Close

Dear Friends of Italian Innovators, in February I had the honor of delivering a lecture on storytelling and entrepreneurship at Chapman University. In this presentation, I explored the archetypes of storytelling and examined the Italian tradition of narrative advertising as a distinct mark of Italian companies.  I publish it here as my core content...

1060

Dear Friends of Italian Innovators, my core content for February is an episode on the king of Italian fashion, Giorgio Armani—a remarkable story of Italian innovation and entrepreneurship, which developed from an early career in medicine to the creation of one of the world’s most renowned fashion brands. Among the topics: Giorgio's youth in Piacenz...

543

The Italian cultural mindset as an archetype of design thinking. Here is a presentation I gave a few months ago at The College of New Jersey in which I investigate Italy’s art and entrepreneurship as a model of design thinking, and explore the narrative patterns of Italian innovation (vis-à-vis the Anglo-Saxon frameworks). Enjoy! The lecture is ava...

607

In the new episode of Italian Innovators I present the story of GIULIO NATTA, the inventor of plastic and the first and only Italian scientist awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Starting from the Nobel ceremony in 1963, I examine both Natta’s path toward his scientific discovery and the unexpected outcomes that it generated. I reconstruct the s...

251

In the new episode of Italian Innovators I present to you the story of GIULIA FALLETTI di BAROLO (1785-1864), the woman and entrepreneur who spearheaded the experimental development of the Nebbiolo grape into the world-renowned Barolo red wine. After marrying the Marquis Carlo Tancredi Falletti, the French-born Juliette Colbert (later Giulia Fallet...

624

In the new episode of Italian Innovators I present the parallel stories of Arnoldo MONDADORI and Angelo RIZZOLI, founders of Italy’s leading publishing houses and master figures in 20th-century Italian culture. Enjoy the episode here.  From poverty to entrepreneurship, from magazines to an encyclopedia, from critical theory to cinema, Mondadori and...

535

You might have heard of Liquore Strega, a 70-herb premium liqueur from Campania, or perhaps of GUIDO ALBERTI, its eclectic CEO in the mid-20th century, who co-created and sponsored the Premio Strega (Italy’s most important literary prize) and started a notable career as an actor in the 1960s.  I confess that I did not know of him. I came across his...

708

In the new episode of the show, I propose a lecture on the concept of “Made in Italy” which I had the pleasure to present last summer as a keynote address at the International Conference of the Canadian Association of Italian Studies (CAIS). Enjoy the lecture here. In my presentation, which aims at overcoming cheap definitions and exploring the inn...

415

Dear Friends of Italian Innovators, in the new episode of the show I introduce the figure of PIERA CILLARIO, mother of Michele Ferrero and visionary female entrepreneur. In this presentation I explore the beginnings of Ferrero, and I investigate the extraordinary impact of this rather ordinary woman, not only on the famous chocolate company in Alba...

583

After almost five years grappling with the idea of producing an episode on the father of Italian design, I am pleased to (finally!) present my profile of GIO PONTI, architect, designer, essayist, cultural organizer, polymath, and, quite frankly, the most influential Italian intellectual of the 20th century. Watch the episode here.  In the new episo...

461