An interview with Vittorio Pelligra on the upcoming Loppiano Lab

Loppiano, economic laboratory

By Violetta Conti 
Published on cittanuova.it on 10/09/2010

Economy, culture and education. These are the areas around which the reflections, ideas and experimentation will revolve during four days of meetings, exposition of businesses and round tables open to individuals, businesses, associations and other entities that will participate in Loppiano Lab, from September 16-19, 2010.

The "24 Hour Sun" (Sole 24 Ore) dedicated a long article to the Lionello Industrial Park of Loppiano last April 3. An interview with the author.

The Eoc in the light of the...Sun (Sole 24 Ore)

By Chiara Andreola

Published on www.cittanuova.it on 9/04/2010

That it holds academic dignity is already a well-known fact: from the honorary degrees given to Chiara Lubich, to the work of economists like Luigino Bruni and Stefano Zamagni, to the citations in the encyclical Caritas in Veritate - the Economy of Communion is already, for some time now, object of growing attention and study in the economic world. What´s perhaps missing is corresponding attention by the media. But now, even the biggest Italian economic daily newspaper, Il Sole 24 Ore (The 24 Hour Sun), landed at the Lionello Bonfante Industrial Park in Loppiano (Florence, Italy), with journalist Paolo Bricco. Last April 3, the newspaper of the General Confederation of Italian Industry dedicated a long article to this productive operation, in which 25 businesses work according to the principles of the EoC. How Bricco arrived to the shores of the Arno river, he tells us himself, "First of all, my wife is part of the Focolare Movement, and she introduced me to this reality. But there is also an intellectual reason (I came), because I deal with the history of economic theories."

The problem of employment has even strongly found it´s way into the Pope´s latest Angelus. What proposals can be made to react to the crisis? Three questions for Alberto Ferrucci, director of EoC Online.

The person in the first place

The question of work continues to be central in the Italian political, economic and social panorama. Names like Eutelia, Fiat and Alcoa have appeared in the first pages of newspapers for some time already, sad testimonies of more vast employment problems. Even the pope, in the Angelus on Sunday, January 31, faced up to the question, making specific references to the workers of the businesses in question who are present at Saint Peter´s Square. Calling everyone back to "a sense of responsibility" in front of the crisis, he associated these examples with the recent recall by the CEI (Central European Initiative) to guarantee work that isadequate to sustain families. It was a call that arrived exactly the day before the publication of the data on unemployment made by Eurostat, the offical statistics of the European Union. Unemployment percentages are rising all over Europe, reaching 22.8% in Lituania and even 19.5 percent in Spain, until recently shown as land of the new economic miracle. How can we interpret these data, and what should be proposed in front of such a dark picture? We speak with Alberto Ferucci, head director of EoC Online - Newsletter of the Economy of Communion.

Interview with Stefano Zamagni

The Encyclical and a "Fraternal" Market

by Paolo Lòriga
Published in Città Nuova n.15/2009

Stefano Zamagni, professor of political economy at the University of Bologna, Italy, is a consultant of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, the consulting body that follows the themes addressed by "Caritas in veritate".

Which do you consider as "Caritas in veritate´s" most innovative point?

"A first point is the invitation to overcome the separation between the economic and social spheres. In the last three centuries, modernity has left us a model of society which is based on the economic sphere, on one hand, and the social sphere on the other. The economic sphere has an iron-like logic which does not answer to other opinions, to the point that we say "business is business" – compensations occur in the social sphere. That is to say, the social sphere has to provide everything that the market economy typical of capitalism isn’t capable of producing on the plane of justice and equity. Let’s not forget that the welfare state, the social state, is son of this logic of separation. Eighth century thought, and especially 9th century thought - whether on the liberal or statist side of politics - does not alter that model.  Well, Benedict XVI´s encyclical tells us that this is an old way of thinking, because we´ve entered in the post-industrial society and therefore the social element must enter inside the economic one, not at its margin or following it. It’s a notable innovation that can allow the market to go back to being an instrument of civilization, of relationships, and of generative structures."

Economy and common wealth

Benedetto Gui
published on Città Nuova n. 21/2008

A book by Stefano Zamagni bring forth a very timely concept.

in the way of thinking of the majority of the experts, and of common people as well, what's at stake in the economy is a sort of big pie made of food, apparel, movie tickets, or hair cuts, that people first produce and then consume. And, as we all known, what I eat, or wear, can not be eaten, nor worn by you. On  that seat  (at the movie theater or at the barber's) at that time, either me or you can sit, but not both of us. In other words, my consumption is mine and your consumption is yours. In the reality, we are not separated at all

Una lettera dal cuore
Grazie per i poveri e gli imprenditori
Luigino Bruni

Le parole di uno dei più stretti collaboratori di Chiara Lubich nell'elaborazione del pensiero dell'unità.

5621 soci
Imprenditori al "polo"
Michele Zanzucchi

È possibile la fraternità in ambito economico? Una risposta viene dalla inaugurazione del Polo Lionello Bonfanti a Incisa in Val d'Arno, nel quadro dell'Economia di Comunione (EdC). Le parole del card. Antonelli e di Romano Prodi.

Città Nuova, N.22/2006  

Economia di Comunione
Un "polo" chiamato Lionello
Mara Maggi

L'inaugurazione a Incisa Valdarno, nei pressi della cittadella toscana dei Focolari, del polo industriale dedicato a Lionello Bonfanti. Un punto di convergenza delle aziende italiane di Economia di Comunione.

Città Nuova, N.19/2006

Economia di Comunione
Un "polo" chiamato Lionello
Mara Maggi

L'inaugurazione a Incisa Valdarno, nei pressi della cittadella toscana dei Focolari, del polo industriale dedicato a Lionello Bonfanti. Un punto di convergenza delle aziende italiane di Economia di Comunione.

Città Nuova, N.19/2006

Economia di Comunione
Il miracolo della Tassano
Silvano Gianti

La storia di una delle aziende più impegnate nel campo sociale della Liguria, un tentativo di reinserimento nel lavoro di tanta gente diversamente abile. La collaborazione bipartisan con le istituzioni.

Città Nuova, N.14/2006