Culture, entrepreneurship and territory - they may seem distant and unlikely to intersect, but they have always been part of Pirelli's DNA. These parallel rails are a key to interpreting reality and becoming its spokesperson, including via initiatives and sponsoring. It is on this groove that the choice of supporting the “Il Libro possibile” festival of Polignano a Mare was born. The festival, now at its seventeenth edition, is a mandatory step in the summer cultural events in the “Boot” (Italy). Between 4th and 7th July, writers, film directors, cultural figures, journalists and other figures will step on what is a true natural stage. The main theme of the four planned evening events are the reconstruction of Nature and its essential link with human beings. This relationship has always had ups and downs and is made of vital reliance, cohabitation and denial, control and sometimes even contempt. Today, despite technology (or thanks to it), mankind can rebuild this bond, admit that this fundamental umbilical cord exists, despite progress and the ever ill-concealed desire to dominate.
Will technology therefore create a relation between man and Nature that is more honest, sincere and authentic? Among the people who will try to answer this question are Erri de Luca, Dacia Maraini, Bruno Vespa and Paolo Giordano, Ghemon and Mario Tozzi, Aldo Cazzullo and Selvaggia Lucarelli. There will be different - but just as interesting - points of view that will differ in how they approach reality and what experiences they can speak of. On Thursday 5th July, at 22.00, Marco Tronchetti Provera, the executive vice president and CEO of Pirelli, will talk with Ferruccio de Bortoli on topics related to business and culture for development. On Friday 6th July, at 22.45, Antonio Calabrò, the chairman of the Pirelli Foundation, will present (with Oscar Farinetti) the “Canto della Fabbrica” [Song of the Factory], the volume published by Mondadori and edited by the Pirelli Foundation, which speaks about the Italian Chamber Orchestra concert held in the heart of the Pirelli industrial area in Settimo Torinese. The Foundation, which is ten this year, brings to the town other recently published books, “Una musa tra le ruote” [A muse in the wheels] and “La Pubblicità con la P maiuscola” [Advertising with a capital “A”] (Corraini Edizioni publishers). The books trace a century of the evolution of advertising language and are witness to the front-line role of Pirelli in the field of visual communication. In addition, the Pirelli Annual Report 2017, “Data meets passion”, will be available to the public. The balance sheet, illustrated by Emiliano Ponzi and narrated by three international writers, Mohsin Hamid, Tom McCarthy and Ted Chiang, describes the digital transformation of the company side by side with the stories of five 4.0 artisans who, like Pirelli, were able to make digital transformation the key to expanding their business.
This bond between business and culture has always been essential for Pirelli. It is a kind of approach to everyday activities that reaches its highest expression in events of this kind. “Il Libro possibile” is more than just an occasion to examine topics more in detail and to try to find keys to interpreting what everyone's future will be. It is also a moment in which culture manages to involve and excite a large audience, transforming a splendid town like Polignano a Mare into a stage for discussion and dialogue. It is not by chance that the topic and the focus of this issue of World magazine (the six-monthly publication edited by Pirelli, due to be released during the Festival and available in the Pirelli stand) is “Smart dreams - Il sogno intelligente”. The publication is a collection of interviews, reportage, experiences and points of view on the world and on what thinking about the future means - not in a dystopian or worried manner, but trying to offer solutions, building today what may well become the present of tomorrow. After all, true innovation cannot but go through human intelligence and, obviously, the great Mother - Nature.
