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# 81 JULY 18 , 2016
“Svegliamoci italici!” has been translated in Spanish and distributed in South
America. Regarding the English version,
we are working with a prestigious publishing house, which should publish in
the States. Concerning my previous essays, I have some articles published in
the U.S., such as “Italic Lessons”, a series
of interviews that appeared on the newspaper “America Oggi”; and “Italici. An
Encounter with Piero Bassetti”, an American version of “Italici. Il possibile futuro
di una community globale”, written with
Niccolò D’Acquino. There are also some
papers I wrote for some important conferences I held at the Catholic University
of America, Washington, and other universities, especially in Philadelphia.
In 1970 you became the first President
of Lombardy, leader of the Italian economy. The idea of regional belonging
is important for the Italian Americans.
What is your idea about the Italian regions today, 46 years after their creation?
# 81 juLY 18 , 2016
ve: in a less international world, gradually becoming glocal, the problems related to localism were and are important.
In the world we live, in which we belong
to more and more systems, we all need
to feel part of a global and a local context, transcending from a national state.
However, I was the one who in 1975 denounced the potential failure of the regional system, as I believed - and still
do - that we did not really understand
what “Region” meant. They were not
supposed to be a simple division of the
State, but rather an intelligent vision of
the many political genius loci in Italy
that could then be managed in a wiser,
more modern way. However, what is at
risk is not the regional, but rather the institutions which are called to interpret it.
Lombardy was in part safe, as it strength
made it transcend from the regional institution to which is today codified.
You are also President of the Fondazione Giannino Bassetti, which works in the
field of scientific innovation. What responsibility does Italy have in this area?
The intuition behind being leader in a re- Apart from being responsible, are we
gionalized country, Italy in this case, was also innovators?
fair, and started what I mentioned abo-
The scientific-technological challenge is
absolutely global, and it is fundamental
in this epoch. Unfortunately, today we
grow and innovate irresponsibly, mostly
looking at profits and incomes.
Who is in charge of the innovation today? To make an example: for the Atomic bomb we knew the responsible, it
was the President of the United States.
Today we are introducing new bombs,
such as medicine; we are proposing something that is very advanced, and we
are doing it irresponsibly.
Maybe it lies on this point the reason why
in many countries they state that the Italian culture is more sensitive than others
in treating problems like these: such as
in loving relationships and in life.
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