Storytelling is a key asset for Italian companies. For an industrial system aimed at the premium niche of the market (e.g. in food, design, cars, and luxury), stories infuse depth, genuineness, and authenticity in products, creating their aura or added value. How does literary imagination fashion Italian businesses? Why top brands like Ferrero, Campari, Barilla invest in authorial branding? In this presentation, Luca Cottini examines the Italian storytelling tradition (from “novelle” to “carosello”, from fiction to advertising) as the distinctive core of Italy’s successful way to entrepreneurship.

Guest Speaker: Dr. Luca Cottini

Luca Cottini, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Italian Studies at Villanova University, and host/creator of the Italian Innovators YouTube project. He holds a PhD from Harvard University, a MA from the University of Notre Dame, and a BA from the University of Milan. He was trained as a classical philologist in Italy, and a cultural historian in US. His interests touch upon Italian literature, visual arts, and intellectual history from the 17^th to the 20^th centuries, as well as on Italian industrial culture, adverting, and design. His books include a monograph on Calvino (I passaggi obbligati di Italo Calvino, Longo 2017) and a cultural history of the origins of Italian design (The Art of Objects. The Birth of Italian Industrial Culture, 1878-1928). His YouTube work explores the Italian model of entrepreneurship and innovation through cultural profiles, interviews, and lessons across different disciplines (fashion, food, technology, sports, music, engineering).

By clicking the Windows to Italy button on the right, more information about the series is available.

The Doy and Dee Henley Reading Room is located on the 2nd floor of the Leatherby Libraries. Please veiw the Interactive Campus Map by clicking the button to the right. Within the map, click on the "Buildings" option and scroll to the "Leatherby Libraries."