“If we transform the need to get out of the emergency into an opportunity, looking at a wider territory than our usual horizon, we can go back to looking to the future with hope”. Nicoletta Viziano, president of the Museo del Mare in Genoa and on the boards of the San Paolo Foundation and Confindustria, focuses on the concept of the network: the digital one is now obviously essential, the infrastructural one has become an ordeal and the one of knowledge that has yet to be built. And on a basin, that of the North West, “which has all the credentials to build a complementary and excellent synergy”.
President, you are part of a large Genoese brick family but you have found a new path in cultural dissemination.
“Yes, for ten years now. It all started from Palazzo della Meridiana, in the heart of the historic center of Genoa: it was 2011 and we decided not to limit the restoration of a large historic residence to a single business event. We linked a cultural mission to the real estate operation, dedicating the most prestigious part of the building to events open to the city in the wake of the spirit of hospitality that reigned in Genoa in the golden ages ».
It is around that experience that Mayor Bucci entrusted her with the presidency of the Sea Museum.
«He saw the work done in creating a new cultural center to be placed side by side with the great city museums and asked me to throw myself into this new adventure. Then came the call from Francesco Profumo to the San Paolo Foundation and the delegation to Tourism, culture and communication in Confindustria Genova. For me it was a conversion that made me understand how wrong it is to say that culture is not eaten. It is a great growth opportunity and also a great job opportunity for young people. And of cohesion ».
Cohesion?
“I cite as an example a project I am working on for the candidacy of Sestri Levante, Chiavari and the Municipalities of Golfo Paradiso and Tigullio as European Capital of Culture for 2024. Each municipality alone would not have succeeded, today we are in the short list of ten ea March we will have the answer. It would be historic. And, frankly, deserved ».
Usually the bell tower determines other impulses …
«Making critical mass becomes fundamental. The last few years, and before Covid in Liguria we had the Morandi drama, have shown it. From the emergency we must move on to relaunching, also by exploiting the knowledge that the difficulties have claimed to emerge ».
Forced digitization: is it true that more progress has been made in the last two years than since the turn of the millennium?
“It is true. But there are those who have not yet understood it. Or at least he did not understand what enormous possibilities there are in digital: reality is not replaced, but one’s visibility is extended and unthinkable projects can be carried out ».
Get out of your own horizon, he said.
«Creating synergies. Let’s think about how much Liguria and Piedmont can integrate ”.
That’s how?
“If we talk about culture, in Piedmont there is a card for museums throughout the region. Here, I believe that Liguria should do the same and then propose a single card to Piedmont. We think of the level of excellence that this integrated offer, which is not limited to the Turin-Genoa combination, can set in motion. It becomes a national plus, which can extend the stay of foreign tourists in Italy. A Ligurian-Piedmontese circuit of museums would undoubtedly enter the proposals of dedicated tours abroad and would also spark a strong internal interest ».
Networking also means sharing data, which must be protected.
“We have the skills to guarantee an adequate level of protection and I am thinking of very large companies such as Leonardo and new companies such as Start 4.0. It is now clear that cybersecurity is not a complementary service, but a basic one ».
The motorway networks should also be at the basis.
«Nobody knows better than the Ligurians about how bad life is with infrastructures that don’t exist, that are hostage to jobs never done before, that are not safe and that turn into a long queue. Impossible to adapt, I now only get on the train in Turin: I know when I’m leaving and I know when I’ll be back. For years we have been penalized, but now we have to get out of it all together, because the infrastructure emergency does not concern Liguria, it concerns the whole country and above all it concerns the whole North West ».
Moreover, the Ligurian ports need the North West.
«Genoa is the port of Piedmont and Lombardy, but it is in urgent need of space to develop its logistics. The idea of a rear port in Lower Piedmont becomes more and more vital and local authorities are working on this strategic terrain ».
Highways that work and a port with a logistics network behind it. Don’t they seem like dreams in the drawer?
“Rebuilding the Morandi could be a utopia, Genoa and Liguria have done it. And then you have to set yourself goals and march until they are reached, without being paralyzed by the fear of responsibility and without thinking about solving things only when they become urgent. I know that in the public it is difficult, but in my businesses when I have a problem I don’t get up from my desk until I have solved it ».
Italy has a problem of recruiting in the company. There are many businesses that don’t find staff.
“I can speak in first person, it’s hard to find. Unfortunately, even young people who come out of university or training courses that prepare them to be immediately hired, want to gain experience abroad and this also applies to those between 18 and 20 years old. They want to have a work study experience abroad, but this becomes a problem ».
Why never? Isn’t that quite a good opportunity for growth?
“The fact is that most, seeing how things work outside Italy, find it difficult to go back. My sisters and I have been to London, Paris and New York: I say, we came back because we were called back by our father and our company. Probably, if my father had been a doctor, I would not have found the incentive to return ».
More than a training problem, it is a system problem. Italian.
«Clearly: companies steal their hires even before graduation, but they want to escape. And after Covid the phenomenon will be accentuated. The job market is improving, companies are increasing, but there is no background. Too many things are against us and this is perhaps the first scenario in which major reforms are needed, but let’s talk about the pure substance of the country “.