If there is a place overflowing with history it is Italy. I do not mean simply a country with a long past – there are many other nations that share that distinction. Rather, history in Italy permeates and shapes the present and is living still in its cities, in its churches, palaces, banks; in its squares that host markets, religious celebrations, political gatherings, social and leisure activities; in its care for the landscape, both natural and artistic. A monastery vacated by friars can be turned into a hospital, then into a prison, then into a university building (as in Bologna), with a tireless effort to reinterpret monuments rather than discard them.

The relationship between economic activity and communities at a local and regional level is perhaps one of Italy’s most distinct and established characteristics. It has found many interpreters, such as the celebrated entrepreneur Adriano Olivetti and the economist Giacomo Becattini. Olivetti was as much a “civil” entrepreneur, a thinker and a promoter of culture, as he was a businessman. In his 1945 book, L’ordine politico delle Comunità (The Political Order of Communities) he argued that the entrepreneur’s role was to trigger the wider economic, social and cultural development of the region and community where its factory was located. He established the movement Community to promote these ideas and was even elected to parliament as a representative of that movement. Although his early death at the age of 59 did not allow him to consolidate either his company or his movement, the “humanistic” management that he exemplified is still alive today and has inspired many other entrepreneurs, who want to keep faith with this genius loci. Indeed, his legacy was recognized by Unesco in 2018, with Ivrea (Piedmont) – Olivetti’s city – becoming Italy’s latest world heritage site.

Becattini was the most coherent theorist of territory as the unit of inspiration for economic activity with a unique and non-replicable identity. His view of the market economy was as follows: