culture which is certainly not the only thing to be appreciated, but which is a record of life and work, a collective story, a business management manual, a guide to learning the difficult language of production, not only for profit but also for something more complex and fascinating.

Today is already tomorrow. Vittorio Merloni. The life of an entrepreneur

Maria Paola Merloni (with Claudio Novelli)

Marsilio, 2019

Green for the environment. Blue for innovation. These are the two colours of the likely and very timely transformation of the economy, ‘a paradigm shift’ towards quality development. They are very relevant to the reflections of Luciano Floridi, a philosopher at Oxford (he runs the Digital Ethics Lab) and one of the most authoritative international scholars on the ‘infosphere‘, the environment of digital and personal connections that we live in (his last two books in Italian, published by Raffaello Cortina editore, are Pensare l’infosfera (‘Thinking about the infosphere’) from 2019 and Il verde e il blu (‘Green and blue’) from 2020). We are living through the ‘fourth revolution‘, explains Floridi, after those of Copernicus who proposed that the earth was not the centre of the universe, Darwin who proposed the theory of man’s biological evolution and Freud who went beyond the conscious mind. Now, ‘with digital, we interact with objects that do things in our place and challenge our sense of uniqueness’. Will artificial intelligence prevail? No, but we have to design a new economy of relationships and understand the deep meaning of everything we do. After all, we write the algorithms that enable artificial intelligence. We are always the ones who decide the fate of the Earth through our choices.

The infosphere and ecology meet. The green and the blue. It’s an ambitious, extraordinary cultural project with significant political value: projects, programmes, reform. In the current confusion that we are sadly living through, in search for strategies that will lead us beyond the fragility of our personal and social condition, between the pandemic and recession, the possible ways for a new beginning, a reconstruction, a recovery that is not short-lived, lie at the crossroads between ecology and innovation. After Covid-19, nothing will be the same as it was before. In short, it’s up to us to decide whether we will have a regeneration or plunge into a long period of decline.

The indications coming from the EU are clear: a Recovery Plan built on a green and digital economy, with a view to the next generation. Schools, long term training, research and reforms, to effectively spend the 750 billion euros that are available over the next four years. Politicians, public administrations, companies, social groups and culture all face a long-term, critical challenge.

These are issues of great importance, which fortunately have increasing importance in both Italian and international public discourse. This was discussed at BookCity, in Milan, during a series of digital meetings on sustainable development values. It was also discussed at the Technology Biennial in Turin, which was put on by the city’s polytechnic and saw wide public participation in dozens of debates (all online, of course), linked by an exemplary title: ‘Technology is Humanity’.

It’s a reflection on the new boundaries of science and research. It’s also a critical revival of one of the best periods in the history of the world, our humanism, a unique synthesis of philosophical, literary and artistic knowledge and new scientific knowledge centred around man. It’s certainly no coincidence that when outlining our current values and future horizons, we talk about ‘digital humanism‘, ‘industrial humanism’, ‘polytechnic culture’ or, getting back to Floridi, ‘green and blue’, combining environmental policies with high-tech service economy policies: humanism of the infosphere. Stories by philosophical engineers, or poet engineers, by responsible intellectuals anyway. ‘As Poe teaches us, intelligence is less of a mathematical mind and more of a poetic mind, it is simple and simplified, it produces the simple and simplifies’: these are the words of Leonardo Sciascia, in the pages of For a Future Memory. This is another extraordinary humanistic legacy.

‘Green’ and ‘blue’ is a fertile ground for Italian companies, they have a strong, widespread culture of ‘doing and doing well’, with roots in the regions where they are responsible for development and with competitive values that are linked to people. What’s more, regions where have long had a strong relationship of trust.

Confirmation of this comes from the new Dow Jones sustainability index, which reports annually on the best international companies in terms of sustainability. Enel is at the top this time, with a very high score for its climate strategy and market opportunities in leading the transition to a low-carbon energy model. Other companies that lead the way in sustainability for there sectors include: Pirelli, which is once again a leader in Industry, in the cars and components sector. Moncler, which ranks first among textile and luxury companies. Intesa Sanpaolo, Poste and Hera are also at the top of their sectors. It’s a green wave in companies that appeals to investors’, according to a headline in La Stampa (15 November), which reminds us how the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and S&P Global’s DJ Europe steer the investments of major international operators.

The success of Italian companies is linked to a strategic choice, considering sustainability as a fundamental asset, this is a cornerstone of their competitiveness, the result of a series of commitments made over time and gradually refined in market ratings and in the evaluations of all stakeholders: employees, customers, suppliers and the citizens who live in the areas where the company has business relations. Strong values, with positive economic and social benefits.

The latest book by two Nobel prize-winners presents and explains our current reality, analysing the problems that characterise it, but above all the solutions that can be found

The economy can represent a tool to be used to place human dignity ‘back at the heart’ of things. Indeed, working for the well-being of the wider community should be a goal that is shared by all (although this is not the case), just it should constitute part of the nature of any social organisation or manufacturing entity. Not ‘bad economics’ but ‘good economics’, the antithesis of ‘blinkered’ or ‘blind’ economics. As such, it is crucial to maintain an astute awareness of what is going on in the places we live and work, from all perspectives. This last condition is once again a necessity for us all. Reading Good Economics for Hard Times (released in Italian as Una buona economia per tempi difficili), written by the two Nobel prize-winners Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo, is precisely what we need in order to develop the knowledge necessary to build a careful and critical view of reality as it stands.

The book addresses the core issues at the heart of the global economy and society, with a specific focus on inequality, international trade, the impact of technology on work and the spread of poverty across the world, in a language that is accessible yet precise, lively but never predictable or prosaic. The two economists turn their attention to eight major topics: immigration, the market, choice mechanisms, well-being, climate, work, the role of politics and the meaning of welfare.

Banerjee and Duflo’s book presents many problems, but it is not a pessimistic read. ‘We wrote this book,’ they explain at the beginning, ‘in an attempt to hold on to hope. To summarise what has gone wrong and why, but also to remind ourselves of everything that has gone right. It is a book that speaks both of the problems we face and what we can do in order to put our world back together again, provided we succeed in making an honest diagnosis.’ And honesty, along with freedom, justice, a focus on others, clear choices and respect for every individual are some of the key concepts that emerge again and again in the 400 or so pages of the book (which reads more like a story than a dry economics manual).

One of the final passages is particularly striking: ‘The only resource we have against bad ideas is to be vigilant, to resist the seduction of the obvious, and look at any miracles we are promised with scepticism, questioning the evidence, facing complex situations with patience and being honest about what we know and what we don’t.’

In short, this volume by Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo is worth reading and rereading.

Una buona economia per tempi difficili

Abhijit V. Banerjee, Esther Duflo

Laterza, 2020

A lucid analysis by the senior deputy governor of the Bank of Italy provides the key elements we need in order to gain a better understanding

Understand the situation, take the most effective measures and implement these efficiently: these are the three steps that we must take when facing any crisis. There are also subsequent stages that apply in a complex situation like the one brought about by Covid-19, but which, on closer inspection, should always be followed by every organisation, pandemic or no pandemic. Reliable analysis, therefore, must be at the foundations of any decision. To get a precise idea is fundamental. In this instance, reading the speech by Daniele Franco, senior deputy governor of the Bank of Italy, on the occasion of the 52nd Day of Credit, can help us with this.

‘The Italian economy and the pandemic’ is a clear summary of what has happened already, what is happening now and what could happen in the future. Franco begins by taking the following fact into consideration: ‘This year’s recession has causes – the Covid-19 pandemic – that are entirely different to the tensions of 2011, which was marked by the sovereign debt crisis that followed the great recession of 2008 to 2009. However, now as then, Italy finds itself having to manage a shock brought about by exogenous factors with an economy that is structurally struggling to grow, and with massive public debt.’ These lines mark the beginning of a detailed analysis by Franco, which first considers the global recession and the actions taken by the various governments, and then goes on to examine what precisely has been done by the central banks. Subsequently, the senior deputy governor of the Bank of Italy takes a look at the consequences of the above issues on the world of work and the latest economic developments. Franco examines savings, credit and investments individually, alongside the structural problems that characterise the Italian economy, before focusing his attention on the various points that must be addressed in a decisive manner. Among these, Franco identifies the need to turn our attention to young people. In the final lines of his speech, he states that: ‘The pandemic and recession are tending … to accentuate the imbalances between generations – which were already significant – as a result, for example, of the increase in youth unemployment, public debt and the rate of pension expenditure. Having underlined these issues, Daniele Franco goes on to insist: ‘The crisis also widens the gulf in opportunities that exists between those who can work remotely and those who cannot, from those engaged in essential activities to those in sectors where the pandemic has served to hinder production and consumption. It is crucial that the response we provide to the emergency – particularly the temporary increase in subsidies – leads back to a comprehensive, coherent plan, which seeks to limit distortions in the future whilst making growth more inclusive. The design of the welfare tools that we implement and of the tax system as a whole must therefore be viewed as essential components of a wider project to relaunch the Italian economy, combining greater growth with greater equity.’

L’economia italiana e la pandemia

Speech by Daniele Franco (senior deputy governor of the Bank of Italy)

52nd Day of Credit, Rome, 5 November 2020

In the social capital of Italy, there is no shortage of creativity and initiative, as well as a taste for discovery, a passion for all that is beautiful and well-made, a love of tradition and a simultaneous desire for change. History and the future. Or, to venture to sum it up in a more punchy way, the ‘future of memory‘. These characteristics are an apt representation of a subject that lies at the heart of that social capital: companies. And closely connected to this is the world of work.

‘Capitale Italia‘ is the title of the latest Corporate Culture Week, organised by Confindustria and Museimpresa and now in its 19th edition. ‘Capitale’, here, is something of an imaginative play on words: ‘Italy as one great big capital city, an entity that generates all that is Made in Italy, our famous approach to production that is unique in the world, where the impalpable elements of culture and values are incorporated into the product’, explains Maria Cristina Piovesana, vice president of Confindustria, who is responsible for issues of the environment, sustainability and culture (Il Sole 24 Ore, 8 November). But this word also refers to the social capital that is available to Italy and Europe, in an attempt to establish and implement new models of sustainable development: the powerful leverage that our ‘polytechnic culture‘ represents, and which, in companies above all, is the key to the creation of original syntheses of humanistic wisdom and scientific and technological knowledge: the very elements upon which our most competitive companies are founded.

So, ‘Capitale Italia: entrepreneurial culture for the rebirth of the country‘ is the title of the week, which began a few days ago on 5 November and is set to last until 20 November – a very long ‘week’, then, when you look at the dates, more like a fortnight really – packed full of more than 130 events (further information at https://museimpresa.com/settimana-cultura/ and the link to the schedule is here: https://museimpresa. com/programme-20 ), including debates, webinars, digital tours of museums and business archives and long-distance dialogues with schools, including the one at the centre of SME Day, the traditional event which sees small and medium enterprises meet pupils and teachers to discuss the values of enterprise and the fundamental importance of training, as part of the essential relationship between school and work. Once again, the ‘polytechnic culture’ of the country is key here.

This year’s Corporate Culture Week takes on a special significance: we remain in the midst of a crisis marked by the painful and tragic links between the Covid-19 pandemic and the recession. We are seeing the re-emergence of all the social and economic weak points of the mechanisms of development that pay no heed to the fundamental themes behind the concept of rights and goods that should be shared by all: health and an approach to healthcare that is not limited solely to treatment, but which can also be both preventive and provide effective responses to emergencies; a focus on the environment, in the knowledge that ‘we cannot remain healthy in a sick world’, to use the words of Pope Francis; and finally, the commitment to reducing social inequality and gaps in culture and education.

We have long lived under the illusion of unstoppable progress and a form of globalisation that is always positive for everyone involved. We have exchanged the interests of free trade (obsessive free trade, which has rewarded only the strongest countries, clearing the path for the most shady and unscrupulous forms of financial speculation) for the values of fair trade, a system of production and trade which focuses on the needs of people, countries, and market rules that reflect properly balanced international codes of practice (the mechanisms of the WTO thrown into crisis by trade wars, the one-sided bullying perpetrated by the most powerful, the failures of ‘America first’ and Brexit, etc.). Now, it is time for a radical ‘paradigm shift‘ towards a more ‘just’, sustainable, circular and inclusive economy – a more ‘civil economy’, in other words, to borrow from the lesson of Antonio Genovesi, Enlightenment thinker and essential cultural reference for the father of liberal economics, Adam Smith and, a couple of centuries later, for the master of liberalism with a strong social slant, John Maynard Keynes.

The pandemic is serving to accelerate the necessary transformations. Quite rightly, there is talk of a ‘new Bretton Woods’ system, a new era of international agreements like those which guaranteed a long period of economic growth and prosperity in the post-war period.

Naturally, these are political issues of fundamental importance. The challenges that lie ahead are of global scope, and finally, the European Union is beginning to show a notable ability to respond to these challenges, above all with the EU’s Next Generation Recovery Plan, which is centred on the green and digital economies – or in other words, environment and innovation – with a focus on knowledge, science, school and long-term training. And, of course, right here in Italy, these challenges are forcing companies into the limelight as the key players in sustainable development projects and initiatives.

‘The company is the cornerstone of the relaunch of the economy across Italy; the linchpin of a community, the point of reference for growth, and in order to guarantee social peace, which is a very important factor, particularly during this period’, explains Maria Cristina Piovesana. And it is the responsibility of companies – through the investments they make and the work they do – to make a key contribution to finally getting Italy out of the lengthy crisis of productivity in which it has been wallowing (with growth rates below zero, according to the latest Istat data for 2019, after twenty years of stagnation, while the other EU countries have grown by an average of 1.6%) and out of the swamp of poor (or absent) economic and social growth.

Companies are marked by innovation, wealth, widespread welfare and social inclusion. Competitiveness and a sense of solidarity. As such, they represent a fundamental driver for positive change. And their values – the right degree of competition with regard to legality and the market, just rewards for merit, productivity that promotes growth, with positive effects on wages, accompanied by the focus on ‘doing, and doing well’, in order to construct a better balance – are fundamental elements not only in terms of economic growth, but also with regard to improved civil structures. Business culture, therefore, can be a source of stimulation that promotes a new sense of social balance.

Italy has always demonstrated a well-developed capacity for resilience. Even when faced with major crises (the recession following the economic boom of the Fifties, the oil crisis of 1973 and the so-called ‘Years of Lead’, the illusions of the Eighties, the dramas of 1992 – from bribes, Mafia bombs and a collapse in the value of the lira – and the financial disaster of 2008), the country has always succeeded in recovering and rebuilding itself, albeit with difficulty. We will succeed this time too, thanks to the ‘polytechnic culture‘ we have referred to previously, and the ability to make ‘industrial humanism’ a reality, where expertise serves to reinforce that enterprising ambition to build a better future..

We must now study the documentation of the past – which has been carefully conserved thanks to the dedication of companies, archives and museums – in order to find the keys to overcoming this umpteenth challenge, in the awareness that we cannot be resilient without innovation and vice versa, in such periods of crisis and difficulty. Our corporate culture, in short, shows us how knowledge, technologies, personal and social values and productivity are woven together. These are crucial considerations in times of crisis. The cornerstones of our best social capital.

G.E. Rusconi’s latest book tells the story of the world today, and brings the focus back to the importance of rationality and reasonableness

Being rational and reasonable. Facing an unexpected global situation with careful attention and a sense of solidarity. This are the indications to be followed by all those who wish to respond appropriately to the emergency situation which has (for months now) had us all in its grip. Covid-19 represents a global challenge, to which businesses (and those who run them), along with institutions and individuals, are called upon to respond on a level that is simply unparalleled in recent history. Reading “Vivere nell’insicurezza” (Living in insecurity) by Gian Enrico Rusconi, which has just been published, is very useful, and provides us with an addition skill set that might just help us out as we traverse the gruelling path that we have no choice but to follow today – whether we like it or not.

Rusconi lines up a series of arguments – and provocations -, beginning with the dual concept of safety and insecurity. Indeed, with this twin notion in mind, the author immediately turns his gaze first to the consequences of Covid-19 for the State and for the welfare system, and then to geopolitics, before addressing the situation in Europe. The book then concludes with a series of indications that focus on the roles that science, politics and rationality have to play in the face of this pandemic, and with regard to the unprecedented situations to which society is called upon to respond.

The message of the book (which totals less than 150 pages, each worth reading with care), is simple: while the world was facing a range of well-documented problems before February 2020, since that fateful month, Covid-19 has created an almost new and global state of being, which has quickly extended beyond the world of health to become an economic, social and political emergency. By crossing every border, the crisis has served to change the perception of safety and security in the collective consciousness, and above all, has altered the relationships that have defined the fundamental conditions of national and international security to date.

In the face of all this, what are we to do? Rusconi then brings the sense rationality back into play, citing this as the only resource we have in the fight against the world of insecurities in which we must live. At the end of the book, the author says: “Rationality/reasonableness (…) is the only resource we have in order to react appropriately and adequately, and to counteract the world of insecurity in which we continue to live”. An indication that is good for everyone.

Vivere nell’insicurezza (Living in insecurity)

Gian Enrico Rusconi

Il Mulino, 2020

The various ways of narrating the evolution of companies are rationalised and organised

Telling the story of a business in order to explain the culture of production that characterises it. And in so doing, making it better known, and naturally growing the market for its products. This route only appears easy on the surface, and – aside from anything – is never twice the same: indeed, it is the very nature of each company whose story is being told that leads the way. For this reason, the title given to the research conducted by Antonella Garofano, Angelo Riviezzo and Maria Rosaria Napolitano on the ways that the story of a company can be told is very apt: “Una storia, tanti modi di raccontarla. Una nuova proposta di definizione dell’heritage marketing mix” (One story, many ways to tell it. A new proposal for defining the heritage marketing mix).

The goal of this work, as explained at the beginning, is to “offer a precise means of categorising the multiple tools that can be used as part of a heritage marketing strategy, to manage the narration of the story of a company and its products and/or brands in managerial terms.”

In order to explore this theme, the authors have researched twenty Italian companies, each more than a hundred years old, which have distinguished themselves in the ways they have exploited the value of their historical heritage. Albergian, Amarelli, Ascione, Birra Peroni, Confetti Pelino, E. Marinella, Fabbri, Filippo Catarzi, Fondazione Banco di Napoli, Fratelli Branca Distillerie, Gruppo Guzzini, Gruppo Piaggio, Lanificio Fratelli Piacenza, Martini & Rossi, Montegrappa, Pirelli, Poli Distillerie, Società Reale Mutua di Assicurazioni, Strega Alberti and Tela Umbra are the companies studied by Garofano, Riviezzo and Napolitano. For each of these, the authors pursued a narrative-type qualitative approach, following which each case study was constructed, combining oral (interviews), text-based (company material) and visual (visits and direct observation) sources.

Having examined the varying ways these companies tell their stories, the study then proceeds with identifying four categories of tools that can be used in order to do this: narration through words, images and sounds, narration based on products and brands, narration through places and, finally, narration based on celebrations and relationships. The authors of the study go on to explain that the use of these tools leads to the construction of a “business story” that is different every time.

The research carried out by Garofano, Riviezzo and Napolitano has the great merit of systematising a complex issue that is constantly changing and often ambiguous within a relatively limited space, and this is precisely what is required in order to understand both the potential and the limits of one of the most advanced frontiers of business culture.

Una storia, tanti modi di raccontarla. Una nuova proposta di definizione dell’heritage marketing mix (One story, many ways to tell it. A new proposal for defining the heritage marketing mix)

Antonella Garofano, Angelo Riviezzo, Maria Rosaria Napolitano

Il capitale culturale. Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage, Supplementi, 10, 2020

Claudio Longhi, a knowledgeable man of the theatre (and recently appointed director of the Piccolo Teatro in Milan) states that the way out of the pandemic is to learn how to focus on the “we” and the “us“. A civilised choice, an indicator of a sense of community, even before it is part of a cultural programme, and an approach that serves to commit a fundamental lesson provided by Paolo Grassi, the founder of the Piccolo theatre, to memory: “The theatre is the place where a community that has freely chosen to come together reveals itself to itself… where it listens to words that can be either accepted or rejected.” The theatre, then, is a communal space, a place of “we” and “us” – something that is fundamental in this gruelling time of crisis, where the Covid-19 pandemic and the recession intersect, causing pain as a result of damaged health and depression as a result of isolation. So saying “we” on the public stage – even though the theatre is closed, like all other public cultural spaces in Italy – has its power.

This extraordinary word, “we”, also has the sound of a violin; that played by Salvatore Accardo, who gave a masterclass at the Conservatory of Music in Cremona, lecturing young musicians on the ten Sonatas for violin and piano by Ludwig van Beethoven, and streaming everything live on the Conservatory’s Facebook site and on the Youtube channel (in light of the fact that members of the public could not attend the event). In this case once again, making music is a community gesture; making music in order to “take a stand against the curse” of the virus and of loneliness, to recall the powerful quote from “The Plague” by Albert Camus.

“We” – like opening a bookshop and social space in the suburbs, as is happening in Milan. “We” – like the doctors and nurses who remain dedicated to doing their work to the best of their ability, despite the newly grave conditions, and accompanied, this time, by the negative voices of the “haters” on social media: irresponsible virus deniers who attribute conspiracies and wrongdoings to health workers. “We” – like foundations such as Cariplo in Milan and the Compagnia di San Paolo in Turin, who are investing their resources in supporting voluntary groups and non-profit organisations in the third sector in order to help the most vulnerable: the elderly, single women and young people who have had their lives devastated by social hardship. “We” – like those who continue to educate others, providing (among other things) support to the 300 thousand students across the country who do not have access to computers or the internet, and who are therefore cut off from distance learning.

“A serious country must make the fight against child educational poverty one of its key priorities. This is where development stems from. We have implemented an extensive national programme of interventions that has reached almost half a million young people,” states Francesco Profumo, president of ACRI (the organisation representing former savings banks and now foundations of banking origin, “agents of development rooted within the Italian territory”) and the Compagnia di San Paolo (see the interview in the “Avvenire” daily newspaper, 31 October issue).

In a restless, torn and frightened Italy, alongside squares set on fire by protests organised by extremist groups and criminal clans, a country battling with the tensions caused by growing social hardship, there are associations and groups that – beyond personal and professional interests – are keeping an anxious eye on the values of social stability, organising initiatives and making choices in the interests of recovery. There are protests, which are rooted in a widespread sense of despair: “In the night in Milan, this truth presents itself, as we teeter on the edge of another period of sweeping closures, of moral and physical lockdown. We are living in the time of the hotspot, and we are setting ourselves on fire” (Giuseppe Genna in “L’Espresso”, 1 November). Elsewhere, there is the proposal – as expressed in the agreement between the government, Confindustria and the trade unions – to move the ban on redundancies to 31 March, and extend the period of extra financial support for companies and workers in difficulty, while awaiting a productive decision on how to reform the social security cushioning for those who lose their jobs, and who need to be trained and re-qualified in order to find a new role, as well as key decisions on investment projects for the EU Recovery Fund: emergency interventions and long-term investments in development. These are urgent choices that must be made to safeguard an essential common good – namely, social cohesion. We also need responsible long-term strategies.

Once again, it is Sergio Mattarella, the President of the Republic, who is responsible for indicating the importance of working to ensure the unity of the nation and avoiding “too many divisions” to government and political forces: “No more personalism. Health is a common good”, he stated on 1 November during a visit to the cemetery of Castagnato in the province of Brescia, in front of the monument to the victims of Covid-19. Mattarella knows this Italy well – a country that is both enraged and generous. He does not underestimate its distress, or the sources of the misplaced grudge borne by some. But he knows, and repeats, that a climate of “everyone against everyone” will not allow us to resolve this crisis. We need good leadership, with a shared long-term vision, and without specious scuffles or the solitary temptations in the palaces of power. Indeed, today, it is the Quirinale that is best placed to interpret the good reasons for acting in the interests of all of “us”.

The Pirelli Foundation will again be taking part in the Settimana della Cultura d’Impresa this year, the week of corporate culture promoted by Museimpresa, now in its nineteenth edition.

The Pirelli Foundation will also be present with the following initiative:

A Detective Thriller in the Archive: On the Traces of the Pirelli Cinturato

A mystery of art and history to be discovered online

Wednesday 18 November 2020 – 7 p.m

A virtual tour organised in partnership with the cultural association Dramatrà, which takes us on a journey through time, all the way to the year 2120. Here we find the unstoppable engineer K. Pneumad, a researcher with a famous international company, who is determined to prevent the development of the famous Cinturato tyre in order to eliminate his most formidable competitor. The participants will play a team game in which they need to explore the past and present of Pirelli in order to find clues hidden in the Historical Archive that will help them solve the mystery and thwart the menace from the future…

To take part, please write to visite@fondazionepirelli.org by 12 noon on Monday 16 November 2020 indicating the number, names, surnames and ages of the participants. Participation is open to teams with one or more members. In the days prior to the event, the participants will receive an e-mail with some clues, so they can start preparing for the game.

We look forward to seeing you!

Pirelli Foundation