Italian Innovators

The Italian Female Archaeologist Who Located the Tomb of Saint Peter. * How Are Italian Universities Ranked in the World? * The Italian Academic Model and The Primacy of Rome in Classical Studies * Archaeology as a Model of Innovation & Entrepreneurship * Decrypting Ancient Codes as a Key to Understanding the Past and our Future * The Story of Saint Peter’s Tomb under the Vatican Basilica * Locati...

A conversation with Maestro Corrado Rovaris, Music Director at OperaPhiladelphia * From La Scala to Opera Philadelphia. The Journey of a Maestro * The Global Success of Opera as an Italian Trademark * A Complex Synthesis of Languages. How is an Opera Born? * The Complex Business of Operatic Productions * Innovating Tradition. Opera Today For additional video contents and more information about the...

On the Italian Art of Cooking. * A Philosophical History of Italian Cuisine * Sapere/sapere: to Know is to Savor * Cooking as Art and Taste as Knowledge * Re-inventing a Repertoire: Tradition & Innovation in a Top Chef’s Work * The Imaginative Use of Leftovers: About Limit & Creativity For additional video contents and more information about the project, please visit the official webpage of the sh...

A conversation with Jeffrey Schnapp (Harvard University, Piaggio Fast Forward) * On the Digital Humanities and the MetaLAB project * Technology, Internet, & Culture * New Media & the Humanities. From the Printing Press to the World Wide Web * The Design of Knowledge. The Intellectual as Knowledge Designer * Literary Imagination and the Design of Objects * Design, Design Thinking, & Innovation * Ab...

The designer of Vespa and the inventor of helicopters * The myth of Vespa. From cinema to popular culture * The story of Piaggio. From airplanes to scooters * How the Vespa came about. And the Lambretta too. * The Italian invention of the helicopter For additional video contents and more information about the project, please visit the official webpage of the show at www.italianinnovators.com

A conversation with Armando Fumagalli (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano) * The semiotics of screenwriting * Literature and cinema: translations vs adaptations * Italian TV productions and the global market * Italians in the American entertainment industry For additional video contents and more information about the project, please visit the official webpage of the show at www.italianin...

The Female star of Italian Architecture * Italy as a cultural space * A woman among the giants of Italian architecture * The social and cultural endeavor of building * Architecture as relationship For additional video contents and more information about the project, please visit the official webpage of the show at www.italianinnovators.com

A conversation with Mauro Porcini, SVP & Chief Design Officer at PepsiCo * What makes design Italian? * What is design thinking? * Design, innovation and aesthetics * Design as a polyglot knowledge For additional video contents and more information about the project, please visit the official webpage of the show at www.italianinnovators.com

Chocolate dialogues. How Nutella turned from a sweet spread into a cultural icon. * A success story rooted in a constant dialogue, with the land (Langhe) and the customers (Valeria) * Innovation is about observation. Mon Cheri, Nutella, Kinder eggs * Sharing value to create values. The Ferrero philosophy For additional video contents and more information about the project, please visit the officia...

A conversation with multilingual American attorney Joseph Gulino (DRRT) * Why should an American invest in Italy * The Italian system: its limits, quirks, and distinctive elements * Learning Italian as a way to cultivate a different approach to business * Americans in Italy, Italians in the US For additional video contents and more information about the project, please visit the official webpage o...

The Italian mastery of matter. Why Italy, yes Italy, is a global leader in the export of steel. * A cultural history of matter (rubber, asphalt, oil) * Steel and the evolution of skyscrapers * The Italian steel company behind the Vessel (NYC) * The craft and beauty of steel. Bridges, Stadiums, Towers. For additional video contents and more information about the project, please visit the official w...

A conversation with fashion scholar Eugenia Paulicelli (Queens College, CUNY) * Why fashion and cinema need each other * What is the difference between a tailor and a costume designer? * Fashion and culture, fashion as culture For additional video contents and more information about the project, please visit the official webpage of the show at www.italianinnovators.com

The costume designer of Hollywood. About fashion, cinema, and the Italian sartorial imagination. * A presentation of season 2 of Italian Innovators * The Italian lady with 4 Academy Awards * What Stanley Kubrik, Hugh Hudson, Sophia Coppola, and Wes Anderson owe to Milena Canonero * The Italian touch in tailoring dresses to characters * Costume design at the intersection of fashion and cinema For a...

The founding fathers of Italian photography. How Florence became the city of photographers, and why its photographic archives matter. * Florence, the capital of Italy and global photography * How 19th century photography shaped a new visual knowledge of the world * Leopoldo Alinari. The survey of monuments and the new languages of painting. * Kodak and Vittorio Alinari. The vision of the instant a...

The origins of computing. The Avant-garde of design. What does an Italian Typewriter have to do with your Mac? * An American Journey. Camillo Olivetti, Thomas Edison, and Leland Stanford * From the writing type to a human type. About typewriting and typography * From Ivrea to the world. Olivetti’s impact on architecture, design, and technology * Olivetti and Steve Jobs. What Apple owes to an Itali...

Bicycles, tires, and the modern re-invention of the wheel. Bianchi and the birth of sports, tourism, and transportation. * Recreating the wheel: Bianchi’s bicycle and Dunlop’s pneumatic tire * From telegraphic cables to transportation: Bianchi and Pirelli * The bicycle debate and the birth of Italy’s mechanic industry * A new idea of traveling: bicycles and the Touring Club Italiano * Fashioning I...

About sanctity and Innovation. The story of the Italian nun who became the first American saint. * A people of saints, poets, and sailors * Why is a saint an innovator? * On a mission: from China to the United States * Service to Italian emigrants * Poverty and entrepreneurship * Cabrini’s legacy today For additional video contents and more information about the project, please visit the official...

Educating creativity and self-mastery. How Italians made it into American schools. * Montessori and the Lira * Travels and studies * Italian women and higher studies * Working with children * Play as an educational tool * Global fame and political issues * The pedagogical method - The Montessori Schools For additional video contents and more information about the project, please visit the official...

Italy’s love affair with coffee. Espresso making and creative thinking in Bialetti’s moka. * About coffee and culture * Espresso. The Italian way to modernity * Aluminum, the Fascist metal * The invention of the moka, one of the most iconic pieces of Italian lifestyle For additional video contents and more information about the project, please visit the official webpage of the show at www.italiani...

Milano, the aperitivo, and the art of cocktail. * About Milan, the city of aperitivo * The story of a drink, from the Camparino to the world * How to turn a drink into a piece of art. Campari, Depero and the iconic bottle of Camparisoda * Campari as the avant-garde of industrial art. Fellini, Sorrentino For additional video contents and more information about the project, please visit the official...

From the bold dreams of an Italian scientist to global broadcasting. Radio and the creation of a simultaneous world. * From Bologna to the UK. The birth of wireless communication * A new era of transatlantic communications * From the rescuing of the Titanic to the Marconi scandal * Marconi, D’Annunzio and Mussolini * Radio and Fascism. Broadcasting and the crafting of a new language for the masses...

The myth of racing in a country of ancient ruins. * Italian cars are about speed and beauty * Racing as a driving force for innovation * How Italy came to dominate the luxury car market For additional video contents and more information about the project, please visit the official webpage of the show at www.italianinnovators.com

Pioneering fashion design as an art. How Italy made it into the fashion industry. * How Italian Fashion was born after WWII * A shocking life. From Rome to London, From New York to Paris * Schiaparelli and the Surrealists. How to turn a dress into a canvas * Pioneering fashion as art. The Schiaparelli legacy For additional video contents and more information about the project, please visit the off...

How the greatest Italian tenor and the most renowned Italian publisher of musical scores made Italian opera known throughout the world. * Did Caruso invent the record industry or the record industry invent Caruso? * Gramophones and the global spreading of Italian opera * How Giulio Ricordi, patron of Verdi and Puccini, became Italy’s leading musical publisher. * The Ricordi designers, chromolithog...

How the first producer of Italian clocks became the hand behind the high end department store La Rinascente and Italy’s leading publishing house Mondadori * The first Italian factory of time * From clockmaking to fashion: La Rinascente as a new idea of department store * D’Annunzio, Fiume, Fascism * From politics to publishing. Borletti and Mondadori For additional video contents and more informat...