BCCI Focus on Italy 2008_June Edition by Elena Marchese

Focus on Italy. The British Chamber of Commerce for Italy â&#x20AC;&#x201D; #16 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Supplement to Britaly # 177/2007

FOCUS on Italy

Number Overwiev P5 Welcome by David Crackett P17 Focus Piemonte P39 UK Financial Services - Leading The World P40 Borsa Italiana and London Stock Exchange Group to merge P41 That's why I chose to work at Micheal Page P42 How did the Marinella brand come to life P44 Toni&Guy, History and Overview P45 Burberry: quality and British sense of style P47 Palazzo Reale P50 The history of Tate Gallery P59 Research is good for your heart P67 The study of British Investment in Italy Supported by

Contents

The British Chamber of Commerce for Italy • Welcome • BCCI • Chamber Officers & Staff • Commercial Services • Language Services • In the Regions • Communication Services • Sustaining Members • New Members Focus 'Regione Piemonte' • Why Piemonte? • Torino World Design Capital 2008 Company profiles • Quality and design of Singapore furniture at the Milan furniture show • S.T.A.M.P.S.: Time to Change BCCI Members profiles • Antezeta • Arup • AstraZeneca • Easynet • Exact Software • Galleria Gracis • GE.S.A.C • Hotel Principe di Savoia • Jaguar • Kroll • Manpower • Maison España • Rentokil Initial • Worldwide Trust Consultants s.r.l. Milan-London Finance • UK Financial Services - Leading The World • Borsa Italiana and London Stock Exchange Group to merge Enterprise • Michael Page • Marinella Success Story • Toni&Guy • Burberry Art & Culture • Palazzo Reale (Milan) and exhibitions • Tate Gallery (London) and exhibitions Italian Excellence • Si cura meglio dove si fa ricerca • Research is good for your heart Hotels • Hotels in Italy: Catania, Florence • Hotels in UK: Edinburg, London BCCI Research • Survey

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Publication Authorized by the Milan Courts, permit no. 761 issued on 7-12 1990 1 number 2008 May 2008 Publisher The British Chamber of Commerce for Italy Via Dante 12 20121 Milano T. 02 877798 - F. 02 86461885 www.britchamitaly.com bcci@britchamitaly.com President David Crackett Editor Kelly Ben Frech Publication Supervisor Paola Bettinelli / Elena Marchese Authors in this issue David Crackett, Guido Vasapolli, Enza Di Marco, Rosa Manetta, Valentina Rigoldi, Laurence Bristow-Smith, Maurizio Marinella, Nicholas Béchu, Nicoletta Fiumara, Toni Mascolo, Alessandra Moro, Maurizio Teora, Sean Carlos, Stefania Lo Cascio, Martin Molloy, Elena Sala, Clementina Ferraiolo, Luca Gracis, Martina Bianchi, Sergio Salerno, Alessandro Tranchida, Josè Langens The BCCI would like to thank this issue's advertisers: Aviva, Barclays, Syz Bank, Casino Lugano, OMP Mechtron, Gesfid Bank, Lucas Engine, DLA Piper, HSBC. IEO European Institute of Oncology, CCM Cardiology Center Monzino.

• The magazine “Focus on Italy” has always been completely in English. For this new edition, the Chamber’s strategy plans a perfect integration between UK and Italy. So the publication of some articles in Italian must be seen as a cultural integration of the two countries. The middle-term objective is to issue a bilingual magazine. Each author will use his own language.

Focus on Italy

La grande banca con corpo italiano e anima inglese.

Barclays is the British bank with more than 300 years of experience in the finance and banking industry. 27 million customers and clients in more than 50 countries. Over the last year, Barclays has opened over 40 branches throughout Italy and its expansion plan includes an additional 70 branches by the end of 2008. Barclays offers to the Italian market a wide array of products ranging from current accounts to loans and from mortgages to investment products for Retail customers, Small and Medium Enterprise and Corporate segments.

Call 800.205.2005 and see our website www.barclays.it to find out more about Barclays and its products in Italy.

Messaggio pubblicitario con finalitĂ promozionale. Per le condizioni contrattuali Ă¨ necessario fare riferimento ai fogli informativi reperibili sul sito www.barclays.it

BCCI - Welcome by David Crackett

The English Speaking Business Community The British Chamber of Commerce for Italy is totally committed to being the focal point of the English Speaking Business Community. Founded in Genoa in 1904 the Chamber’s headquarters is based in the heart of Milan and regional branches of the Chamber are operative throughout Italy. The Chamber has over 400 members, representing a wide range of Italian and British companies. The Chamber’s fundamental mission is to be the main point of reference for the English Speaking Business Community in Italy. The Chamber is a private non-profit organisation and our members are the main source of financial support. We anticipate their needs and do our utmost to satisfy them, by providing the highest quality service and value. Just a few examples: • Our website is the cornerstone of the Chamber’s activity. It provides a vast amount of information essential to the English Speaking Business Community and it significantly facilitates access to our Members’ services

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We have a lot to offer to the English Speaking Business Community in Italy and we have a lot to be proud of • We organise high profile events and networking

opportunities throughout Italy with over 80 events forecast for 2008. Our monthly business lunch in Milan is a tradition which has become one of life’s few certainties, as are our monthly seminars in collaboration with other European Chambers of Commerce

• Bilateral business opportunities are catered for

Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the UK. In addition, through COBCOE, the Council of the British Chambers of Commerce in Continental Europe, we are able to reach out to the 6,000 members of 27 British Chambers of Commerce throughout Europe

• The services offered by our English Language Consultancy Service (ELCS) assist Italians who wish to study English in the UK and other English-speaking countries throughout the world and for more specialised language learning (commercial and legal) our International Professional English Certificate (IPEC) is world class The list could go on but these examples undoubtedly demonstrate that we have a lot to offer to the English Speaking Business Community in Italy and we have a lot to be proud of. The tremendous support and enthusiasm of our Members, the Council, the Regional Representatives and most importantly the Director and the Staff have made this possible.

David Crackett President of the British Chamber of Commerce for Italy

David Crackett is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, a Registered Auditor in Italy and has been a Partner in Deloitte in Italy for more than twenty years.

My warmest thanks, therefore, go to all who have supported the Chamber over the past year and for those of you have not yet had the opportunity to be involved, just come to one of our events. I can guarantee that the welcome you receive will exceed your expectations.

through our recently strengthened links with the

Focus on Italy

BCCI

British Chamber of Commerce for Italy BCCI is a private, non profit making entity that works closely with the British Consulate General in Milan and with the diplomatic posts in Naples and Florence, as well as with the British Embassy in Rome. It represents in Italy the interests of the Confederation of British Industries and the British Standards Institute. It also maintains ties in Great Britain with the Department of Trade and Industry and with the Association of British Chambers of Commerce and – throughout Europe – with COBCOE, the Council of British Chambers of Commerce in Continental Europe. The BCCI was founded in 1904 in Genoa but today its headquarters are in Milan. Regional branches of the Chamber are operative throughout Italy and there is also a secretary in London. The Chamber has about 400 members, for the most part Italian and British companies, including branches of British businesses operating in Italy, Italian companies that have trade relations with the United Kingdom, service providers and professional consultants. We believe that the Chamber’s fundamental mission is to serve our Members well, remembering at all times that, besides being Members, they are our main source of financial support. We anticipate their needs and do our utmost to satisfy them, by providing a service of excellent quality and value.

Our Objectives The BCCI’s objectives can be summarized as follows: • To serve as a point of reference for British commercial interests in Italy and to provide congenial meeting opportunities for business men and women, particularly British and Italian • To provide services and advice to both private individuals and companies, who may not necessarily be Chamber Members but who intend to start a business activity in UK or in Italy

Focus on Italy

• To support the British export development activities of departments of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) with a view to facilitating trade between Italy and the United Kingdom

It allows them to network and discover shared areas of interest; it allows them to identify new trends and share new business ideas. In a very real sense, BCCI is at the heart of UKItaly trade.

• To offer Members a full range of services in the areas of trade, business promotion and both business and social networking • To encourage Italians to study English in Great Britain and other English speaking countries throughout the world, taking advantage of the services offered by the English Language Consultancy Service (ELCS) • To promote specialized language learning (commercial and legal), through the International Professional English Certificate (IPEC)

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Building Networks Connecting Businesses Creating Opportunities Inspiring Innovation

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There are clearly many reasons for joining The British Chamber of Commerce for Italy and being a member opens up a world of opportunities within the Italian – British business community. The Chamber is a unique focal point for a wide variety of people and businesses looking for contacts, ideas, advice and stimulation. The Chamber also offers many opportunities to socialise and make new friends. Whether a large multinational company or a freelance individual the Chamber has something for you.

BCCI Events The British Chamber of Commerce for Italy organises a number of events in the firm belief that creating opportunities for networking is essential for doing business. Events organised by the BCCI include: • Monthly Milan business lunches • Sustaining Members’ dinners • Monthly social evening in Milan • Round Tables, seminars and conferences in collaboration with other European Chambers • Cultural and business events in collaboration with Chamber Members • Annual golf day • Wine club including Wine Trips and Wine & Cheese Tasting • Regional lunches and activities

Join us! Visit our website

www.britchamitaly.com For information and membership British Chamber of Commerce for Italy Via Dante, 12 20121 Milano Tel. +39 02 877798 bcci@britchamitaly.com

The British Chamber of Commerce for Italy provides a focus and a forum for daily interaction of a very large number of individuals and companies.

www.britchamitaly.com

BCCI - Chamber Officers & Staff

BCCI Team The Council of the British Chamber of Commerce for Italy is composed of voluteers high international profile representatives from over 30 Member organizations. The Chief Executive and her team have been selected to look after the day to day running of the BCCI. HONORARY PRESIDENT • Edward Chaplin OBE, CMG HM Ambassador HONORARY VICE PRESIDENT • Laurence Bristow-Smith Director Trade & Investment HM Consul General PRESIDENT • David Crackett Deloitte & Touche Spa VICE PRESIDENT • Michael Taylor Norton Rose • Colin Vincent Barclays Bank Group TREASURER • Arnaldo Carpi Studio Arnaldo Carpi COUNCILLORS • Stephen Anderson British Consulate General Deputy Consul General • Massimo Audisio Tosetto,Weigmann & Associati • Alessandro Baroni HSBC Bank Plc

• Richard Slater Simmons & Simmons • John Stewart FIS Fiduciaria Generale • Chris Stokes Key2People Executive Search • Bart Verhagen UBS HONORARY COUNCILLORS • Hugh Malim Barclays Bank Group • John Murphy Buroservice Snc • Carlo Orlandini S.E.I.C. • Henry Putnam Right Management Consultants Srl • Harry Richter • Leonardo Simonelli Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the UK HONORARY AUDITORS • PricewaterhouseCoopers Spa

• Richard Bastin Euro Investigation

HONORARY TAX ADVISORS • Anna Sfondrini Studio Bernoni

• Colin Jamienson Studio Pirola Pennuto Zei e Associati

• Giuseppe La Naia La Naia & Partners

HONORARY LEGAL ADVISORS • Alberto Cajola Studio Legale Cajola & Associati

• Pier Carlo Marengo Aviva-Italia • Maria McCarthy Caledonian Communications • James Meikle Cushman & Wakefield

• Enrico Radice Studio Legale Radice • Richard Slater Simmons & Simmons

Chamber Staff • Kelly Ben Frech Chief Executive k.benfrech@britchamitaly.com • Maria Rosa Allegra Commercial Services & Business Development m.allegra@britchamitaly.com • Elena Marchese Marketing & Communication e.marchese@britchamitaly.com • Raffaele Brigida Administration amministrazione@britchamitaly.com

Consultants Susan Boyle English Language Consultancy Service elcs@britchamitaly.com David Gibbon International Professional English Certificates ipec@britchamitaly.com

From the top: BCCI Symbol, and BCCI Staff. From the left: • Elena Marchese • Maria-Rosa Allegra • Raffaele Brigida • Kelly Ben Frech

Focus on Italy

BCCI - Commercial Services

VAT, Credit Collection, Meeting Facilities The British Chamber of Commerce for Italy offers a full range of business services, either through its own means or through those of its Members, who are experts in their respective fields and offer efficient, effective services at advantageous conditions. VAT Recovery On the basis of the reciprocity agreement existing between Italy and UK, it is possible for Italian and British companies to reclaim Value Added Tax (“Imposta sul Valore Aggiunto”).

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The British Chamber of Commerce for Italy delivers this service, handling the procedures involved as well as contacts with the appropriate fiscal authorities. Companies wishing to take advantage of the service send their relevant documentation to the Chamber where it is examined and VAT refund application forms are prepared, in compliance with the terms and regulations provided for by law. The application is then forwarded to the appropriate office by staff experienced in dealing with Ministry departments. The state of progress of the application is constantly monitored and reminder action taken to ensure things proceed rapidly. The client company is updated regularly on progress, until the process has been completed and the refund received.

The British Chamber of Commerce for Italy offers a full range of business services, either through its own means or those of its members

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How the British Chamber Commercial section can assist you? Please contact Maria Rosa Allegra • by calling +39 02 877798 or by writing to • m.allegra@britchamitaly.com

Credit Collection The British Chamber of Commerce for Italy offers a credit collection service aimed mainly at firms and/or individuals who wish to recover outstanding credit

Focus on Italy

in Italy, but also at Italian companies or individuals who have credit in the UK. Creditors can count on the prestige of an institution officially accredited by the UK government, and on the professional skills of qualified and experienced Chamber staff, as well as outside consultants. Successful action can be taken and results obtained more quickly and at a lower cost than with legal proceedings. How the British Chamber Commercial section can assist you Please contact Maria Rosa Allegra •by calling +39 02 877798 or by writing to • m.allegra@britchamitaly.com

Office and Meeting Facilities The British Chamber is also able to provide companies with a meeting room in the Chamber’s premises right in the centre of Milan, Via Dante for members who wish to take advantage of this service. The facilities offer an ideal venue for small business meetings held by entrepreneurs whose professional commitments occasionally bring them to Milan and call for a private, functional space. The Chamber’s offices are centrally located and easy to get to. Feel free to book the meeting room • phoning +39 02 877798 or by writing to • bcci@britchamitaly.com

Full range of business services through its Members

Business Services

Practical solutions to your needs

Think outside the box

Last year the BCCI developed a project you be interested in a team building with the aim of increasing the visibility activity while sailing the Italian lakes? of those members who are interested Or, would you prefer to spend your in promoting their business through prefer to spend the sponsorship spare time in “ We are going to create your of a commercial a comfortable spa? further new services very service webpage. Both companies and individuals soon. Few of them will While the British can benefit from be also related to leisure Chamber of Comthis service, as our and entertainment ” merce for Italy website is visited promotes a wider by BCCI members range of commercial services via In- and many other people. ternet and throughout its respected and consolidated global network be- The existing services are: longing to a centenary Institution, the • Due Diligence in Italy and UK sponsor can take advantage of wide- • Business Investigation spread visibility among Trade As- • Market Research sociations, Chambers of Commerce, • Payroll COBCOE (Council of British Cham- • Translation bers of Commerce in Continental • Company Formation Europe), British Institutions and com- • Offices and Meeting Facilities panies in Italy and Great Britain with • Import/Export Services which close-partnership relationships • Interpreting are constantly kept. • Certification and Training • On Line Recruitment/CV Considering the success of this initia- • Gift Corporate tive, we are going to create further new • Resorts services very soon. A few of them will be also related to the leisure and/or If the service you require is not menentertainment environment: “Would tioned in the above list, the BCCI

prides itself on being able to find the most suitable service provider amongst its Members, whatever your business needs. If you feel that your company could fit well in the commercial section of the BCCI website, or wish to discuss business opportunities in Italy and the UK, please contact Maria Rosa Allegra, Commercial services & Business Development: • by calling +39 02 877798 or by writing to • m.allegra@britchamitaly.com

Focus on Italy

BCCI - Language Services

International Professional English Certificates (IPEC) & English Language Consultancy Service (ELCS) The British Chamber of Commerce for Italy offers Italians a comprehensive service designed to meet their English learning needs.

• Students •Cover Speak to the world

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The service moves in two directions: ELCS provides full information and advice for people who intend to study English “on site”, in England, the USA or elsewhere. IPEC is a benchmark qualification, at several levels, for English as a second language for use in business, the legal sector and many other specialist areas.

The British Chamber of Commerce for Italy offers a free consultancy service for anyone wishing to improve their English abroad

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International Professional English Certificates (IPEC) The British Chamber of Commerce IPEC examinations continue to expand both in terms of the number and variety of users and in terms of the level and choice of examinations offered. Currently the basic IPEC examinations are offered at three of the levels established by the Council of Europe: Entry (Threshold B1 Level), Executive (Vantage B2 Level), and Excellence (Effective Proficiency C1 level), while the Legal English Module which was developed in collaboration with Milan’s Just Legal Services is now available on a regular basis at B2 and C1 levels and is recognised as an external qualification for the degree course in law at Milan’s Bocconi university. An Environmental English Module and the Enological English Module for sommeliers have also been trialled.

Focus on Italy

The certificates are recognised as “crediti formativi” in Italy, and are also used or recognised as credits by several important Italian universities. Apart from the universities, other users include “Istituti Superiori”, private language schools and individual students. Features of the examinations appreciated by our users include the challenging and stimulating nature of the examination materials, the flexibility in terms of availability at any time for groups of any size, the rapid turnaround of results and their topicality and authenticity. We have an agreement with the prestigious British magazine “Management Today” for the use of their articles as texts in our examinations. Naturally, the fact that the examinations are offered by the British Chamber of Commerce, apart from guaranteeing their direct relevance to the world of work, and the high quality of their preparation, offers a unique benefit both to users and to members of the Chamber. For more information please visit our website: www.britchamitaly.com Or call David Gibbon • by phoning +39 02 877798 or by writing to • ipec@britchamitaly.com

English Language Consultancy Service (ELCS) The British Chamber of Commerce for Italy offers a free consultancy service for anyone wishing to improve their English abroad.

The English Language Consultancy Service was set up in 1986 with the aim of providing as much information as possible about the best English language schools in Britain. However, since the turn of the century when global horizons widened, so have those of the ELCS. We are able to counsel students for quality courses in recognised schools in all English speaking countries. Through visits to the schools in Europe and keeping in close contact with the rest, we have got to know these organisations well and consequently can steer prospective students towards the schools that best suits their needs. The feedback we have received shows that we made the right choices. In the 22 years of our existence we can boast having advised thousands of students and solved hundreds of problems. Not only that – by Jove - but we’ve helped them to learn English too! Whether you want to study in Cambridge or Cape Town, in London or Los Angeles, for one week or for one year, one of our partner schools will have the course you are looking for. Don’t delay – call us today! Visit our website: www.britchamitaly.com For information or appointments, please contact Susan Boyle • by phoning +39 02 876981 or by writing to • elcs@britchamitaly.com

BCCI - In the Regions

Regional Secretary Throughout Italy’s regions change is in the air and new business opportunities continue to emerge. The BCCI is in touch with these evolving scenarios and its Regional Secretaries are ready to provide the advice, insight and support needed. Besides Lombardy the BCCI is represented in ten different Italian regions by Honorary Regional Secretaries, all active in their local business community. Lombardia

Liguria

London

Milan Head Office • Kelly Ben Frech - Chief Executive Via Dante, 12 20121 Milano Tel. +39 02 877798 Fax: +39 02 86461885 bcci@britchamitaly.com

• Andrea Pericu Pericu Prof. Avv. Andrea Viale Padre Santo 5/8 16122 Genova Tel. +39 010/84621 Fax: +39 010/813849 Andrea.Pericu@beplex.com

Lombardia East

Piemonte

• Alistair Newell Banca Lombarda Via Cefalonia 62 25175 Brescia Tel. +39 030/2473396 Fax: +39 030/2473625 alistair.newell@bancalombarda.it

• Guido Vasapolli Vasapolli & Associati Piazza Carlo Emanuele II 13 10123 Torino Tel. +39 011/5611319 Fax: +39 011/540586 contacts@vasapolli.it

• Cav. Grand’ Uff. Michael Nathanson OBE Laytons Solicitors Carmelite 50 Victoria Embankment Blackfriars London EC4Y 0LS Tel. +44 (0) 20 7842 8000 Fax. +44 (0) 20 7842 8080 michael.nathanson@laytons.com

Campania

Puglia

• Victor Sotunde Studio Legale Castaldo Via A. De Petris 114 80133 Napoli Tel. +39 081/5523200 Fax: +39 081/5510776 sotunde@studiocastaldo.net

• Stefania Lo Cascio Worldwide Trusts Consultants Srl Via Netti 45/a 74100 Taranto Tel. +39 099/4590880 Fax: +39 099/4590809 stefanialocascio@alice.it

Emilia Romagna

Sardegna

• Roger Warwick Pyramid International Srl Via Rivani 83 40183 Bologna Tel. +39 051/531804 Fax: +39 051/6022904 warwick@pyramid.it

• Franco Staffa Associazione Culturale Italia-Inghilterra Via Machiavelli 97 09131 Cagliari Tel. +39 070/402835 Fax: +39 070/402966 bccicagliari@tiscali.it

Lazio

Veneto

• Steven Taylor Kerdos Corporate Finance Srl Via S.Anselmo 42 00153 Rome Tel. +39 06/99706597 Fax: +39 06/99706598 s.taylor@kerdoscf.com

• Andrew Fattorini Linpac Plastics - Verona Srl Via Monte Pastello 40 37057 San Giovanni Lupatoto Tel. +39 045/9216411 Fax: +39 045/9750047 andrew.fattorini@linpac-plastics.it

Friuli Venezia Giulia & Toscana

We are also developing opportunities in these regions. For more information please contact the Milan Head office.

Focus on Italy

Statu Quo o SYZ & CO ?

Private Banking Fondi OYSTER Investimenti alternativi 3A

SYZ & CO

Created to perform

www.syzbank.ch

BCCI - Communication Services

Focus on Italy, Italy Trade Guide, Speak to the World, The History The BCCI has various communication tools and publications created throughout the year. A monthly e-newsletter called Britaly with a listing of all our events and news from around Italy and the UK. The History of the Chamber was published to commemorate the BCCI Centenary in 2004. The Speak to the World Catalogue published each year, containing information on our member schools and the various the English language courses they offer. Last but not least Focus on Italy which is the official Chamber magazine rich in information and a great guide to business and leisure in Italy. Therefore, New offices? New Services? Press Releases? We can help you to communicate directly with the English Speaking Business Community in Italy. Contributions are welcome. For details, please contact Elena Marchese • by calling +39 02 877798 or by writing to • e.marchese@britchamitaly.com

Focus on Italy, the Chamber user-

Communications who have created similar products for a number of British Chambers across Europe. It is a valuable resource for both British companies looking at investing in Italy and for companies already in the country who want to expand their network of contacts. An online version of this new database of Members will shortly also be available. We hope you find the CD useful. If you require more copies please do not hesitate to contact Elena Marchese at the Chamber.

friendly magazine to business and pleasure in Italy, “ We can help you to is full of facts, figSpeak To The ures, forecasts, esWorld is pubcommunicate directly to sential information lished each Januthe English Speaking Business and articles drawary and contains Community in Italy ” ing on the experiinformation on ences of members all the language working in Italy. Enjoying a shelf life schools abroad that are members of of six months Focus on Italy has a print the ELCS scheme, including details of run of some 5,000 and is distributed the many English language courses ofto Chamber members, through the fered. It also carries general informaBritish Consulate, British Embassy in tion which is invaluable to a foreign Rome, hotels, business centres, airport student studying abroad for the first lounges and the network of member time. Speak to the World has a print companies’ reception areas. run of some 3,000 copies, a shelf life well beyond the year of publication To discuss advertising opportunities and is free upon request. in our Chamber Magazine, please contact our member GDS Brand ConThe History of the British Chamber sultancy, Paola Bettinelli of Commerce for Italy was published • by phoning +39 02 80583151 to celebrate the Chamber’s centeor by writing to nary in 2004. This publication covers • paola@gdsnetwork.com 100 fascinating years of the evolving business relationship between the Italy Trade Guide & Member- two world wars, and taking us from ship Directory is a CD Rom which the Chamber’s foundation in 1904 in was developed in collaboration with Genoa to the present day. UK Trade & Investment and with Chamber Member Trade & Invest

The BCCI on the Net Born in 2006 the BCCI web site has quickly become the cornerstone of the Chamber’s activities. Visited by members and many more this means of communication was created to provide a much wider range of information and guidance. Whether it be a click on our Services pages, one on our Events section or a general browse, the web site has now become a virtual platform. Following the ever growing means of technology and networking, a Forum and a BCCI LinkedIn Group were created earlier on this year to give our members the opportunity to meet and do business also in the modern virtual reality. We offer visitors all the information they need on the Chamber and its numerous activities in Milan and throughout the country. For this reason a "Regions Section" has been developed to help increase further business opportunities, promotion and contacts. Giving our Members’ businesses and the services they offer, more and more visibility the BCCI web site is now a “net-working” must. New sections are being created day by day one of these being our Leisure & Entertainment pages. So why not be unique and let us help you to develop your business network and to communicate your companies ideas? It’s all just a click away. www.britchamitaly.com

Focus on Italy

BCCI - Sustaining Members

The British Chamber of Commerce for Italy wishes to thank its Sustaining Members

Aviva

Barclays

Deloitte

HSBC

Starwood

Antezeta

Assolombarda

AstraZeneca Spa

BAA Italia Naples Internat. Airport

BG Italia Spa

Bolliger Srl

British Airways Plc

British Council

Coast Cucirini Srl

Consulmarketing

Controlfida (Suisse) SA

Coutts & Co.

Cushman & Wakefield

Diageo Italia Spa

DLA Piper

E.M.L. Srl

Easynet Italia Spa

Euro Investigation Srl

Focus on Italy

Finsev Spa

FIS Fiduciaria Generale Spa

Herman Miller Ltd

International Power Italia Srl

JBC Spa

Keypeople Executive Search

KPMG Spa

Leeds Legal Ltd.

Logica CMG Srl

Marsh Spa

Matica

Motorola Spa

Norton Rose

Pernod Ricard Italia

PricewaterhouseCoopers Spa

Pyramid International Srl

Reconta Ernst & Young Spa

Rentokil Initial Italia Spa

Right Management (Italy) Srl

Risanamento Spa

Royal & Sun Alliance Assicurazioni

Simmons & Simmons

Serantoni e Associati

Studio Cassinis

Studio Legale Ughi & Nunziante

Studio Pirola Pennuto Zei & Associati

UniCredito italiano Spa

Unilever

Vega Informatica Srl

Focus on Italy

BCCI - New Members

New Members 2007 - 2008 Member • Abbatescianni e Associati • Agenzia Imm. Sintesi Real Estate • Air One • Andrew Nalder • Anna Albini Notaio • Avv. Carla Maria Vanzin • Blomsbury International • Canterbury Language Training • Collyer Bristow LLP • Consulmarketing • Cork English College • Cushman & Wakefield • David Butler • Deutsche Bank • Dla Piper • EaseAwayLtd • Eckersley Oxford • EGL ITALIA • Euroinvestigation Srl • Exact Software Italia Srl • Exist Srl • Financial Reporting Service b.v. • Fininternational • Futura Immagine Srl • Giovanni Musanti • Hampsted School of English • I.E.C. Srl • IN3ACT • India Trading Srl • International Accounting srl • Italfinance srl • Laytons • Leeds Legal ltd • Legal Integration Ltd • Luca B. Fornaroli • M. Antonia Marsaglia • Martin Ford • Motorola Spa • Mr Robin Donald • Novaseta Spa • Percontratto srl • Pernod Ricard Italia • Rentokil Initial Italia Spa • Schinasi Insurance Brokers Spa • Scotti Ricevimenti • Segro • Sentinel Ch Spa • Serantoni e Associati • Società della Rotonda Srl- Wanted in Rome • Studio Bianchini • Studio Legale Avv. Crippa Sardi • Studio Legale Bossi • Studio Legale Schiavo • Tommaso Cannone • Unique New Zeland • Vega Informatica

Focus on Italy

Member type Branch Corporate Corporate Individual Individual Individual ELCS School ELCS School Corporate Sustaining ELCS School Sustaining Individual Corporate Sustaining Corporate ELCS School Corporate Sustaining Corporate Corporate Sustaining Corporate Corporate Individual ELCS School Corporate Corporate Corporate Corporate Corporate Corporate Sustaining Corporate Individual Individual Individual Sustaining Individual Sustaining Corporate Sustaining Sustaining Corporate Corporate Corporate Corporate Sustaining Corporate Corporate Corporate Corporate Corporate Individual ELCS School Sustaining

New Members The British Chamber of Commerce for Italy welcomes its 56 new Members. As you may know, we are a private non-profit making association, established in Genoa in 1904. Over the past 100 years we have helped countless companies and individuals to succeed in business between Italy and the English - speaking world. The BCCI helps entrepreneurs, professionals, managers or employees, with their own business between Italy and the UK. We offer not only marketing opportunities, but also a wide range of solutions in order to solve any kind of business problem they might cope with. The BCCI currently has over 400 Members who take advantage of the networking and promotional opportunities offered by the Chamber as well as its many different services. There are various categories of membership to meet the different needs of our Members. To have a general chat about joining the Chamber, you should contact Kelly Ben Frech, our SecretaryGeneral; to discuss the administrative side of membership, please contact Raffaele Brigida; commercial services can be discussed with Maria Rosa Allegra and advertising with Elena Marchese. If you need any further information please do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to welcoming you amongst our Members.

Focus Piemonte by Guido Vasapolli

Why Piemonte? In recent years Piemonte has undergone significant economic growth, not only by attracting foreign investment and multi-national business interest, but also by competing on the world stage with its own industries and services. It is emerging as one of the most productive regions in Italy. As well as being identified as leader in its field in many traditional industries, Piemonte has re-invented itself as a centre of excellence for research and development, communication technology and emerging clusters such as bio and nano-technologies. Tell us about your firm and what you do? My name is Guido Vasapolli and I am one of the Senior Partners of the tax and law firm Vasapolli & Associati, as well as the Piedmont secretary for the British Chamber of Commerce in Italy.

with its own established client base. We are also affiliated with The Leading Edge Alliance (www.leadingedgealliance.com), an international professional association of independently owned accounting and consultancy firms. These alliances give our firm access to resources that are invaluable to anyone interested in investing in Italy or abroad. To get more information on our professional services or to download our brochure “Doing Business in Italy” please visit our website www.vasapolli.it

With offices in both Milan and Turin, Why should international businesses we are a dynamic, growing firm of invest in Piedmont? professional certified public account- Piedmont is in the heart of north-west ants and lawyers with a diverse interna- Italy, a macro-region that represents tional client base. over 32% of ItaWe have extensive “ We know how to manage ly’s GDP, 41% of knowledge of the exports and 50% all the legal and fiscal cross Italian regulatory of imports, in a framework as well border issues a foreigner may strategic position as the international between northern face when investing in Italy environment and Europe and the or an Italian may face when how to cut through Mediterranean bainvesting abroad ” the complexities sin, ensuring high involved in differaccessibility of ing tax and legal jurisdictions. We know goods and people, at the crossroads of how to manage all the legal and fiscal Europe’s two vital development axes. cross-border issues a foreigner may face when investing in Italy or an Italian may As the top Italian region for private face when investing abroad. investment in Research and Development, Piedmont offers a blend of More specifically, we give expert ad- competencies and industries: autovice on international tax planning, motive, design, robotics, information corporate finance including start- and communication technology, aeroups, spin-offs, mergers and acquisi- space, agriculture and food processtions, company reorganization and ing, textiles, tourism, cinema, multiIPO’s. We also advise on establishing media and emerging clusters such as branches or subsidiaries in Italy, as bio and nano-technologies. well as company law, litigation, commercial contracts and real estate. With a fabric of highly specialised small and medium-sized companies, Vasapolli & Associati is also a mem- the industrial districts confirm the diber of Kreston International (www. versification of the economy. Flexible kreston.com), a global association of and high-quality Human Resources experienced, independent account- can meet the increasing needs for ading and business advisory firms, each vanced skills at competitive prices.

www.vasapolli.it

Guido Vasapolli Senior Partner Vasapolli&Associati

What does a foreign investor have to consider when setting up a company in Piedmont? When a foreigner wants to invest or to start a business anywhere in Italy, he must first determine which type of business structure best meets his needs: a representative office, a branch (permanent establishment) or a subsidiary (company). The establishment of a representative office is the best solution if the selling goods or if providing services is not expected. However, if any business activity is planned we suggest the setting up of a subsidiary (company), as the procedure is simpler than that necessary for the setting up of a branch, both from an administrative and fiscal perspective. In Italy there are basically two forms of company with limited liability; a jointstock company, “Società per Azioni”S.p.A (minimum capital investment 120,000 euro), or a Limited Liability Company, “Società a responsabilità limitata”-S.r.l. (minimum capital investment 10,000 euro). Most foreigners initially opt for the simpler structure, the S.r.l. In Piedmont there are several efficient public structures that can help the foreign investor select the best location for his business, organize technical visits and assist with contracts and authorization processes. They can also help to find appropriate employees and identify possible funding available on a regional, national or EU level.

Focus on Italy

Focus Piemonte

Torino World Design Capital 2008 Cultura, arte, sport, enogastronomia, musica e design. Sono tantissimi gli eventi in calendario per il 2008 in Piemonte, che sta vivendo la sua seconda giovinezza.

Logo di World Design Capital

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I risultati non sono tardati, a cominciare dalla nomina di Torino a prima World Design Capital per l’anno 2008: lo scettro di capitale del design, il cui leitmotiv è stato individuato nella

Il Piemonte è consapevole che puntare sui talenti emergenti è la chiave di volta per migliorare il proprio sistema economico

]

flessibilità, porta Torino ad assurgere quale città rappresentativa del design

Made in Italy: cittadini, imprese, mondo della formazione e istituzioni sono coinvolti negli oltre 200 eventi che caratterizzano il progetto, eccezionale occasione di sviluppo per l’intero territorio. Ma quest’anno Torino fa anche da cornice al XIII UIA World Congress of Architecture per parlare di Transmitting Architecture, l’architettura che comunica il senso della sua azione, progettuale e sociale. Il Piemonte, regione all’avanguardia capace di reinventarsi per essere sempre al passo con le tendenze del momento, è consapevole che puntare sui talenti emergenti è la chiave di volta

per migliorare il proprio sistema economico; la Regione ha quindi organizzato numerosi eventi come Start Cup Torino Piemonte 2008, la competizione dei progetti innovativi di impresa per trasformare i risultati della ricerca accademica in progetti imprenditoriali e avviamento all’attività d’impresa. Il business “alla piemontese” non ha risparmiato neppure lo sport, reinterpretando strategicamente la funzionalità delle strutture costruite per le Olimpiadi 2006; l’ente Torino Olympic Park, istituito per mantenere viva la passione olimpica radicatasi nelle persone, promuove nuovi eventi sportivi

Membri BCCI Piemonte Membro • Diageo Italia Spa • CEMIT Interactive Media Spa • Euro Transaltions Sas • Giordano Vini Spa • Oversea Sas • Settimane Musicale • Vasapolli e Associati • Deloitte & Touche Spa • PWC

Focus on Italy

Indirizzo Via Pr.ssa F. di Savoia 8/12, 10131 Torino Via Toscana 9, 10099 San Mauro Torinese (To) V.le della Resistenza 2, 10028 Trofarello (To) Via Cane Guido 47bis 50, 12050 Diano D’Alba (Cn) Via Massena 33/a, 10128 Torino Via Massena 33/a di Stresa e del Lago Maggiore Piazza Carlo Emanuele II 13, 10123 Torino Galleria San Federico 54, 10121 Torino Corso Montevecchio 37, 10123 Torino

Contatto P. Roberto Laura Ricci Patricia Chiesa Carlo Boggione Patrizia Canepa Giovanni Mediot Guido Vasapolli David Crackett Mark Winter

Telefono 011 6300111 011 2227411 011 6496520 017 323911 011 5579012-20 032 331095-30459 011 5611319 011 55971 011 556771

by Enza Di Marco

sulla giovane arte mondiale capace di soddisfare anche gli occhi più esigenti, intende investire soprattutto sugli artisti del futuro. Il Piemonte è davvero una regione-atelier tra gallerie d’arte ed esposizioni internazionali: dall’istituzionale Triennale d’arte contemporanea alle mostre di “stagione” una per tutte quella su Le Corbusier. Ma in Piemonte c’è anche posto per la musica, con Ivrea Jazz Festival l’evento

“

Experience the passion,

claim di TOP, riassume perfettamente il trend del Piemonte, una regioneatelier tra gallerie d’arte ed esposizioni internazionali: dall’istituzionale Triennale d’arte contemporanea alle Torino, "Le langhe a Sud di Torino"

e gestisce gli impianti diventati anche suggestive location per meeting, convention aziendali, cene di gala e fiere di settore. "Experience the passion", claim di TOP, riassume perfettamente il trend piemontese anche di altri settori: ecco allora che l’esperienza dei maestri cioccolatieri ha dato vita a Cioccolatò, la manifestazione per celebrare l’amore per il “cibo degli dei”, diventata punto d’incontro di golosi e appassionati del cioccolato dove spettacolo, cultura e

mostre di “stagione” ”

musica vengono miscelati per happy ciocco hour, piece teatrali, concerti e lezioni di cucina. La terra del gianduiotto ha altri assi nella manica per “fare business”: la storica Fiera Internazionale del Libro di Torino, contenitore poliedrico in cui antico e moderno si incontrano, quest’anno è dedicata al tema della bellezza-bruttezza; la dialettica tout court dell’opera d’arte ricompare guardando Artissima15, l’internazionale d’arte contemporanea: osservatorio privilegiato

musicale più “anziano” d’Italia, e per la tradizione con i suggestivi mercatini di Cherasco, punto di riferimento nazionale per il settore dell’antiquariato in genere: soddisfano i desideri di tutti gli appassionati di collezionismo, del mobile antico, del grande vintage, della ceramica, del vetro d’arte; mentre chi vuole appagare il proprio palato può gustare le leccornie sulle bancarelle della Sagra del Tartufo di Ivrea o sorseggiare un bicchiere di Barbera nelle tante fiere e sagre locali.

T2-triennale d’arte contemporanea: il pianeta saturno diventa simbolo di uno stato d’animo ideale per la creazione artistica • www.torinocultura.it

Palio di Cocconato: la corsa gli asini per vincere il vessillo del casato • www.cocconato.it

Piemonte è: Cioccolatò: punto d’incontro “gustoso” per gli appassionati del cioccolato • www.cioccola-to.it Ivrea Jazz Festival: le voci migliori del Jazz • www.jazzaicscontromusica.com Mercatini di Cherasco: antiquariato, collezionismo, ceramica e del vetro d’Arte, libro Antico e Carta, modellismo, prodotti biologici e naturali •www.cherasco.com

Fiera Internazionale del libro: il mondo sarà salvato dalla bellezza o sarà dannato dalla bruttezza? •www.fieralibro.it Saltinpiazza a Viarigi: artisti di strada • www.piemonte-online.it

Fiera del Tartufo di Alba: per celebrare il re della cucina locale • www.fieradeltartufo.org

Festival delle Sagre di Asti: per tornare alla vita dell’antica civiltà contadina • www.festivaldellesagre.it

Artissima15: internazionale d’arte contemporanea • www.artissima.it

Palio di Asti: 21 contendenti in gara per aggiudicarsi il drappo cremisino • www.palio.asti.it

La corsa delle botti di Nizza: rievocazione delle gare dei garsonet per consegnare il vino alle famiglie del paese • www.comune.nizza.asti.it World Congress of Architecture 2008 Torino • www.uiatorino.org World design capital • www.torinoworlddesigncapital.it Torino Olympic Park • www.torinoolympicpark.org

Focus on Italy

Company profile - SFIC

Quality and design of Singapore furniture at the Milan furniture show Singapore furniture introduces itself in Italy and Europe, during the prestigious furniture show held in Milan in mid April. The association of Singapore furniture makers has decided to launch an ambitious project for promoting its products and its brands focusing on the guarantee of quality at competitive prices. The furniture industry in Singapore in- launched a project entitled Mozaic cludes around two hundred businesses (www.singaporemozaic.com), with the with fifteen thousand workers, total support of SPRING Singapore and Insales turnover in 2007 of US$ 3.4 bil- ternational enterprise, whose task is to lion and annual growth of 15%. promote the values of the brand worldThe furniture built in Singapore has a wide. design which is an enchanting meeting “The culture of design and quality is point between the East and West. The very strong in our country” - explains quality meets high standards with nu- Simon Ong, Sfic’s chairman – “and at merous cottage industries and a grow- the same time a business culture has ing number of industrial firms which developed which coincides well with use valuable raw the European one. materials and soaim with Mo“ The enormous attention Our phisticated mazaic is twofold: propaid to defending the brands chinery. mote our brands The workforce has and our products and intellectual property competitive prices, rights permits us to guarantee and make the secalthough not as tor aware of the all the products made in low as those of potential of SingaSingapore ” other countries in pore as a platform the region, partly for the Asian marbecause employment conditions in the ket for European businesses, particuRepublic of Singapore are regulated larly Italian ones. We feel that we have and controlled. The result is a quality many cultural similarities with Italy” product at contained costs which sits in continues Ong – “ and we already have an interesting market segment, that of many Italian companies with a base in careful buyers who have the expertise Singapore. Increasing the exchange of to understand the value of the quality/ know-how and products is one of the price ratio. objectives of our presence at the Milan Singapore’s operators have come to- Furniture Show”. gether in an association, the Sfic, Sin- Singapore is considered a little to be gapore Furniture Industries Council. like the Switzerland of the region. It Around thirty of the leading businesses has a democratic and stable governin the country belong to it, and have ment, English is known at all profes-

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Focus on Italy

sional levels, and the technological infrastructures are cutting edge. This is the substratum on which the local furniture industry can count for on-going international growth, which is taking place at intense rates. But it is also the context in which the European businesses can operate in order to turn to the Asian market. “The strong sense of legality and the enormous attention paid to defending the brands and intellectual property rights permits us to guarantee all the products made in Singapore” - says Ong -. For this reason as well, the businesses which belong to Sfic are all companies which have passed accurate quality assessments and have a reliable structure both for production and on a commercial front”. The Milan Furniture Show has been therefore an occasion for getting to know a dynamic and fascinating sphere, undergoing sharp growth. A sphere which on the one hand promotes its products under a genuine global quality brand which guarantees the product and the company, and on the other hand offers Italian businesses opportunities which are culturally similar for gaining entry to the most dynamic commercial context in the world.

The furniture industry in Singapore includes around two hundred businesses with fifteen thousand workers, total sales turnover in 2007 of US$ 3.4 billion and annual growth of 15%

] www.singaporefurniture.com

by E.D.M. From the left: • Andrew Ng, President of SFIC • Nobel Design Holdings Ltd • Cellini Design Center Pte Ltd • Abitex Designs (S) Pte Ltd • Dionic (S) Pte Ltd • Simon Ong, Chairman of Singapore MOZAIC • Urban Foundry Pte Ltd • Home of homes Furniture Pte Ltd • Lorenzo International Ltd • The Home Merchant Pte Ltd

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Around thirty of the leading businesses in the country belong to SFIC, and have launched a project entitled Mozaic

] Focus on Italy

.P.S. Company profile - S.T.A.M

by Clementina Ferraiolo

S.T.A.M.P.S.: Time to Change Distribuito in Italia dall’esclusiva TimeHouse Italia srl, S.t.a.m.p.s. è un orologio dallo stile unico e con qualcosa in più: può essere personalizzato con loghi, marchi, foto, e diventare un gadget innovativo e un perfetto promemoria.

Croco Red

Battezzata il 18 ottobre 2006, con sede legale a Roma e operativa a Gallo di Comiziano in provincia di Napoli, TimeHouse Italia srl è la distributrice esclusiva del marchio S.t.a.m.p.s. in Italia. Dinamica e in continua crescita, la giovane società è guidata da un team anagraficamente giovane e con l’occhio rivolto al futuro, che vanta esperienza e determinazione tradotte in volontà di investimento e capacità di collocazione sul mercato. Ad oggi i professionisti che compongono l’organigramma societario sono: Mario Romano Amato, Rino Esposito e Alessandro Spigone; l’area amministrativa è affidata a Loredana De Simone e l’area design e tendenze all’artista Maria Teresa dello Iacono, in arte Mate. L’incarico di direttore commerciale è affidato a Giuseppe Pipola e la società Ferraiolo Comunicazione cura tutti gli aspetti legati all’immagine, alla comunicazione e alla promozione. Portata nella penisola italiana dalla TimeHouse Italia srl, S.t.a.m.p.s. è un’idea di tendenza sviluppata e affermata sul piano internazionale, che stravolge il modo di intendere e di indossare l’orologio. L’orologio S.t.a.m.p.s. è inconfondibile: si presenta come un francobollo perforato su tutti i lati, misura 42 X 42 X 5 mm, ha uno speciale adesivo 3M riposto sul retro, la durata della batteria è pari a due anni, è fabbricato in Europa e gode di due anni di garanzia. Qualità e innovazione si fondono in

Focus on Italy

un orologio dai mille usi. S.t.a.m.p.s. to dall’apertura a Caserta del primo è l’unico orologio con il sistema bre- monomarca, l’unico S.t.a.m.p.s. Store vettato clip & change, che permette di della penisola, totalmente dedicato sganciare e riagganciare l'orologio su all’orologio ed ai suoi accessori. tutti i suoi supporti, con la possibilità S.t.a.m.p.s. è mpegnato in partnership di indossarlo intercambiandolo facil- sociali di primo piano, a conferma mente dal polso al collo anche più di una mission aziendale fortemenvolte nel corso della giornata. L'ade- te orientata ai valori della solidarietà: sivo riposto sul particolarmente retro consente poi importante è la “ S.t.a.m.p.s. è un’idea di attaccarlo su collaborazione di tendenza sviluppata e qualsiasi superficon la Fondazione affermata sul piano cie, e lo speciale IEO, Istituto Eurosupporto di cui internazionale, che stravolge peo di Oncologia. l’orologio è doS.t.a.m.p.s., conil modo di intendere tato, permette di fermandosi tra i e di indossare l’orologio ” indossarlo al colgadget più richielo consentendo sti, è stato l’unico a S.t.a.m.p.s. di diventare anche una orologio inserito nella collezione delcollana. La molteplicità di utilizzi, è alla Fondazione dell’Istituto Europeo di tresì valorizzata dalla ricca collezione Oncologia nell’ambito dell’iniziativa di quadranti e cinturini e da un’infinita “Un regalo per la ricerca”. varietà di tonalità e materiali che con- Le innumerevoli esperienze di succestraddistinguono S.t.am.p.s. so italiane ed estere, le scelte di granLo scorso gennaio, nel grande spa- di marchi e di numerosi imprenditori zio espositivo dell’internazionale del attestano come S.t.a.m.p.s. sia uno Macef di Milano, TimeHouse Italia ha strumento promozionale eccellente, presentato la nuova collezione, capa- facilmente personalizzabile con imce di abbinare eleganza e spensiera- magini, colori, foto e loghi aziendali tezza: quattro cinturini in pelle martel- di qualsiasi genere. lata, due cinturini in pelle metallizzata oro e argento, trentanove modelli dai colori e i toni giusti per interpretare la primavera e l’estate. Centoventi i negozi in Italia in cui è possibile acquistare l’orologio S.t.a.m.p.s., con una rete commerciale che registra un costante trend positivo, conferma-

www.stamps.it

tezeta BCCI Member profile - An by Sean Carlos

Psst: Your Competition is ignoring Internet Search Marketing, are you? The inside scoop on how you can get a competitive advantage by including organic search engine visibility in your marketing mix. One of the primary goals of traditional advertising is to create demand for a product or service. An advertisement awakens latent demand by bringing attention to the product or service, or strives to create demand by informing us of a need or problem we weren’t yet aware of having. By advertising in a mix of traditional media (television, radio, cinema, billboards, magazines and newspapers), companies aim to increase their sales. The process is rather hit or miss: a return on investment (ROI) only occurs when a person, sufficiently motivated, passes through a shop’s checkout or orders a service. This ROI is notoriously hard to measure. John Wanamaker summed it up best when he wryly noted, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half” 1.

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Organic SEO remains a strategic investment utilized by a few enlightened companies

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Yet despite advertising’s uncertainties, companies continue to invest. In Italy alone, advertisers spent E 9,523 million in 2006, according to Utenti Pubblicità Associati (UPA)2. What if you could target your advertising investments to cultivating people who are already looking for products or services similar to yours? Or specify your products by name? People who tell us in two or three words their exact state of mind? People we can track, right through the “checkout” or other commitment action? What would that be worth?

break down Internet spending, the FCP/IAB4 consider six Internet specific categories (ad banners, e-mail/ newsletter, keywords, SMS, sponsorisation, buttons and other types). Search Marketing expenditure is the total of keyword spending, known also as Pay-per-click (PPC), and natural Search Engine Optimization (SEO) investments. The FCP/IAB report that sponsored PPC is getting only about 11% of the already small amount of the advertising budget allocated to the Internet. While they don’t yet track investments in Search Engine Optimization, SEO spending in North America during 2006-7 was around 16% of total PPC spending5. Organic SEO remains a strategic investment utilized by a few enlightened companies. If Search Engine Marketing (SEO and PPC) offers such great potential to precisely target and track potential customers, why aren’t advertisers dedicating greater resources to it? The most likely reasons are that: • companies are generally unaware of how search marketing is compared to traditional mass marketing • search engine marketing requires new skills and thinking • companies and their media agencies often don’t have search marketing capabilities in house, giving them a strong incentive to maintain the current marketing mix • like most young industries, the search marketing industry hasn’t yet consolidated on a single pricing model, making vendor comparison difficult • old habits die hard

In a companion article, available online at http://www.antezeta.com/focus81/, we look at how companies can insure a successful SEO project. Sean Carlos is president of the search marketing consultancy Antezeta, www.antezeta.com. He speaks English, Italian and German.

Also attributed to Lord Leverhulme Nielsen Media Research puts the figure at 8,608 million 3 The Osservatorio Federazione Concessionarie Pubblicità (FCP)-Assointernet, Iab Italia [http://www.primaonline.it/dati/grafico.asp?id=36] cites similar figures. 4 Osservatorio Federazione Concessionarie Pubblicità (FCP)-Assointernet, Iab Italia 5 MarketingSherpa’s Search Marketing Benchmark Guide 2007-2008 [http://www.sherpastore.com/Search-Marketing-Benchmark-2008.html] 1 2

Apparently not very much, at least in Italy. UPA report that 194 million3 was spent on Internet advertising – just 2% of the total spent on traditional and Internet advertising. While UPA doesn’t

www.antezeta.com

Focus on Italy

up BCCI Member profile - Ar

by Maurizio Teora

Arup Arup is a global firm of consulting engineers, providing engineering design, planning and project management services in all areas of the built environment.

• Florence high speed station • Beijing National Stadium

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Arup’s innovative and fully-integrated approach brings a full complement of skills and knowledge to bear on any given design problem. Arup exerts a significant influence on the built environment and is the creative force behind many of the world’s most innovative and sustainable designs. The firm has almost 9,000 staff working in 86 offices in more than 37 countries.

The ability to innovate to renew, to alter, to produce something new is central to the ideals of the Arup practice. Arup summarises its approach in one statement: We shape a better world

]

Arup has three main global business areas – buildings, infrastructure and consulting – although the multi-disciplinary approach means that any given project may involve people from any or all of the sectors or regions in which the firm operates. The firm’s fundamental aim is to bring together the best professionals in the world to meet its clients’ needs. Arup was established in Italy in 2000 in response to an ever-increasing demand and in respect of a high number of interesting projects. The firm’s main aim is to promote quality design through

the reinforcement of design ethics in the Italian engineering profession. With this in mind, Arup intends to act as a reference point for existing, potential and new clients as well as well-known architects, but without neglecting proposals from young designers. The team in Italy has grown rapidly and is continuously expanding, with more than 70 professionals currently operating from the Milan and Rome offices. People from Arup around the world work together with locally recruited staff on public and private sector ventures that include sports facilities, residential developments, office buildings, civil engineering and infrastructure projects, as well as consulting and project management services. All staff in the Rome and Milan offices speak fluent English. The services offered by Arup in Italy include: • Structural Engineering • Building Services Engineering • Civil Engineering • Acoustics Engineering • Lighting Engineering • Geotechnical Engineering • Transport Engineering • Project Management • Due Diligence • Façade Engineering and Building Physics • Sustainable Design • Sport Architecture

Arup has always striven to bring an innovative approach to its projects. This is expressed as “the constant search for a better solution to meet the client’s requirements.” This search for improvement has deep roots in the firm, from its establishment in 1946 by its founder, Sir Ove Arup. The ability to innovate is central to the ideals of the Arup practice. Arup summarises its approach in one statement: We shape a better world. This encapsulates the firm’s teamworking, creativity, belief in sustainability and global nature. Recent projects in Italy include: • Il Sole 24 Ore HQ, Milan (Architect: Renzo Piano Building Workshop) • Ice Hockey Stadium for the 2006 Olympic games in Turin, Italy (Architect: Arata Isozaki & Associates) • Le Varesine Property Development in Milan (various architects) • High Speed Rail Station in Florence, Italy (Architect: Sir Norman Foster) • Africa Institute of Science and Technology - Nelson Mandela Institution in Abuja, Nigeria (Architect: Massimiliano Fuksas) • New Pavillion in the Genoa trade fair district (Architect: Atelier Jean Nouvel) • Redevelopment of Piazza del Grano, Florence (Architect Arata Isozaki & Associates) • Vestebene new HQ, (Architect: John McAslan) • Ex-Mercati Generali, Rome (Architect: Rem Koolas) • Santa Giulia Housing development and Hotel in Milan (various Architects) • Portello - De Gasperi Pedestrian Bridge in Milan • Preliminary design of Naples seafront underpass • Rail cover and connected under ground roads in the city centre of Salerno • Programme Management services for Deutsche Bank • Due Diligence services for various investors

Captions for photographs The Beijing National Stadium for the forthcoming 2008 Olympics is one of the latest achievements of Arup’s global skills (Architect Herzog & de Meuron) courtesy of Arup. Arup’s multidisciplinary engineering at a glance: a 3D image of the Florence High Speed Station (Architect: Sir Norman Foster) courtesy of Arup.

Focus on Italy

www.arup.com

trazeneca BCCI Member profile - As by Elena Sala

AstraZeneca: ”Winning the right way” AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in research, development, manufacturing and marketing of prescription pharmaceuticals and a supplier of healthcare services. AstraZeneca is one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies with healthcare sales of US $29.55 billion and is a leader in gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neuroscience, respiratory, oncology and infection product sales. AstraZeneca operates in over 100 countries and has 29 manufacturing sites in 20 Countries, amongst which Italy. AstraZeneca is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (Global) as well as the FTSE4Good Index. With a broad range of medicines de long-term success depends on signed to fight disease in important ar further strengthening the flow eas of healthcare and backed by strong of new products, whether from science and wide-ranging commercial our own laboratories or from skills, we are committed to the sustain outside AstraZeneca able development of our business and the delivery of a flow of new medi• People the continued cines that make the most meaningful commitment and energy of our difference in the lives of patients. people is vital, and they need And we believe innovation is not just to deliver their about research: contribution it’s about turn“ We know that the way best to achieving our ing good ideas we do business, as well as business goals into best practice across all aspects what we do, is important of our business to stakeholders and the wider • Performance by keeping because the more society. Only by working our promises good ideas we in all aspects have, the more responsibly, can we earn the of our we can bring trust and confidence that make business and benefit for the pasuch a vital contribution to effectively tients’ health and our reputation and licence managing the add value for the associated wider society. to do business. Wherever we opportunities and risks, we Our business ob- have a presence or an impact, we aim to live up to our aim to drive a jectives are foperformance cused on four core values and make every that will place core areas: interaction count ” us among the best in the • Patients to industry bring the most benefit for patients and those who treat them, we must continue to understand what makes We sell mostly though our own national companies and our medicines a difference for them – and apply are marketed mainly to physicians that insight across all of our and other healthcare professionals. activities to ensure we remain We also talk to healthcare buyers to targeted on their changing needs explain the economic as well as the therapeutic benefits of our medicines. • Products for the future, we We work closely with our customers recognise that sustainable

www.astrazeneca.com

• Improving life quality • Entrance AZ (Basiglio - Milano)

and other stakeholders to gain the insight that is critical to understanding their changing needs. We know that the way we do business, as well as what we do, is important to stakeholders and the wider society. Only by working responsibly can we earn the trust and confidence that make such a vital contribution to our reputation and licence to do business. Wherever we have a presence or an impact, we aim to live up to our core values and make every interaction count. We are working hard to ensure that our high level values are translated into consistent, appropriate behaviours worldwide. We are making good progress, but there is still work to do to ensure that CR is consistently integrated into everyday business thinking. (details about our CR commitment and performance are available on our website).

Focus on Italy

synet BCCI Member profile - Ea

Best Practice Makes Perfect Martin Molloy, Service Management Director at Easynet, explains: "what separates good project management from bad project management?".

The answer is simple: best practice. services before they really know what Any project, no matter how seemingly the customer wants. At Easynet we straightforward, can easily spiral out make sure the project team –the peoof control. Unforeseen circumstances, ple who will actually be carrying out more commonly known as ‘real life’, the work– is involved at the very start before a solution can get in the way has been sold. of the best laid “ What separates good plans. understand The art of good project management from bad We project management? that it is our cusproject managetomers’ business ment is to plan The answer is simple: best objectives that will for the things you practice. Any project, no matter determine the kind know are going how seemingly straightforof solution that is to happen, and to plan for those ward, can easily spiral out of needed, and we you don’t. A solid control. Unforeseen circum- negotiate from this point of view. We set of best practice stances, more commonly try very hard to principles will not known as ‘real life’, can get get under the skin only ensure you of our customers do this, it will help in the way of the best laid to find out where you achieve conplans. The art of good project their business is sistently good results with all your management is to plan for the right now and clients no matter things you know are going to where it is going. what the circumhappen, and to plan for those Once the solution stances or the size you don’t ” has been decided it of the project. The is up to the project ultimate goal is not just to deliver on time and budget, manager to define the scope and objecbut to forge a relationship of trust with tives. Which parts of the project are the your customer that will last the dura- provider’s responsibility and which sit with the client? Make sure you know tion of the contract – and beyond. who all the key stakeholders are rather than concentrating solely on your initial Getting to the point Any project, from the building of a contact. Who are they reporting to and cathedral to the designing of a bro- what are their expectations? chure, must have a mutually agreed and accurate brief. A lot of providers A risky business go wrong by promising products and All projects carry risk. The difference

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(Left) • Managed Virtual Meeting, the newest addition to Easynet’s portfolio, is a high quality, secure video conferencing and application sharing service fully managed by Easynet • Easynet offices in Italy • Martin Molloy Service Management Director of Easynet

between a well run project and a badly run project is the recognition that the worst could happen and will need to be dealt with. Risks range from the common place and predictable, such as delays to part of the project due to the unpredictable and outlandish, such as flooding or fire. Not all risks can be dealt with, so, in risk management planning you have to decide your strategy depending on how likely the risk is and how damaging it will be if it happens. This will help decide your contingency plan. Clearly, the more closely you communicate with your customer, the more likely it is you’ll get an accurate picture of the project’s risks.

Communication Good communication is critical. The customer needs to know that the project is going to plan. Non-communication isn’t reassuring to a customer; in their mind it doesn’t mean things are going well, it means nothing’s happening at all. As part of our service, at Easynet we try to make sure our call ratio to the customer is 3:1 or higher. For every issue, the customer gets a call informing them of the issue, another to state how the problem

www.easynet.com

by Martin Molloy

people with direct experience within our customer’s industry. And we institute a formal escalation process so the customer knows that any complaint will be heard and, more importantly, dealt with.

Sergio Barbonetti Managing Director Easynet Italy

is progressing and a third when it’s been successfully dealt with. The relationship you establish now will last beyond the project. If you get it right from the start the customer is much more likely to trust you later. Communication should be handled in the initial project planning phase. Decide how often you’re going to communicate, through which channel and who will be involved. Quite often poor communication is enough to scupper a project. Informing the wrong person of the wrong fact means a vital piece of information could get lost. For this reason Easynet has a policy of sticking to small project management teams and keeping its personnel consistent. The customer should know who they’re dealing with and what that person’s responsibilities are, and vice versa.

The right people The relationship you build has to be based on trust. This is easier said than done when there are pressures on all sides. At Easynet we do this through a number of methods. We involve the project management team at the very start of the relationship and create a realistic project plan. We make sure all expectations are agreed on and documented, so everything is out in the open. We use small, skilled project teams so a personal relationship is able to develop and we try to assign

In a complex environment there will be times during a project when something goes wrong. Whatever it is, openness and honesty are the only ways to ensure that problem is dealt with efficiently. As long as you can show you are doing everything within your power to deal with that problem, the customer will be happy. Nobody minds problems, but everyone hates surprises.

Instituting best practice Modern service providers realise that best practice standards are not a casual thing to be followed or not followed at will, they are an important part of company policy. A provider builds a certain reputation based on the quality of the delivery of its projects, therefore that reputation should be maintained across all projects and customers. At Easynet we adhere to the PRINCE 2 standard and are in the process of making sure all our project managers are PRINCE 2 accredited. The standard covers the initiation of projects, planning, progress checking, communications, issue management and project closure and is completely scalable so large and small customers receive exactly the same levels of service. Excellence in project management isn’t difficult but it is a challenge. It requires a disciplined and steadfast approach with the right individuals, and an ability to stick to a plan. Many things can go wrong on a project to distract and annoy, but the important thing is not to panic. Sticking to the principles of best practice at all times will ensure that you deliver the project on time and to budget and that you build a relationship with your customer that will last.

About Easynet Easynet is an international managed networks and hosting company, delivering superbly managed solutions for businesses and enterprises. Owning extensive global network and hosting infrastructure, the company sets itself apart through customer service excellence. Easynet has customers in 50 countries and can deliver solutions in 194. Easynet’s approach is underpinned by professional excellence in understanding, designing, delivering, and managing customer solutions, its ability to work successfully with partners, and its attention to quality. The company works hard to ensure its customers are its best advocates. Customers include Sky, the Ford Motor Company, Kia Motors, Calor, Tchibo and Kellogg Italia. Easynet is part of the British Sky Broadcasting group, which has a total market capitalisation of £11bn. Easynet is the Official Networking and Hosting Company of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). Easynet Italy is managed by Sergio Barbonetti. - For more information visit www.easynet.com.

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act Software BCCI Member profile - Ex

by Josè Langens

Liberate your subsidiaries with Exact Software’s international solutions Exact, listed on Euronext Amsterdam since June 1999, is one of the world’s premier companies delivering business software solutions to international medium-sized organizations and smaller multinational subsidiaries. Exact offers one globally standard product and provides enhanced local support via a network of subsidiaries in more than 40 countries worldwide. By utilizing one multifunctional database to fully integrate all business processes and reduce information complexity, our products increase cost efficiency, decrease complexity and reduce implementation times. Success through better information management Our products are the result of more than 20 years of experience in developing and implementing software. Exact Globe and Exact Synergy represent the evolutionary success of these developments: a reliable ERP solution combined with a powerful information management tool – enabling you to fully integrate all business processes.

ized persons anywhere, anytime. The concept of a single source of truth is realized with a single database: your employees log in to the system, your suppliers see your stock and your customers use their own portal to contact customer support. “ Our first principle in Our first principle You enter data only in developing softonce, processes developing software ware is that emare translated into is that employees should ployees should be workflows and able to work with be able to work with it easily, knowledge is exit easily, quickly changed faster quickly and pleasantly ” and pleasantly. than ever before. Easily accessible Web browser interfaces make our solutions intuitive and Exact Globe: A product for all your user-friendly so your employees can needs start to work with them instantly and • Globally standardized with 40 not spend numerous hours in train languages and localizations ing. Innovation and technical perfec• Single entry and retrieval from tion are self-evident: Exact products one accessible, centralized use such advanced technologies as database scalable relational databases to ensure • Real-time information exchange the system can grow with the com• Latest technology pany. They are based on the latest In• One solution integrates all ternet technology, such as electronic business areas exchange of transactions (XML), to • Data is automatically linked to lower transaction costs. And they per people, projects, budgets and more fectly meet the requirements of typical • Easy to use mid-sized market operations. Exact Synergy: Increasing efficiency by Exact Globe: the foundation for suc- sharing information cess is a single source of truth In most organizations, only about 10% With Exact Globe you consolidate of employees have access to the inforevery valuable aspect and asset of your mation stored in their administrative or business in one place, making informa- ERP business solution. Exact Synergy tion instantly accessible to all author- can change that figure to 100%. Through

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• One standard product globally • Mr Red

easy and accessible Web-browser interfaces it provides employees, customers, suppliers and partners with real-time access to information throughout the entire organization. Furthermore, this information is always linked to workflows, projects, resources, plans, e-mails, documents and other relevant information. Thus, you unite and integrate all the information for your organization within one multifunctional database. Exact Synergy: Your advantages at a glance • Open communication with customers, business partners and employees • Complete, centralized location of all details that are crucial to your business • Immediate insight into day-to-day operations from anywhere at anytime • Centralized view of customers • Real-time financial reporting • Create, budget, plan and manage complex marketing projects • Intuitive knowledge sharing throughout the company Contact us: Exact Software Italia S.r.l Barbara Ravasio Via A. Ponchielli, 1 20063 Cernusco Sul Naviglio (MI) Italy Phone: +39 02 36 54 53 75 Fax: +39 02 36 54 53 74 E-Mail: infoitalia@exactsoftware.com

www.exactsoftware.com

lleria Gracis BCCI Member profile - Ga by Luca Gracis

Galleria Gracis. English Antiques in Milan The gallery showcases a superb collection from the early 18th to mid-19th century.

For nearly 50 years the Gracis gallery (founded in Milan in 1959 by Pier Giorgio Gracis and joined in 1983 by his son Luca), has specialised in English antiques and decorative arts, developing an in-depth knowledge and understanding in the field that has become a point of reference for experts and collectors from Italy and elsewhere.

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Luca Gracis, like his father, still spends many months each year in London keeping abreast of the market, visiting the major auctions and dealers and conferring with scholars and enthusiasts of English antiques.

Pier Giorgio and Luca Gracis are convinced of their belief in the value of bringing an intimate appreciation of English furniture to the Italian public

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The gallery in Via San Simpliciano 6, just moments from Brera, showcases a superb collection of bookcases, writing desks, tables, chairs, and clocks from the early 18th to mid-19th centuries, crafted by the best known English cabinet makers from Chippendale and Hepplewhite to Sheraton and Gillow. Indeed it is the only gallery in Italy to specialise in Queen Anne (1700) to Regency (1830) English furniture.

www.gracis.com

Apart from furniture Pier Giorgio and Luca Gracis are also devoted enthusiasts of Decorative Arts and antique English: silverware, scientific and medical instruments, ceramics, glassware and paintings. They were the first to present the ceramics of Christopher Dresser to the Italian public. Their show, held at the gallery in 2001 was mounted four years prior to the highly successful Triennal exhibition celebrating the extraordinary modernity of this master, today rightly considered a pioneer of ‘European’ design. This was just the first in a whole series of outstanding shows which gained wide and critical acclaim:

• George I period clock signed Charles Goode • A fine late Regency burr elm veneered pedestal desk with leather top • A breakfront cabinet of small proportions

It is this success, matched with the enthusiastic support of their customers, that confirms the belief of Pier Giorgio and Luca Gracis in the value of bringing an intimate appreciation of English antiques to an ever wider audience. Members of Associazione Antiquari Milanesi and FIMA (Federazione Italiana Mercanti d’Arte).

• Potted Colour: Christopher Dresser, founder of industrial design • Cloud and Whitefriars glass: forms and colours of English twentieth century glass • The Measure of Time: English Clocks and Barometers of the 17-1800s • Breakfast Tea Dinner: the English Table in the 18th and 19th century • The English Chair 1700-1840, presenting more than 50 examples • Miniature English Furniture 1730- 1890, the first exhibition of its kind in Italy • Objects of Vertu, fine items of fashion from 1700 to Déco • Emma Ciardi: a Venetian painter in London • BYÔBU: The Art of Japanese Screens and Furnishings • Beyond time: highly important English clocks

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.S.A.C. BCCI Member profile - GE

by Valentina Rigoldi

GE.S.A.C.: Safety, Security, Quality and Environment The Naples Airport management company is committed to the development of the services.

Istitutional picture of Naples airport

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In March 2003 GE.S.A.C. S.p.A - Gestione Servizi Aeroportuali Campani assumed total management of Naples International Airport with a 40 year license valid until 2043. The airport management company is fully responsible for managing the airport and coordinating and controlling the activities of all the private operators present.

For GE.S.A.C. the development of infrastructure represents an indispensable condition in order to provide higher quality The Society

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GE.S.A.C. was established in 1980 by the City of Naples, the Province of Naples and Alitalia as a majority stateowned company. The Alitalia quota was subsequently acquired by the SEA Group of Milan. In August 1997, each of the state agencies sold 35% of their share package to BAA, the world leader in airport management, which now owns the 65% of GESAC (in May 1999, BAA sold 5% of its shares to the Nola-based company of Interporto Campano). Fully aware of the strategic importance of private management for the future development of not only the airport but the city as well, the management and its public partners (the City and Province) decided to privatize Naples airport thus making it the first private airport in Italy.

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Traffic data From 2000 to 2007 overall traffic at Naples Airport grew by 40% thanks to the enhancement of both the domestic and international networks. Significant growth (+188%) was recorded in international traffic, which confirms the international vocation of Naples airport as well as the strong impulse provided by tourist flows: this extremely positive figure can be attributed to the increase in international destinations served by direct, scheduled flights as well as the enhancement of existing routes. In 2006 the important milestone of 5 million passengers was reached, with the celebrations for the 5 millionth passenger in December (at yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s end, some 5.1 million passengers were recorded representing an 11% increase over the preceding year). The final traffic figures for 2007 were 5.8 million passengers and a 13% increase over 2006. Specifically, the figures for international scheduled traffic in 2007 were extremely positive with a 16% increase thanks to the significant enhancement of the international flight network and the inauguration of new routes (with 37 international scheduled routes). In 2007 there was also a 15% increase, compared to the preceding year, in domestic traffic which currently includes scheduled services to 14 destinations.

The Airport Development For GE.S.A.C., the development of infrastructure represents an indispensable

condition in order to provide higher quality and more competitive services. From 1995 to date, the Naples International Management company has invested 150 million euro in developing infrastructure and services and is currently committed to a series of expansion and optimisation works for a more functional, safe and comfortable airport. By December 2008 the airport will have a new, larger and more comfortable departure lounge, the arrivals area will be doubled in size and a series of other scheduled works will be completed, introducing important improvements in the services for airport users.

New Flights In 2008 Naples International Airportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s network of direct flights will be significantly expanded to include 32 scheduled international destinations, 15 domestic routes and over 50 charter routes. During this 2008 season, some 27 airlines will be operating from Naples airport. The markets in which development is expected to occur in the near future and upon which the airport is currently focusing are Spain (consolidation of current flights) and the Scandinavian countries. Service quality and customer satisfaction represent an absolute priority for GESAC which has always operated with the objective of continuous improvement.

www.gesac.it

www.aeroportodinapoli.it

tel Principe di Savoia BCCI Member profile - Ho by Martina Bianchi

A World of Luxury Revered as a venue for celebrities, tycoons, the titled and the sophisticated insider alike, the Hotel Principe di Savoia, one of the Dorchester Collection, has stood as Milan’s symbol of gracious urban living for over 80 years.

The building’s imposing neoclassical natural colors of the walls and bathfacade envelopes a combination of rooms, contrasting the exclusive deep Old World luxury and cutting-edge blue or the ruby red of the fabrics, oftechnology and style. Each of its 401 fer extreme relaxation and comfort. guestrooms and suites is furnished to reflect the warm, elegant atmosphere The Hotel has just restyled the world of the hotel’s original, 19th-century famous Presidential Suite with its Lombard design. Spoil yourself with typical prestige and unequalled class. the impeccable cuisine of Executive The unrivalled suite includes among Chef Fabrizio Caits guests the most dei in the five-star “ The Hotel Principe di Savoia famous internaAcanto Restautional names, from is continuosly upgrading rant and immerse Royals to stars of the QUALITY and allure of its yourself in a world the movie and of total wellbeing services. AS WELL AS keeping up music industry: at the Club 10 FitQueen Elizabeth with the LATEST trends ” ness and Beauty II of England, Center. Beyond its George Clooney, luxurious appointments and ameni- Lenny Kravitz and Woody Allen, to ties, the Hotel Principe di Savoia is name a few. world-renowned for its uncompromising level of personal attention and The gem of the prestigious newly rethe too-often-lost tradition of service. furbished suite is the Master Bedroom. Immense thought has gone into the Always looking beyond and keeping design, which is evident in the deup with the latest design trends the tails of the room: from the Damascus Hotel Principe di Savoia is continu- straw-coloured walls produced by Ruously upgrading the quality and allure belli House, to the be spoke carpet of its services, first the Mosaic De- especially created for the Principe di luxe Rooms with their unique mosaic Savoia and inspired by an Aubusson bathrooms and contemporary feel, design. The Master bedroom features now sixty Classic Rooms have been a high-definition plasma “all in one” renewed bringing together a perfect which can be easily transformed from representation of style and tradition. an elegant framed mirror, to a televiThe rooms are furnished with Italian sion with numerous innovative funcfurniture and marbles and the soft tions such as IP television, PC, Media

www.hotelprincipedisavoia.com

• Façade of the Hotel • Private spa of the Presidential Suite • Mosaic Bedroom

centre, home theatre, Ipod and several others. In addition, the Presidential Suite features a private spa in Pompeii style, an area of 100 square metres with frescoed walls and a vaulted ceiling. A swimming pool, water massage, sauna and Turkish bath are the finishing striking elements of this pearl of Italian hôtellerie. Also located on the penthouse floor is Club 10-Fitness & Beauty Center, a relaxing oasis of psychological and physical well-being consisting of a wide gym, a heated 60-square-metre swimming pool, a whirlpool tub, a sauna, a Turkish bath and a wraparound terrace, as well as an open air solarium. On the ground floor the hotel has 13 rooms in belle époque style with frescoed ceilings, some of which represent scenes of old Milan. These rooms are all multi-functional, suitable for meetings, fashion shows, cocktails and dinner parties. The Galilei, Marco Polo, Veranda and Marconi salons can also be turned into one large hall of 700 square metres.

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uar BCCI Member profile - Jag

by V.R.

Jaguar: a great passion for unique cars Since 1922, when the company was established, the brand Jaguar has always been synonymous with luxury and elegance.

The new Jaguar XF

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Today Jaguar is one of the the designer leading companies of prestigious saloons and sport cars, exciting to drive. During past years, Jaguar’s product line has been deeply renewed introducing new captivating models on the market. Thanks to a process of technological

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Our mission is to create beautiful and exciting cars, which combine comfort and performance

development and continuos innovation, the brand has faced new challanges and launched new cars such as the X-TYPE and the exclusive STYPE, marked by a unique design. In keeping with to this, they are not only spacious, luxurious and prestigious saloons but also beautiful cars for passionate drivers of classic and sports saloons. Jaguar doesn’t stop here but it goes beyond, introducing the new XJ with its all-aluminum bodyshell (standard

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or long wheelbase models), the versatile X-TYPE with estate bodywork (the first estate model of the brand) the new sports XK with coupé and convertible bodyshell, all in aluminium. An amazing car, with a sporting character and very exciting to drive. Jaguar has always been willing to use the most advanced constructive technology, such as the monocoque in aluminium, combined with the traditional values of the brand: sportsmanship, high performance and comfort with a modern touch. Today the new XF launch marks a significant step in the brand history. A car with a unique and unmistakeable Jaguar design, technologically at the top of its category and at the same time in line with the most authentic Jaguar tradition. XF is the future of the brand. These important changes aim to go along with our customers wishes and to meet their needs, without moving away from our philosophy and our mission: creating beautiful and exciting cars, which combine comfort and performance, giving the client smart and

useful technology. The path towards modernisation should not break with the original Jaguar values such as prestige, quality and luxury. Excellence is what our customers require. Jaguar Italia S.p.A., a direct branch of Jaguar Cars Ltd, began to work in January 1991 as an importer for Jaguar in Italy and has its headquarters in Rome. Today it can rely upon a network of 40 dealers, 45 licensed machine shops (the majority carrying out both activities), provided with high specific organisation around the whole territory, and 13 licensed car repairers. In our organisation courtesy, efficiency and expertise go hand in hand with our great passion for unique cars. According to the Jaguar Philosophy, service to customers is our reason for being.

www.jaguar.com

oll BCCI Member profile - Kr by Sergio Salerno

How secure is your intellectual property? A focus on Italy’s fight against intellectual property crime.

• Copyright disk • Sergio Salerno Associate Managing Director, Kroll EMEA

About Kroll… With the global trade in counterfeit goods estimated at US$450 billion, businesses cannot afford to ignore the problems of intellectual property (“IP”) rights theft, infringement and piracy.

Major victims include American entertainment companies who feel that the Italian government has done too little to combat the illegal copying and downloading of movies, music, and video games. The U.S. ambassador Ronald Spogli recently commented, “Italy is still on a U.S. list of trading partners under observation about the level of protection for intellectual property.”

Threats to sensitive company information posed by hackers and would-be identity thieves mean that the security of a company’s The growth of this data and the secu“ The growth of this illegal market has rity of its future are intrinsically linked. illegal market has attracted attracted increasing involvement by increasing involvement organized crime. During more than by organized crime ” In fact, trademark 30 years of busiinfringement and ness and with 3,600 employees worldwide, Kroll other IP violations are now a big busidevelops solutions that protect assets, ness for the criminal groups in Italy. As prevent wrongdoing and ensure the such, it is viewed as a growing threat to the Italian economy. fulfillment of business goals.

...and about Italy Italians are victims because the country is, for example, a leading producer of luxury goods, and thus, Italy suffers huge losses when counterfeit handbags, shoes, and similar upscale products are sold in street markets or over the internet. According to a recent study by the Economist Intelligence Unit, during the past three years 20% of Italian companies have been affected by IP theft. But many Italians are also perpetrators. According to a recent study by the International Intellectual Property Alliance, Italy has the highest overall piracy rates in Western Europe and the trade losses due to copyright piracy are estimated to be at least US$1.4 billion.

www.kroll.com

In the last decade, improvements have been made, such as: • The Italian legal framework is extensive and mature and a series of recent laws have put Italian legislation at the forefront in Europe in matters of counterfeiting and piracy • In Courts, twelve specialized sections have been created to prosecute intellectual property crimes • A High Commissioner on Counterfeiting and Piracy has been appointed to monitor the problem and to make the private sector more aware of unfair trade practices • Italian Foreign Trade Institute has created worldwide fourteen “Anti-Counterfeiting Desks” to

provide technical and operational assistance to Italian companies • There has been increasing cooperation between the Italian government agencies and the private sector, as well as a renewed interest in working more closely with the United States to improve IP rights protection and enforcement Although important progress has been made, much more needs to be done, which is why Italy remains on the U.S. Watch List. In fact, according to the Italian Association of Retailers (Confcommercio), Italy remains the leading EU producer of counterfeit products. Sales of illegality copied products reportedly exceed E 7 billion annually, of which E 3.3 billion is in clothing, accessories, multimedia, and IT products. However, Italy has begun making strong efforts in the field of IP crime prevention and repression, obtaining significant tangible results: more than 90 million counterfeit products were seized in 2006, with a 30% increase compared to the previous year. According to the latest report published by the European Commission on the trend in the trafficking of counterfeit brand products, in 2005 the seizures performed by all customs services of the 25 EU member states only totaled an overall amount of about 76 million pieces. Nonetheless, more work has to be done on the Italian public, who still needs to be better educated on IP crime and to become fully aware of the damage that it causes to the Italian economic system whilst boosting the revenues of organized crime groups.

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anpower BCCI Member profile - M

by V.R.

Work Today. Understanding and finding solutions in the constantly evolving working world In an ever-changing world of work, it is crucial to respond to current needs and anticipate trends in order to be prepared for tomorrow’s challenges, to know how to read those elements of the present that anticipate what will happen in the future.

• A Manpower Branch in Milan • Stefano Scabbio President and CEO of Manpower Italy

It is crucial for companies that must develop new and different ways of thinking about work, identifying new opportunities. And it is crucial for people who must choose the best way – or ways – of turning their personal and professional objectives into reality.

ment Division submits only the most suitable job candidates to companies, taking both professional background and personal goals into consideration. Manpower’s regard for candidates is demonstrated even on its website – www.manpower.it – which offers more than 5,000 job opportunities.

Different demands, in a complex scenario that must be met with customized Today Manpower – one of the largest and specialized private employsolutions. Manin the world – “ In a complex scenario, ers power responds celebrates its 10th in a changing workplace, to organizations’ year in Italy. needs to be flexManpower creates and ible and efficient This anniversary produces services for with its Tempooccurs in a changcompanies and candidates rary Recruitment ing and fragmentthat allow them to make Services and by ed workplace developing ad where the only a winning choice in a hoc Training Proconstants are the costantly evolving working grams designed high standards of world ” to make the proquality that charfessionals chosen acterize all of the for client companies even more quali- solutions Manpower proposes. fied. Dedicated teams, specialized in In fact, Manpower provides compaworking solely with managerial or nies with support during changes in non-managerial jobs, satisfy the need organizational structure and in definto make careful and accurate person- ing development strategies for human nel assessment and selection. Man- resources, with business organizationpower’s Professional Division recruits al consulting and has divisions deditop and middle management candi- cated exclusively to certain, highly dates, while the Permanent Recruit- specialized technical sectors such as

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Information & Communications Technology, Banking Insurance & Consultancy, Ho.re.ca. and Health Care. Manpower was founded in Milwaukee in 1948 and today provides business solutions and personnel to more than 400,000 client firms in 80 countries. Manpower’s presence in Italy numbers 450 branches located through out the country, 2,000 employees and more than 30,000 people in the workplace everyday. Thanks to its international structure, Manpower provides employment for 2 million people each year and earns revenues of 21 billion dollars, guaranteeing its place as a leader in the work services industry and in supporting companies in the management of all phases of the employment cycle. To those who ask what do we do, our answer is that we create and produce services for our clients – companies and applicants – that allow them to make winning choices in a constantly evolving working world. In 2007, in Italy, we did just that for more than 120,000 workers – in both permanent and short-term employment – in more than 26,000 companies.

www.manpower.com

ison España BCCI Member profile - Ma by Nicoletta Fiumara

Delitti&Delitti. Team Building and Role Games Delitti&Delitti (Crimes&Crimes so to say) is a small company specialised in book games and team building with extra value and extra flexibility. Its core business is a unique murdergame format which doesn’t involve actors. Games, weekends, and team buidings run by Delitti&Delitti are a unique format where all participants become and play somebody else. Everything starts from a novel: all participants turn to be the characters of the plot they are in. According to their number, they will also play all the supporting roles and the background of the novel. The absence of professional actors has led to besides lower costs, • higher interaction • surprising sense of humour • exciting conversation Our Murder Dinner, for instance, is an enjoyable experience, where guests can have fun and relax. Murder parties and events “with no actors” are now a success: Delitti&Delitti averagely runs 3-4 events/week, based on a selection of more than 100 different plots. During 2007-2008 Delitti&Delitti organised events with more than 4000 players “on stage”. D&D has recently been working for top companies like Microsoft, Shell, Ferrari, Unicredit, Amplifon, and a wide number of other big companies.

A Murder Dinner With yourself as a character! Dinner starts: Each table is a team. Each team is a chapter of a book choosen amongs the many novels written by Agatha Christie. Everybody discovers who they are in that particular chapter. Page after page, the novel is played out by the whole group and before the end of the dinner the teams have all the necesssari clues, to imagine necessary to imagine the best possible solution for the mistery. After coffee time the teams present their solution, their work is underlined by special nominations (the most creative solution, the logical one, and of course the closest one to the original plot). Special prizes are given to the two best actors and to the best supporting roles. Murder dinners signed by Delitti&Delitti are developed

www.maisonespana.it

• We are in Syria. These little statues have just been found during an excavation • We are in a forest. One of the protagonists has taken refuge on a tree (from "Danger on the cliff") • Nicoletta Fiumara Director and founder of D&D

from the classic role game which was described by Agatha Chrisite herself in one of her most famous novels. Delitti&Delitti runs an average of 3 events per week and has tranformed more than 4000 players during 2007 in mistery characters.

One Day Play The play with a real audience There is no better way to build a team than dancing, singing and acting together. A musical is the enjoable show format that puts dancing, acting and singing (and whatever other talent you may have) together. 1 DAY PLAY is a special method developed to help your company put their favorite musical on stage, enhancing talents and working together towards a goal. 1 DAY PLAY brings extra values to your company (and your budget!) • A wide selection of plays to choose from, according to your

company's needs and objectives • A real theatre where to perform in • A real audience (the authorities, the local press and the people of the nearest villages) to play to 1 DAY PLAY will be the most interactive team builder yuo've ever experienced. It is signed by Delitti&Delitti, the italian specialist in interactive roleplays.

I Spy The only hunting race based on real spy cases Your team will travel from Russia to Santo Domingo, from Finland to Saint Barth to follow the most intriguing adventure of inspector Wallander. Step by step each team will be faced with different obstacles, problems to be solved, survival tests… I spy is suite to any season or location and will give your company the exact balance of physical and mind involvement.

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ntokil Initial BCCI Member profile - Re

by Rosa Manetta

Initial services in Italy Integrated hygiene solutions Rentokil Initial Plc employs 79,000 people in 49 countries, offering the strengths and experience of a multinational organisation, whilst retaining the agility and characteristics of a local company.

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The group is focused on delivering great service to its wide range of customers. Services include: pest control, package delivery, interior landscaping, catering, cleaning, washroom solutions and textiles. The company’s primary listing is on the London Stock Exchange. Rentokil Initial Italia was created in 1992 as a result of the acquisition of Calmic, a company engaged for more than 30 years in providing hygiene services. The company operates throughout the Italian territory through two divisions: Rentokil Pest Control and Initial Textiles & Washroom Services. Initial is one of the main divisions of the Rentokil Initial Group and is the Italian market leader on sanification

Initial’s mission is to create effective environments ents where people live, relax and work

]

services, with more than 12,000 customers nationwide. Initial’s mission is to create effective environments where people live, relax and work, by combining more than 100 years of property services experience with a forwardthinking and inspirational approach to personal service. With enthusiasm and a solid commitment to ongoing research and development, Initial’s commitment to quality within property

Focus on Italy

services remains constant while our drive to deliver is always dynamic. Initial also has a serious commitment to minimising the impact of our facilities services activities on our world, while the very nature of our services means that we positively contribute to environments. Washrooms represent one important image element for any kind of activity, including hotels, restaurants and public places, and often demonstrate the attention to details of owners or facility managers. Initial has launched the Elite Line to ensure the highest washroom quality and hygiene standards are always guaranteed for every user. This product line is extremely functional and reliable and its contemporary and clean design is the perfect fit for every washroom. The Elite Line offers a coordinated set of dispensers and a choice of high quality scientifically tested refills to meet the needs of every customer. Initial means specialized consulting, clear contractual conditions, and comfortable and hygienic washrooms. But it also means convenience: the Elite Line is offered through an innovative service solution, the Service Concept. Service Concept is a unique service proposition that combines installation, refills, stock management, periodical maintenance and technical assistance all in one cost. Thanks to this solution,

• Modular Airfresh: the electronic air freshening system from the Elite Line • One Dust Barrier at work: creating and maintaining clean and safe environments • Jumbo Roll Dispenser: one of the most successful dispensers of the Service Concept

no investment in time and control is required and a high quality service is guaranteed with no additional costs for the customer. The increasing attention to health and safety requires every company to ensure the highest standards of prevention are met at every moment. Initial can also help to create and maintain clean and safe environments with its Dust Barrier services. Dust Barriers prevent dust, dirt and moisture from entering into public and private facilities on the footwear of persons entering and circulating within. Rented floor mats are a particularly efficient way to keep a building clean, reducing frequency, duration, use of detergents and water consumption of floor cleaning. Initial will deliver clean Dust Barriers at pre-defined frequencies agreed with each customer, while collecting the dirty ones, guaranteeing maximum effectiveness of dust control at all times. Additional information on Initial services in Italy can be found by consulting the website www.initial.it, also available in English. With Initial you are in safe hands!

www.initial.it

ide Trust Consultants

BCCI Member profile - Worlw

by Stefania Lo Cascio

Worldwide Trust Consultants s.r.l. Editor, Congresses and Courses organization, Translations, Consultancy.

• Taranto conference - February 6th 2007 • Turin conference - October 16th 2006 • Trusts Journal

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Founded in 1997, our company’s main core business is the Editorial field and Congress organisation. In 1996 the review Trusts & Trustees – Italian edition was created and has been published until December 2007. In Ten years we have organised more than 30 conferences and published more than 800 articles about trusts matters.

]

Professional competence and energy are our distiguishing feature

Since January 2008, we have been publishing Trusts & Wealth Management Journal, a bi-monthly publication addressed to lawyers, auditors, bankers, fiduciary service companies. In this new publication there will be a special focus on the United Arab Emirates, China, India trusts and fiscal matters. In addition to this, we also cover news coming from all trusts jurisdictions. Specialised in Congress and Conference organisation addressed to lawyers and auditors, our company usually participates in international events and exhibitions in Italy and abroad, like: Shorex London 1997,1998,2000; Banking Solutions Forum Lugano 2004-2008. In April 2006, in occasion of the establishment of the interna-

www.trustsitaly.com

tionalisation commission of Confindustria Taranto, we organised a seminar for entrepreneurs: “CompaniesInternationalization-I.C.T. Strategies and rules to start up an internationalization project”. On June 8th 2007, during the celebrations of the Confindustria Bergamo Centenary (ExpoShow Bergamo 2007), our company was co-organizer of Bilateral Meetings between Bergamo Entrepreneurs and The American Consulate, The British Consulate, The American Chamber of Commerce for Italy, The British Chamber of Commerce for Italy, The Indian Chamber of Commerce, The Chinese–Italian Chamber of Commerce. On December 12th 2007, we organised a successful conference in Taranto, about “The technology at the service of business” with the support of Confindustria Taranto – Internationalization Commission. Two companies illustrated how to use technology to work in synergy with other firms, keep our data safe, use a personalised software and VoIP phone on a daily basis. We can also provide a translation service, including sworn translations.

Focus on Italy

Energia e tradizione al servizio del vostro business

Esperienza, affidabilitĂ e capacitĂ organizzativa. Oltre cento anni di storia al servizio delle aziende italiane, dal grande consumatore alla Partita IVA.

Atel Energia www.atel-energia.it - info@atel-energia.it Numero gratuito: 800.808.900

Milan - London - Finance by L.B.S.

UK Financial Services - Leading The World "There are a number of staggering statistics surrounding the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Financial Services sector", says Dr Laurence Bristow-Smith, British Consul General and Director for Trade and Investment Italy. London has over 70% of the global trading in international bonds, there are over 777 million futures and options contracts traded in London each year and over 1.3 million people are employed in the sector across the UK. In Scotland alone, considered the second largest financial services hub in the UK, one person in every 10 is now working in the financial services sector. This makes the UK both the leading global financial services centre and the most truly international financial marketplace in the world. There are over 200 non-British law firms operating in the UK. And in London alone, there are 255 non-British banks.

[

Asked what the UK financial services sector is doing here in Italy, Laurence explains that there are a number of UK banks with active operations in

The UK is the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest destination for Foreign Direct Investment and many Italian companies seem attracted to join the flow

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Italy - HSBC, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and Schroders are the ones that spring to mind. There are the British legal firms who advise on financial matters and many other aspects of the industry that are not always so obvious to the outside world. And, of course, communications these days mean that a presence on the ground is not as essential as it was in the past. So links are strong - and growing. The biggest recent event was the merger between the Borsa Italiana and the London Stock Exchange which took place in May 2007. Deputy ConsulGenera,l Steven Anderson, whose role is to promote co-operation in the financial services sector is keen to see more developments of this kind.

www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk

Dr Laurence Bristow-Smith H M Consul General & Director General for Trade & Investment

A strong relationship in financial services is a welcome foundation for a strong trading relationship, says Steven - two way trade runs at around E 30 billion a year. The UK is the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest destination for Foreign Direct Investment and many Italian companies seem attracted to join the flow. In the other direction, however, there remain problems. Complicated legal procedures, uncertain planning processes, restrictive labour laws bureaucratic delays - these are issues which deter UK companies, and others, from investing in Italy. Confindustria has been saying for some time that Italy attracts too little foreign investment and there have been a string of media reports in recent days. UK Trade & Investment, the UK government organisation which promotes trade and investment between the two countries, and which works out of the British Consulate-General in Milan, is keen to see changes which would allow British companies to take a more active role. Perhaps after the election, says Laurence, we will see some changes.

Focus on Italy

by Clair Todd

Milan - London - Finance

Borsa Italiana and London Stock Exchange Group to merge The merger creates Europe’s leading diversified exchange group. “This is our most important step yet in creating the world’s capital market”. These enthusiastic words come from Massimo Capuano, Chief Executive of Chris Gibson-Smith, Chairman of the Borsa Italiana, said: “Borsa Italiana London Stock Exchange Group which and London Stock Exchange are merghas entered into an agreement with ing to create the leading market in EuBorsa Italiana S.p.A. rope for listed securities and trading, The holding company, operating from with an innovative business model offices in London, Hong Kong, Milan that leverages the strengths of the fiand Rome, will maintain the two ex- nancial marketplaces in Italy and the isting brands. UK. The London Stock Exchange’s new Borsa Italiana S.p.A. is responsible for trading platform, coupled with Borsa the organisation and management of Italiana’s efficiency in post trading, the Italian stock exchange. Established will foster growth opportunities for all in 1997, following the privatisation of stakeholders from the pooling of lithe exchange, it became operational quidity and product innovation”. on 2 January 1998. Its primary objective is to ensure the development The combined group will bring togethof the managed markets, maximis- er two successful and highly efficient ing their liquidity, transparency and businesses, coupling the strengths of competitiveness and at the same time Borsa Italiana in Italian cash equities, pursuing high levels of efficiency and derivatives, securitised derivatives, profitability. Borsa Italiana markets fixed income products and post-trade experienced a strong start in 2007, services with those of the London reaching all-time Stock Exchange highs for cash and “ Borsa Italiana and London in UK and interderivatives turnonational equities. Stock Exchange are merging ver, with an inMoreover it will creasing number to create the leading market capture the attracof IPOs. in Europe for listed securities tive macro-ecoThe London Stock nomic and market and trading ” Exchange is the growth dynamics most international of Italian equities equities exchange in the world and and bring together the best of the ItalEurope’s largest pool of liquidity. It ian and UK marketplaces. is also a Recognised Investment Ex- Clara Furse, Chief Executive of the change (RIE) under the Financial Serv- London Stock Exchange, affirmed: ices and Markets Act 2000 and is su- “The combined group will have within pervised by the Financial Service Au- it the capabilities and the additional thority. The London Stock Exchange scale, efficiency and diversity to prohas made a very good start to the new vide what our markets want”. Financial Year with strong trading in all main business divisions. For example they expect to derive With an innovative business model that revenue synergies from the following leverages the strengths of the financial areas: marketplaces in Italy and the UK, the merge contributes to the creation of • Creating attractive cross-market the European financial marketplace, access opportunities and aimed at reaching a global dimension. enlarging the liquidity pool

[ 40

] Focus on Italy

From the left: • Angelo Tantazzi Chairman of Borsa Italiana • Clara Furse Chief Executive of London Stock Exchange Group • Massimo Capuano Chief Executive of Borsa Italiana • Chris Gibson-Smith Chairman of London Stock Exchange Group

available to listed companies • Accelerating the development of the SME marketplace in Italy and other European markets • Linking the two equity derivatives product offerings, thereby creating a larger liquidity pool for existing and new products • Adding new bond products on to the MTS trading platform • Expanding Borsa Italiana’s highly efficient clearing services to other European markets The transaction is expected to be earnings neutral to positive in FY 2008 and earnings accretive by at least 10% in FY 2009. Through the merger, Borsa Italiana and the London Stock Exchange are creating the leading and most diversified exchange group in Europe which will serve as a platform for additional strong growth on a continental and global scale.

www.borsaitaliana.it

www.londonstockexchange.com

l Page

Michea Milan - London - Enterprise

by Nicolas Béchu

That’s why I chose to work at Michael Page From a small London consultancy, Michael Page has grown to become a renowed international company based in Italy and in other 25 Countries, with more than 149 offices and over 5.000 staff.

• Milan Head Quarter • Mr. Béchu Managing Director Italy

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Micheal Page International is one of the world’s leading recruitment consultancies. Micheal Page business starded in London in 1976. Mr. Béchu, Managing Director Italy, explains us

Each Talent is unique. Our ability is to recognize it

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the story and the success of MPI in the world, with a focus on Italian market.

What is the origin of the Michael Page brand? From a two-man operation above a launderette some thirty years ago, Michael Page has grown to become one of the world’s leading recruitment consultancies. Our business started in 1976 in London, placing accountants into permanent positions in the UK. While recruitment is a cyclical business, the Group’s strategy has always been to expand both geographically, nationally-internationally, and in the professional disciplines in which it sources candidates. Additionally the business has expanded into providing candidates on permanent contract, interim or temporary basis. Since the beginning, the MPI Group’s growth has been entirely organic with a strong emphasis on utilising experienced

www.michaelpage.com

employees to start new offices, disciplines and country openings, creating long term career opportunities for the staff.The Group’s track record since 1976 demonstrates the long term success of this strategy. The Group has always been profitable throughout a number of economic downturns and has continued to expand in these downturns. What are the key factors that allowed Michael Page to become well known all over the world? There are several unique characteristics that set us apart: we employ specialist recruitment consultants for each job sector that we cover. This ensures every consultant is an expert on their specific industry and is able to offer expert advice to both employers and job seekers. Moreover the Michael Page brand is among the most widely recognised in the professional recruitment industry. Our globally recognised brand attracts the highest quality jobseekers and a broad range of blue chip employers. Each year more and more job seekers and employers engage Michael Page as a result of a personal referral. This is a testament to the high level of professionalism and service that has established Michael Page as a market leader in the professional recruitment sector. What do clients/companies expect

Things you didn’t know about Michael Page International Every year since 1992, Michael Page International has been the largest recruitment Advertiser in the FT. In 2000 it accounted for more than double the volume of advertising of the next three recruitment advertisers. Every nine minutes Michael Page International helps professionals by placing them into new roles. Throughout 2007/2008, Michael Page is aiming to raise over £ 150.00 for Cancer Research.

from Michael Page? The role of a recruitment consultancy is to act as an intermediary, identifying and sourcing suitably qualified candidates on behalf of its clients. Candidates are recruited either for permanent positions or on a temporary basis. Our role is to work with employers and job seekers to facilitate a successful match. This can range from advising a global company on a candidate sourcing strategy to helping job seekers find their dream job thanks to professional and personalised career advice.

Focus on Italy

Marinella Milan - London - Enterprise

How did the Marinella brand come to life? Maurizio Marinella tells us the story of the ties worn by the most elegant and famous men in the world.

Mr. Duchatellier Regional Managing Director Continental Europe

When did you enter the Italian market? What were the biggest difficulties you faced? We opened our first office in Italy in Milan in July 1997. The main problems we had to cope with were a lack of knowledge of our business and low outsourcing of recruitment (as a comparison in the UK, 90% of recruitment is outsourced instead of 3% in Italy when we opened our 1st office). The best way to find a job was to question friends, relatives or also to apply spontaneously. Moreover there were lack of international competitors and really strict labour laws. The TREU law (June 1997) and the BIAGI law (Sept. 2003) improved the situation. In the end, we had to convince the market of our innovative approach of recruitment, based on technical interviews (instead of pyschological) conducted by specialised consultants, previously experienced in the business they recruit for. Which adjective better characterize your brand? Tough question! People is of course the key element of our business and what makes Michael Page special is the values we build around respect, passion, teamwork, Pride… and fun!

Focus on Italy

Marinella's Ties

In 1914 my grandfather, Don Eugenio Marinella, decided to open a shop in Piazza Vittoria on the elegant Riviera di Chiaia in Naples, showing a undeniable dose of courage and entrepreneurial spirit. He had always been charmed by English fashion and had for a long time dreamed of creating a “little corner of London in Naples”. When the trendy Caffettuccio bar, which faced Piazza Vittoria, put its 20 square metres tea room for sale, my grandfather jumped at the opportunity. Very soon the location turned out to be strategic because it was a meeting and refreshment point for all those who enjoyed promenades with carriages or horses on the Riviera. In Marinella’s boutique you could discover authentic treasures of style and refinement of typical English taste which soon became very popular amongst the most snobbish Neapolitans and the foreign tourists that were on holiday in the “Bel Paese”. I think of Floris and Pehaligon’s perfumes, Breamar knitwear, Aquascutum raincoats, Dowson shoes or of the Brigg umbrellas and walking sticks. As a matter of fact, the fabrics with which we make our ties are English and in many cases my suppliers are the descendants of the same suppliers with whom my grandfather traded. Then, due to the War and the subsequent commercial restrictions which outlawed imports, my grandfather began to produce tailored shirts and ties which were to become our “core business”.

What has made Marinella famous all over the world? Who is Marinella’s target client and what does he like? E. Marinella is now the symbol, as it was in the past, of Italian but especially of Neapolitan craftsmanship. It’s a brand with a great experience in quality and ancient traditions. Marinella means not only elegance and style but also warmth and welcoming in the best of Italian ways. It’s no surprise I welcome my customers by offering them a good cup of coffee with our Neapolitan sfogliatelle. When the customer visits us we make him feel pampered and personally assisted whether he buys an off the rack tie or he chooses from the many squares of fabric from which the tailored tie will be made …Talking about Marinella ties means talking about a completely handmade and tailored product where the tailor’s skills and the accurate selection of English printed silks, which I personally select, are of fundamental importance. Still today, just like at the beginning of the century, Marinella ties are worn around the necks of all the most elegant and famous men in the world: royals and heads of state, top politicians and businessmen, celebrities from show-business and the arts. All the American presidents from Kennedy onwards wore one, including Bill Clinton whose wife, Hillary, gave him one as a present. Today, our famous customers include Prince Charles of England and Prince Albert of Monaco, King Juan Carlos of Spain, all the Italian Presidents from Cossiga, Scalfaro, Ciampi to Napolitano, as well as Putin and the latest in order of time Sarkozy, but also some important representatives of Italian politics such as Berlusconi and Fini, Rutelli and D’Alema. Extremely different men that have good taste in common, men for whom a Marinella tie is a true “classic knot”, a symbol of Italian elegance, recognizable but not showy. When did you go beyond the Italian market? Which were the biggest difficulties you encountered? In 1995 I took our ties to New York for the first time, where a corner in

www.marinellanapoli.it

by Pina Draskovich

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• Maurizio Marinella Sole Administrator of E. Marinella SNC • Tie and pack

When I think of Marinella’s world it’not an adjective that come to my mind but a word: emotion. I wish this be the same for our clients

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the prestigious Bergdorf Goodman department store had been set up and, thanks to the positive welcome the American market gave us, we’ve still kept it going. Then it was the turn of Paris at the prestigious George V Hotel, last year we arrived in London at the Dorchester Hotel and we then

opened our first one-brand boutique abroad in Tokyo. I must honestly say we have not had particular problems taking our product abroad because it had already been anticipated by a good visibility also thanks to our many foreign customers that over the years have discovered our ties and that have contributed to spreading awareness of our brand abroad. How do you feel now you’re the most famous tie company on a national and international level? The first word that comes to my mind

is PROUD…Of course a great responsibility but also an honour. An honour which is also proved by the two symbols in our logo, one is of the Borbonic House and the other is of the ancient Order of the Garter, a title of honour given by the Royal House to the official suppliers. Furthermore my grandfather decided to insert the words “shirt-maker and outfitter” in our logo in order to underline with the second definition his wish become a benchmark for Italian fashion and style.

Focus on Italy

ry - Toni&Guy

by Toni Mascolo

Milan - London - Success Sto

Toni&Guy, History and Overview TONI&GUY was founded in 1963 and has since grown from a single unit in Clapham, South London to a multinational company comprising salons and academies worldwide, a wide range of products, plus a growing portfolio of associated companies.

• Kaizen, the 2007-2008 collection • Toni Mascolo • Toni&Guy salon in Milan

Founded by the Mascolo brothers Toni and Guy, who arrived in the UK in the early 60’s, and were later joined by Bruno and Anthony, the company is now considered a pioneer and innovator, that has contributed to changing the face of the hair industry on an international scale.

Toni&Guy, today

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The tradition lives on with the next generation of Mascolos following in their father’s footsteps. The creative design now lies in the capable hands

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Toni&Guy: a lifestyle choice, not just a hairdressing appointment

of Toni’s eldest child Sacha MascoloTarbuck, while the commercial side of business is masterminded - as ever - by Toni Mascolo. Toni’s eldest son Christian co-launched the sister brand Essensuals whereas Sacha’s husband James Tarbuck masterminded the newly formed TONI&GUY Media Department. In fact within the salons, clients do not only experience a great hair style, but also watch TONI&GUY TV (launched in March 2003), read the TONI&GUY magazine (launched in October 2003), enjoy extended consultation time and take away samples of luxury brands exclusive to the

Focus on Italy

Toni&Guy, experience. Toni Mascolo – CEO and founder of TONI&GUY – has been awarded the equivalent of a knighthood by the President of the Italian Republic. The honour of ‘Cavaliere Ufficiale’ – the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (OMRI) - is one of the country’s highest and was presented to Toni by the Italian Ambassador in London, Giancarlo Aragona. The company currently comprises two global, franchised hair salon groups (about 405 salons worldwide), two professional product ranges, two retail product ranges, an Italian-style delicafé chain and companies specialising in IT support, salon design, salon supplies and financial services. Toni&Guy salons are set up to offer a consistent level of service, guaranteed quality, a fantastic image and affordable hairdressing throughout the world. The simple but well-designed salons offer a centre of excellence for great customer care, exceptional cutting and innovative colour. All the techniques practiced by the stylists are taught by highly experienced educators in about 30 academies around the world. From ‘catwalk to client’ sums up the TONI&GUY salon philosophy, as fashion trends are adapted to suit individuals and looks are tailor-made for suitability and maximum impact.

Salon design is constantly evolving and responding to the client’s needs without resorting to gimmicks, and with its instantly recognisable branding is a feature of every high street. A strong image, great atmosphere and a guarantee of up-to-the-minute professional hairdressing has made TONI&GUY the market leader for more than 40 years. TONI&GUY has four comprehensive, quality hair care ranges - Label.m, TONI&GUY, TONI&GUY Men and Model.Me. Each range is different in approach but shares one defining factor - it’s dedicated to helping you to gain maximum results according to both your hair type and individual style.

Toni&Guy in Italy The company arrived in Italy in 1997, under the leadership of Sergio Carlucci and Charity Cheah, with the opening of the first flagship salon in Milan, 27, via Vincenzo Monti. The company, which comprises 10 salons in the main Italian cities (Bergamo, Bologna, Como, Milano, Modica, Roma, Torino, Treviso, Verona) and the famous Milan Academy, is now oriented towards a careful and selective expansion always pursuing customer satisfaction thanks to the high quality of its specialists, the techniques and the products.

www.toniguy.com

ry - Burberry

Milan - London - Success Sto

by V.R.

Burberry: quality and British sense of style In 1856 Thomas Burberry, a 21 year old draper’s apprentice opened a small outfitters shop in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England.

• Burberry fashion show • Burberry Warrior Bag • Burberry store in Poznan (Poland) • Down: Burberry logo

Thomas Burberry was ambitious and he saw himself as more than simply a supplier of clothing. Burberry called himself a “dress reformer” and was constantly looking for ways to improve the wearability and performance of his clothing designs. Within a few years, Burberry’s range of merchandise had grown to include jackets, mufflers, accessories and eveningwear; its word had spread well beyond Hampshire and customers, in particular sportsmen and women, arrived from far and wide.

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The company is now an internationally recognised luxury brand with a worldwide distribution network

By the late 1870’s Burberry produced a high-performance cloth then treated with a unique proofing process that rendered it rainproof, tearproof and wearable in all seasons; he named it “gabardine”. After just a few years, Burberry goods were in strong demand at home and abroad. So in 1891 the company, known as Thomas Burberry & Sons, moved to the West End of London at 30 Haymarket. From its earliest days, Burberry has enjoyed the honour of purveying

www.burberry.com

clothing to royalty and his audience began to broaden in the middle part of the twentieth century. Currently the Creative Director is 36 year old Christopher Bailey. After some experiences at Gucci (Milan) and Donna Karan, Bailey joined Burberry in 2001 as Creative Director; now he is also responsible for all collections and for the global image of the company.

The Symbol To reflect its growing status and convey the quality of its products to an international audience, in 1901 the company devised a corporate emblem: an equestrian knight-in-armour (that represented integrity, protection and innovation) completed by the latin word “Prorsum” (which means “forward”, underlining the associations with progress and invention). The symbol features on Burberry clothing to this day.

presence and it featured in a string of unforgettable movies scenes.

Burberry in Italy The brand arrived in Italy thanks to the Magnani family and the first Italian Burberry store opened in Milan in September 2003. Burberry’s store on Via Verri, Milan, showcases the brand’s Burberry Prorsum and Burberry London menswear, womenswear and accessories as well as childrenswear and the Burberry House Collection. Other stores are present in Bologna, Porto Cervo, Rome and Florence. One hundred and fifty years after Thomas Burberry opened his small outfitter’s shop, his name is syonymous with quality and British sense of style and the company is an internationally recognised luxury brand with a worldwide distribution network.

The Trench Coat In the Great War of 1914-18 the company was commissioned to adapt its gabardine coats for combat in the trenches. This set the template for what would become “the trench coat”. In peacetime, the trench coat would come to denote independence, elegant and enduring style. Hollywood’s ladies made it part of their on-screen

Focus on Italy

30 tavoli • Black Jack • Caribbean Stud Poker • Punto Banco • Roulette Americana • Roulette Francese

Lake’s sound 4

• Texas Hold’em • Omaha • Seven card stud 350 slot machines • Roulette automatica • Corsa dei cavalli • Super Cherry 2000 Servizi • 5 bar • Ristorante panoramico • Valet Parking gratuito

Orari d’apertura Domenica - giovedì 12 — 04 Venerdì e sabato 12 — 05 Informazioni T +41 91 9737111 W www.casinolugano.ch

Nice sound

Art & Culture - Palazzo Reale

Milan by E.D.M.

Palazzo Reale: da centro politico a polo culturale A due passi dalle vie dello shopping milanese, si trova uno dei cuori pulsanti delle vita culturale del capoluogo lombardo.

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Milano città della moda, del design, dei broker in giacca e cravatta, dei giovani ultra griffati, dei locali più cool del momento; ma la Londra “nostrana” racchiude un altro volto celato proprio nella centralissima Piazza Duomo, a due passi dalle vie più glamour dello shopping e delle tendenze del momento: sede del governo della città dal basso Medioevo, oggi Palazzo Reale è uno dei poli attrattivi mag-

Da cornice a cavalletto, a piedistallo, Palazzo Reale è cornice cangiante capace di valorizzare qualsiasi opera d’arte

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giormente rappresentativi della città e, insieme alla Rotonda di via Besana, al Palazzo della Ragione e al Palazzo dell’Arengario, dà vita ad una delle aree culturali più esclusive e prestigiose del territorio milanese. Centro politico nel periodo delle signorie dei Torriani, Visconti e Sforza, assume carattere teatrale di una fastosa vita di corte, fatta di investiture e ricevimenti solenni, per poi diventare sul finire del XXVIII secolo palazzo di regnanti, del calibro di Maria Teresa, Napoleone, Ferdinando I fino ad ospitare i Savoia d’Italia, grazie alla trasformazione neoclassica attuata da Giuseppe Piermarini. Istituito proprietà dello Stato nel 1920, il Palazzo venne in parte distrutto dai bombardamenti del ’43 ma oggi, dopo una difficoltosa op-

era di restauro, è stato restituito alla città divenendo ben presto cuore pulsante della vita culturale e societaria del popolo milanese. L’opera di recupero ha però volutamente lasciata, nella sua forma semidistrutta, la Sala delle Cariatidi a memoria di uno dei periodi più neri della storia italiana e non solo; in altre stanze sono invece proposti mobili e arazzi dell’epoca sette-ottocentesca nonché stucchi e soffitti restaurati, finiture e decorazioni sapientemente riportati alla luce. Palazzo Reale si presenta oggi con una fisionomia del tutto rinnovata: sede di prestigiose esposizioni, location suggestiva per mostre di pittura, scultura e fotografia, l’intera superficie è un museo in fieri, che si trasforma per l’occasione in cenacolo al femminile per ospitare Artemisia Gentileschi, Sofonisba Anguissola, Frida Kalho, Tamara de Lempicka, e un altro centinaio di donne diventate emblema di quelle artiste che hanno dovuto lottare per affermare la loro pittura perché vittime, molto spesso, di pregiudizi e violenze. Ma calato il sipario del circolo di donne, a Palazzo Reale aleggia un’atmosfera conturbante con la mostra dedicata al fotografo americano Joel Peter Witkin le cui fotografie di rara intensità indagano il lato oscuro dell’universo; attraverso immagini barocche, mostruosità, lacerazioni del corpo e della mente Witkin seduce e infastidisce l’osservatore esprimendo la decadente bellezza della fine. Le sale dell’ex Museo della Reggia ven-

• Scalone • Palazzo Reale • Facciata

gono, invece, aperte al pubblico in occasione della mostra “Canova alla corte degli Zar” in cui Le tre Grazie e La Danzatrice con le mani sui fianchi, insieme ad una quarantina di altre opere provenienti dall’Ermitage di San Pietroburgo,raccontano il periodo neoclassico attraverso le maggiori raccolte di scultura di tutti i tempi, dalle statue classiche ai marmi moderni. Ma se la cultura milanese e lombarda in genere si è sempre identificata con il futurista Umberto Boccioni, nel secolo della globalizzazione Palazzo Reale porta in città una ventata di internazionalizzazione con la retrospettiva dedicata ad un altro celebre futurista Giacomo Balla: la mostra “la modernità futurista’ segna l’inizio di una stagione ambiziosa che impegna tutta la città in una collaborazione virtuosa tra istituzioni e privati, con importanti esposizioni come quella dedicata al fotografo Avedon, o ancora quella su Kiefer o Bacon: un insieme di opportunità di diverso livello a dimostrazione della dimensione internazionale delle attività culturali milanesi. Da cornice, a cavalletto, a piedistallo, Palazzo Reale è struttura cangiante capace di valorizzare qualsiasi opera d’arte esposta al suo interno: dai paesaggi metropolitani snaturati ad artem da Giustino Chemello a wunderkammer manieriste e barocche imprigionate nel chiuso di conventi e freddi palazzi mitteleuropei riprodotte da Massimo Listri.

Le foto di questo articolo sono di Gallico - ArtLab (ad esclusione di quelle di Giustino Chemello). www.comune.milano.it/palazzoreale

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Art & Culture - Exhibitions

Fondatore nel 1981 con Vittorio Sgarbi della rivista FMR, abbraccia giovanissimo la strada della fotografia esordendo con una serie di ritratti in bianco e nero che raccontano alcune figure nodali del ‘900. La sua capacità è quella di far emergere la bellezza celata dalla polvere del tempo, sia essa quella d’un giardino negletto oppure la vita ancora vibrante di un’antica tela. La formidabile capacità di Listri è portare alla luce un mondo decorativo di stanze, spazi monumentali, antiche biblioteche e palazzi talvolta abbandonati all’oblio, cercando con lo sguardo simmetrie e particolari geometrici su muri, capitelli e volte. Ma Listri è altrettanto noto per la sua capacità di registrare il senso più alto dell’architettura: per anni ha esplorato wunderkammer manieriste e barocche rinserrate nel chiuso di conventi e freddi palazzi mitteleuropei, si è immerso nell’oro e marocchino rosso delle grandi biblioteche rocaille, ha scavato in archivi e tesori ecclesiastici, nel fasto mediceo delle pietre dure, tra l’ambra, l’avorio e gli argenti dei principi del nord. Periodo: 14 febbraio - 30 marzo Location: Palazzo Reale

La mostra ‘Noi siamo qui ma non ci siamo’ a cura di Marco Cavalli è dedicata al fotografo vicentino Giustino Chemello. Una quarantina le sue opere in esposizione nelle quali, attraverso manomissioni pittoriche e luministiche, Chemello snatura la fotografia, creando una sorta di limbo dove la relazione figura-sfondo viene modificata e allontanata dalla visione quotidiana. Giustino Chemello parte dal paesaggio, dalle marine alle grandi metropoli come Londra e Parigi, e attraverso manomissioni pittoriche e luministiche elimina ogni graduatoria di risalto tra oggetti, alberi, persone, forme e materiali. Snatura ad artem la fotografia, creando una sorta di limbo dove la relazione figura-sfondo viene modificata e allontanata dalla visione quotidiana. Il tempo e lo spazio perdono importanza e le regole della percezione sensoriale sono sovvertite. Periodo: 14 febbraio - 30 marzo Location: Palazzo Reale

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Massimo Listri (1955)

• Un interno ritratto da Listri • Opere di Listri in mostra a Palazzo Reale

Giustino Chemello (1950)

Due immagini di Londra ritratte da Chemello

Giacomo Balla (1871-1958)

• Mercurio che passa davanti al sole, 1914 • Opere di Balla esposte a Palazzo Reale

Francis Bacon (1909-1992)

• Due opere di Bacon esposte a Palazzo Reale • Studi per il ritratto di H. Moraes, 1969 Due opere di Bacon

Giacomo Balla è tra i protagonisti indiscussi dell’avanguardia storica italiana grazie alla sua figura di artista, progettista, inventore, fotografo, pubblicitario, attore di teatro e di cinema, scultore e pittore; fu tra i firmatari del Manifesto dei pittori futuristi e del Manifesto tecnico della pittura futurista del 1910. Malgrado l’adesione alle tematiche moderne, fino al 1912 continuò a lavorare secondo uno stile di ispirazione divisionista ma le opere futuriste della maturità rivelano una nuova direzione di ricerca nella scomposizione del movimento in stadi successivi. Alla fine degli anni Trenta Balla si dissociò dal futurismo nella convinzione che l’arte pura debba esprimere un realismo assoluto, senza il quale si cadrebbe in forme ornamentali e decorative. Nonostante un breve periodo di successo negli anni Cinquanta, in cui le sue opere futuriste furono apprezzate dalla generazione più giovane di pittori astratti, lo stile di Balla rimase figurativo fino alla morte. Periodo: 12 febbraio - 2 giugno Location: Palazzo Reale

Francis Bacon è unanimemente riconosciuto come l’ultimo dei grandi maestri del Novecento, ma una rassegna a lui dedicata manca in Italia dal 1993. Nonostante ciò, l’opera di Bacon è conosciuta e apprezzata da un vasto pubblico per la capacità con la quale il grande artista ha saputo interpretare le universali inquietudini del suo secolo. I grandi trittici degli anni Settanta, evidenziano come Bacon porti all’esasperazione l’attenzione sul soggetto, come se l’artista perseguisse quale unico obiettivo quello di indagare i misteriosi e oscuri meandri dell’animo umano. Un viaggio nell’interiorità dell’individuo e nell’attualità di una società caotica, scandito da figure anonime che urlano nelle loro gabbie, da una sensualità e da un erotismo provocatoriamente ostentati. Negli ultimi anni di vita il carattere visionario dell’artista viene mitigato da una concezione meno entusiasta ma non meno realistica. Periodo: 5 marzo - 29 giugno Location: Palazzo Reale

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Art & Culture - Tate Gallery

London

by V.R.

The history of Tate Gallery The original Tate Gallery, at Millbank in London, opened in 1897. Its official name was the National Gallery of British Art, but it became popularly known as the Tate Gallery, after its founder Sir Henry Tate.

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Tate was built on the site of Millbank Penitentiary, demolished in 1892, and was designed to house the collection of nineteenth-century British painting and sculpture given to the nation by Sir Henry Tate, together with some British paintings transferred from the National Gallery. At that time its responsibilities were specifically for

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Displays reflect the ongoing dialogue between past and present

modern British art, defined then as artists born after 1790. In 1917 the gallery was also made responsible for the national collection of international modern art and for British art going back to about 1500. Tate became wholly independent from the National Gallery in 1955. It is now one of the nineteen national museums funded by the Government through the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and is established under the Museums and Galleries Act 1992.Today, what was the Tate Gallery has become Tate, a family of four galleries: Tate Britain and Tate Modern in London, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. Tate continues to care, develop and provide public access to its national collections of British art and international modern and contemporary art. Since 1974, admission has been free.

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Tate is committed to ensuring that as much of a collection as possible is accessible to the public.

Tate Modern Tate Modern is the national gallery of international modern art. Located in London, it is part of the family of four Tate galleries which display selections from the Tate Collection. Created in the year 2000 from a disused power station in the heart of London, Tate Modern displays the national collection of international modern art. This is defined as art since 1900. International pre-1900 paintings are found at the National Gallery, and sculptures at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Tate Modern includes modern British art which contributes to the story of modern art, so that major modern British artists may be found at both Tate Modern and Tate Britain.

The Collection The Tate collection of modern and contemporary art represents all the major movements from Fauvism onwards. It includes important masterpieces by both Picasso and Matisse and one of the world’s finest museum collections of Surrealism, including works by Dalí, Ernst, Magritte and Mirò. Its substantial holdings of American Abstract Expressionism include major works by Pollock as well as the nine Seagram Murals by Rothko which

• Tate Modern turbine hall • Tate Modern and bridge front on • Tate Modern restaurant

constitute the famous Tate Rothko Room. There is an in depth collection of the Russian pioneer of abstract art Naum Gabo, and an important group of sculptures and paintings by Giacometti. Tate has significant collections of Pop art, including major works by Lichtenstein and Warhol, Minimal art and Conceptual art. Tate also has particularly rich holdings of contemporary art since the 1980s.

Collection Displays Tate Modern has rehung its collections displays for the first time since the gallery opened. The new displays consist of four wings located on Levels 3 and 5. At the heart of each wing is a large central display, or ‘hub’, which focuses on a key period in the development of twentieth century art. These four seminal periods are Surrealism, Minimalism, Post-war innovations in abstraction and figuration, and the three linked movements Cubism, Futurism and Vorticism. Around these ‘hubs’ a diverse range of related displays present works which anticipated, challenged or responded to these four major movements. Moving back and forwards in time, these displays reflect the ongoing dialogue between past and present and suggest contemporary perspectives for approaching and reassessing the past.

www.tate.org.uk

Art & Culture - Exhibitions Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray

21-February- 26 May Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray were at the cutting edge of art in the first half of the twentieth century, and made a lasting impression on modern and contemporary art. Duchamp invented the concept of the ‘readymade’: presenting an everyday object as an artwork, Man Ray pioneered avant-garde photographic and film techniques. Their shared outlook on life and art, with a taste for jokes, irony and the erotic, forged a friendship that provided support and inspiration. At the heart of the Dada movement and moving in the same artistic circles, they discussed ideas and collaborated, echoing and responding to each other’s works. Duchamp, Man Ray, explores their affinities and parallels, uncovering a shared approach to questioning the nature of art.

Born in Blainville, Normandy, Duchamp was the son of a notary and the younger brother of the painter Jacques Villon and the Cubist sculptor Raymond Duchamp-Villon. He studied at the Acad23mie Julian in 1904-5. His early figure paintings were influenced by Matisse and Fauvism, but in 1911 he created a personal brand of Cubism combining earthy colours, mechanical and visceral forms. These were ordinary objects of everyday use. One of his best-known pieces is a urinal, entitled Fountain and signed ‘R. Mutt’, which he submitted to an exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists in New York in 1917. His friendship with Man Ray led to their publication of New York Dada in 1921. Duchamp continued to be a figure of huge importance in the art world. His first one-man exhibition was held at the Arts Club of Chicago in 1937. He died in Neuilly on the outskirts of Paris. Period: 21february 2008 - 26 may 2008 Location: Tate Modern

Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968)

American painter, maker of Surrealist objects and photographer, he was born in Philadelphia. Worked in an advertising office and then part-time as draughtsman for publishers of books on engineering, atlases and maps. Met Duchamp in 1915 and collaborated with him in initiating a proto-Dada movement in New York. First one-man exhibition at the Daniel Gallery, New York, 1915. Participated in the Dada and Surrealist movements with paintings, assemblage-objects and photographs. Mainly active for some years as portrait and fashion photographer, and as pioneer of new photographic techniques such as rayographs and solarizations. Painted regularly again from the mid 1930s, at first in an illusionistic style inspired by de Chirico and Magritte. He died in Paris. Period: 21february 2008 - 26 may 2008 Location: Tate Modern

Man Ray (1890-1976)

• Fountain • Descending a staircase

• “Cadeau”, Iron and nails • “The rope Dancer Accompanies Herself with her Shadows”, Oil on canvas

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Art & Culture - Exhibitions

Juan Muñoz (1953-2001)

• Conversation Piece • Two seated on the wall

Doris Salcedo (born 1958)

• Retrato Estambul • Detail small

Spanish sculptor, draughtsman and painter. He was educated at Central School of Art and Design, London (1979), Croydon School of Art (1980–82) and the Pratt Graphic Centre, New York (1982–3). His earliest sculptures took the form of balconies and banisters, placed in inappropriate places in a gallery. Minarette for Otto Kurz, (1985) for example, is a metal balcony protruding diagonally downward from the ceiling. Only later did Muñoz address himself directly to the human figure, rather than to its supports or its absence. Conversation Piece (1991) consists of absurd figures placed around the gallery as if they were talking to each other or listening in on inaudible conversations. Their seeming animation serves to distance the viewer from the sculptural space rather than to include him or her in it. The same is true of Plaza (1996), where a large crowd of oriental-looking figures with identical faces gather together in seemingly rowdy conversation, generating a tension with the silence of the piece as a whole. Period: 24 january - 27 april Locatoin:Tate Modern

Colombian sculptor. After completing her BFA at the Universidad de Bogotá in 1980, she went to New York, where she completed an MFA in Fine Art at New York University. Her work is profoundly affected by the unsettled political situation in her country. Her Casa Viuda VI (1995; Jerusalem, Israel Mus.) consists of a cabinet fused with bone and clothing and forcibly attached to an unhinged door as an image of a widow’s house. Transforming objects that should be familiar and comforting into things of horror, Salcedo draws attention to the grisly facts that underpin everyday existence in her society. Unland: Irreversible Witness (1995–8; San Francisco, CA, MOMA) plays on the form of a table, the symbol of communal living: two halves of tables are made into a hybrid whole, to which she attached the frame of a child’s cot. Her sculpture has been described as a gesture of healing in a culture where memory is condemned to oblivion. Period: 9 october 2007 - 6 april 2008 Location: Tate Modern Focus on Italy

Italian Excellence - IEO

Si cura meglio dove si fa ricerca Alcune buone ragioni per sostenere lo IEO: la legge finanziaria italiana ha riproposto anche per il 2008 la possibilità per i contribuenti di destinare una quota pari al 5 per mille dell’Irpef a finalità di interesse sociale. Lo IEO è un soggetto ammesso al beneficio del 5 per mille inscritto nella classifica del finanziamento agli enti della ricerca sanitaria. Parola d’ordine Prevenzione I tumori possono guarire se curati bene e presto. I risultati che otteniamo oggi nella lotta ai tumori dipendono dunque in gran parte dalla nostra capacità di anticipare sempre di più la diagnosi. La sfida è giocare d’anticipo sull’insorgere della malattia, perché se i tumori vengono individuati il prima possibile, quando sono ancora molto piccoli, non solo è più facile distruggerli o rimuoverli ma è anche meno probabile che abbiano invaso altri organi. È dunque fondamentale il ruolo della diagnostica per immagini, che permette oggi di trovare tumori sempre più piccoli. La diagnosi precoce ottenuta con esami specifici ribalta le prospettive di cura del tumore polmonare: il tasso di sopravvivenza a 5 anni passa dal 15 al 70%, la chirurgia diventa conservativa e spesso la chemioterapia si può completamente evitare.

laborazione con l’Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, ha condotto uno studio sulla Fenretinide, un derivato della Vitamina A, che è in grado di ridurre l’incidenza di questo tumore del 50% nelle donne sotto i 40 anni e del 40% in tutte quelle non ancora in menopausa. I risultati dello studio, che è durato 20 anni e ha coinvolto 2,800 donne, indicano che questa nuova sostanza, un principio vitaminico semplice e senza effetti colLa farmacoprevenzione laterali di rilievo, ha le caratteristiche Lo IEO è stato fra i per proteggere primi centri al mondo dalla malattia in a studiare come conmodo permanentrastare farmacologite le donne che “ La sfida è giocare camente il processo per fattori ereditad’anticipo sull’insorgere di formazione del ri sono a maggior della malattia ” tumore prima che la rischio di tumore malattia si manifesti. del seno. Questo campo di ricerca si chiama farmacoprevenzione e I vaccini qui si colloca il contributo fondamen- Il cancro è provocato da una concomitale dell’Istituto allo studio sull’efficacia tanza di fattori esterni (esposizione ad del farmaco Tamoxifen nel ridurre l’in- agenti cancerogeni, fumo, alimentaziosorgenza del tumore del seno in sogget- ne) e interni (mutazioni del DNA). Tra ti sani a rischio. L’analisi globale sugli i fattori esterni figurano anche alcuni studi di prevenzione primaria su circa virus; è stato infatti accertato che alcu50,000 donne, incluso lo studio italiano ne infezioni persistenti provocate dalla dell’Istituto, conferma che il Tamoxifen presenza di virus possono preparare riduce del 40% circa l’insorgenza del il terreno alla comparsa della malattia. tumore al seno e del 10% la mortali- Ecco perché la ricerca è da anni attità nelle donne sane a rischio. Ancora vamente impegnata nell’identificazioper il tumore del seno, lo IEO, in col- ne di vaccini in grado di sconfiggere

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Da sinistra: • Aron Goldhirsch • Viviana Galimberti • Pier Giuseppe Pelicci • Barbara Jereczek-Fossa • Giovanni Marinelli

virus e batteri che predispongono al tumore. Il primo vaccino anticancro della storia è quello contro il Papilloma Virus, responsabile del tumore del collo dell’utero: la diffusione di questo vaccino porterà a debellare la seconda forma tumorale più diffusa nella donna che, solo in Italia, ogni anno colpisce 3,700 donne e ne uccide 1,800. Lo IEO ha avviato uno studio clinico controllato per valutare l’azione del vaccino (che è già somministrato gratuitamente alle dodicenni per recente decreto del Ministero della Salute) su 1,000 ragazze di 18 anni.

Ricerca clinica Si cura meglio dove si fa ricerca è la filosofia dello IEO. Per questo la maggior parte dei pazienti IEO è inserita in studi clinici controllati che hanno l’obiettivo di sperimentare nuove terapie. È dimostrato infatti che i malati che partecipano ad uno studio sono più attentamente seguiti e aderiscono meglio alla cura, oltre a fruire dei vantaggi immediati delle innovazioni scientifiche. Tutta la ricerca clinica allo IEO è orientata proprio alle nuove terapie che, soprattutto grazie

www.ieo.it

by D.F. & A.M.

• Un’immagine della campagna pubblicitaria dello IEO per il 5 per mille del 2008 • Una paziente

alle nuove tecnologie, permettono una migliore qualità di vita, a parità di efficacia.

Chirurgia robotica

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Un esempio è l’utilizzo della chirurgia robotica, un approccio innovativo che riduce il peso sia fisico che psicologi-

La tecnica ottiene risultati sovrapponibili alla chirurgia

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co degli interventi e permette il trattamento mini invasivo di molti tumori urologici, ginecologici, gastrointestinali e polmonari. Rispetto alla chirurgia tradizionale, il robot offre una migliore visuale del campo operatorio e permette di effettuare manovre di altissima precisione e rapidità, amplificando le capacità individuali del chirurgo. I vantaggi per il malato sono molto significativi: meno dolore post-operatorio (con riduzioni stimate attorno all’80%), tempi di ricovero ridotti e una ripresa più rapida della propria vita di relazione. Ad oggi, a meno di un anno dall’introduzione della chirurgia robotica, lo IEO ha già eseguito oltre 240 interventi. L’investimento tecnologico è alla base degli studi di radioterapia, altra area di eccellenza dello IEO.

Radioterapia intraoperatoria E’ in fase di sperimentazione avanzata la nuova metodica di “radioterapia intraoperatoria”, Eliot (Electron IntraOperative Therapy), che consente di effettuare il trattamento radiante durante l’operazione chirurgica, evitando i cicli di quattro o sei settimane di radioterapia esterna che normalmente seguono la chirurgia. Anche in questo caso i vantaggi per il paziente sono molteplici: dal punto di vista clinico la precisione nella localizzazione del bersaglio e l’eliminazione del possibile danno a organi e tessuti vicini alla zona da irradiare; dal punto di vista individuale la riduzione del periodo di cura - che si limita al tempo del ricovero per l’intervento chirurgico - e quindi il veloce reinserimento nella vita famigliare e lavorativa. La tecnica ottiene risultati sovrapponibili alla chirurgia, con in più il grande vantaggio della conservazione dell’organo e della sua funzionalità. Ha anche un’importantissima funzione nelle terapie combinate (abbinata alla chemioterapia), per la sua bassa tossicità rispetto al trattamento farmacologico.

Radioterapia recettoriale Al di là della radioterapia tradizionale, lo IEO è stato uno dei primi centri in Italia a utilizzare gli isotopi radioattivi come farmaci, a scopo cioè non solo

diagnostico ma terapeutico, e quindi a sviluppare la radioterapia recettoriale, una tecnica che convoglia una carica radioattiva esattamente sulla lesione tumorale sfruttando i recettori, molecole che si trovano sulla membrana della cellula neoplastica in qualche tipo di tumore e che funzionano come calamite naturali. Il radiofarmaco, una volta inoculato nell’organismo per via endovenosa, viene attratto fisiologicamente dal recettore: quando le due molecole si congiungono, il radiofarmaco libera la sua carica radioattiva distruggendo le cellule malate, esattamente come un missile “intelligente”. Il grande vantaggio di questa nuova radioterapia sta proprio nella sua capacità di agire in modo specifico su bersagli selezionati invece che indiscriminatamente su tutto l’organismo. Seguendo questa linea lo IEO è stato anche il primo centro oncologico in Italia ad avviare la sperimentazione di una nuova forma di “terapia a bersaglio”, che porta la radioterapia direttamente e selettivamente sul tumore, senza attraversare altri organi o tessuti del corpo. Da qui il nome SIRT, Selective Internal Radio-Theraphy: microsfere caricate di radioattività vengono convogliate sulla cellula malata, attraverso la circolazione arteriosa. La metodica è particolarmente indicata per il trattamento dei tumori del fegato e delle metastasi epatiche.

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Italian Excellence - IEO

Immagini riprese all'interno dello IEO, al centro il Prof. Angelo Maggioni

Terapia con ultrasuoni Per i trattamenti locali, lo IEO è centro di sviluppo in Occidente di una tecnologia cinese d’avanguardia chiamata HIFU (ultrasuoni focalizzati ad alta intensità), che consente di eliminare il tumore senza bisturi, radiazioni, né aghi. Il principio della metodica è quello di produrre onde acustiche, proprio come quelle sonore, ad altissima frequenza (gli ultrasuoni) e di convogliarle in un’area precisa, in modo che quando raggiungono esattamente il bersaglio (punto focale) si trasformano “naturalmente” in calore in grado di determinare la necrosi del tessuto, vale a dire la morte delle cellule che lo compongono. Grazie alla tecnologia Hifu, un fascio di ultrasuoni viene indirizzato in un punto ben preciso e definito attraverso l’immagine ecografica, e il trattamento della lesione tumorale avviene senza nessun danno biologico, senza l’inserimento di aghi e cateteri o la necessità di tagli chirurgici. Con questa metodica si potranno trattare organi interni come il fegato, il pancreas, i reni, la mammella, in pratica tutti quegli organi che oggi possiamo visualizzare con l’ecografia.

Ricerca molecolare L’oncologia molecolare è un’ attività centrale per lo IEO sin dalla sua fondazione. Con la decodifica del DNA, quest’area ha avuto un fortissimo sviluppo focalizzato sulla genomica, che studia come applicare alle scienze della vita le nuove conoscenze sul genoma. Da qui parte la ricerca sui farmaci cosiddetti “intelligenti”: molecole che agendo sui geni della cellula malata sono in grado di ripristinarne le funzioni originarie, costringendola a funzionare come una cellula sana.

IEO, che controlla la durata della vita perché regola la ri“ RICERCA MOLECOLARE: sposta della cellula Lo studio dei allo stress ossidatiidentificazione dei geni che si geni: il P66 Da qui anche lo alterano nella cellula colpita vo, che aumenta progressivamente studio dei geni da tumore e sviluppo di terapie con l’aumentache intervengoin grado di riportarli ad un re dell’età. L’idea no indirettamente di intervenire su nella cancerogenormale funzionamento ” p66shc apre un’afnesi, come il gene P66, scoperto proprio dai ricercatori fascinante via di ricerca, basata sulla

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possibilità di prevenire quelle disfunzioni cellulari che si accumulano nel tempo e che sono responsabili di malattia. Con questo studio si ottiene la certezza che esistono proteine che regolano il danno cellulare e dunque la prospettiva di modificare questi meccanismi. L’inibizione di p66shc mediante farmaci specifici, infatti, potrebbe mantenere più a lungo nel tempo l’integrità cellulare.

• A sinistra una ricercatrice al lavoro • A destra una veduta dall'alto del Campus IFOM-IEO

Altro gene scoperto allo IEO che ha aperto un filone di ricerca è l’MYC, un oncogene, cioè un responsabile del processo di formazione di tumore, che può interagire con circa il 10% di tutti i geni della cellula umana, vale a dire con circa 3,000 geni, svelando così un’inaspettata complessità nella relazione fra le proteine che stanno all’origine del cancro e il genoma umano. La scoperta di MYC ha aperto grandi prospettive per la ricerca e per la clinica: fra le migliaia di geni con cui Myc può interagire, alcuni hanno un ruolo fondamentale nello sviluppo della malattia tumorale. Se verranno trovate una o più molecole in grado di bloccarli, si potranno ottenere potenti antitumorali. Parallelamente alla ricerca sui singoli geni vengono indagati con le tecnologie all’ avanguardia tutti processi molecolari fondamentali nell’origine dei tumori , alcuni ( come la metilazione, l’ubiquitinazione) identificati per la prima volta proprio allo IEO.

è stato scoperto un sistema per isolare le cellule staminali della mammella e per scoprirne le caratteristiche molecolari e sulla base di questa conoscenza è iniziato un lavoro di ricerca per identificare farmaci specifici per colpire le cellule staminali di un tumore. Programma sui tumori ereditari. Circa il 5-10% dei tumori mammari è di tipo ereditario (si eredita la predisposizione ad ammalarsi e non la malattia). In media una donna su due, all’interno di una famiglia predisposta, porta un gene malato (i geni coinvolti sono BRCA1 e BRCA2). È importante identificare questi geni per accertare il rischio di malattia e selezionare meglio chi riceverà beneficio dai programmi

Il Campus IFOM-IEO è un centro di ricerca biomedica, creato dallo sforzo congiunto di IFOM (Fondazione Istituto FIRC di Oncologia Molecolare) e del Dipartimento di Oncologia Sperimentale dello IEO, che hanno esteso e integrato le loro attività di ricerca in un campus comune. Il Campus IFOM-IEO ha l’obiettivo di sviluppare la ricerca genomica applicata all’oncologia al fine di contribuire alla rapida conversione delle conoscenze emergenti in nuove modalità per la prevenzione e il trattamento dei tumori. Il Campus in cifre: • 24,000 m2 • 12,000 m2 di laboratori • 600 postazioni di ricerca • 450 scienziati • 35 gruppi di ricerca • 13 servizi tecnologici

di prevenzione, rendendoli più efficaci. Fino a poco tempo fa, l’identificazione delle alterazioni di BRCA1 e BRCA2 implicava procedure lunghe e con costi elevatissimi. Allo IEO, in collaborazione con l’Istituto Nazionale Tumori e l’IFOM, è stata messa a punto una piattaforma tecnologica che permette di eseguire il test a tempi brevi (una settimana rispetto ai sei mesi normalmente necessari) e con costi ridotti.

TUTTI I CONTRIBUENTI ITALIANI (PERSONE FISICHE) HANNO LA FACOLTÀ DI SCEGLIERE LA DESTINAZIONE DEL 5 PER MILLE. PER DEVOLVERE IL 5 PER MILLE ALLO IEO È NECESSARIO FIRMARE E IMMETTERE IL CODICE FISCALE DELLO IEO NELLA CASELLA “FINANZIAMENTO AGLI ENTI DELLA RICERCA SANITARIA”.

I programmi in corso Programma sulle cellule staminali nel cancro del seno. Le cellule staminali del tumore rappresentano la "macchina replicativa del tumore", cioè il gruppo di cellule che alimenta di continuo la crescita tumorale. Diversi scienziati ritengono che il fallimento di molte terapie anti-cancro sia dovuto alla difficoltà di colpire le cellule staminali di un tumore. Allo IEO

Per informazioni contatta lo IEO al numero 02.57489.798

Focus on Italy

Italian Excellence - Monzin

o by P.B.

Research is good for your heart The Monzino Cardiology Centre, a research hospital and treatment centre provides in-patient and out-patient care to cardiovascular patients, founded in Milan in 1981 thanks to a donation by Dr. Italo Monzino and the initiative of Prof. Cesare Bartorelli of Milan University to set up a centre entirely devoted to the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. The Monzino Centre is still the only Italian single-specialty hospital dedicated to research and care in the area of cardiovascular diseases. The Centre received accreditation by the Lombardy Regional Government with whom it has established a special agreement to operate within the National Health Service providing in-patient and out-patient care to emergency and elective patients in the areas of Critical Cardiology, Interventional Cardiology, Heart Surgery and Vascular Surgery. In addition, the Centre has a Specialist Emergency Department (EAS) for cardiac and vascular surgery. At present the Monzino Centre is owned by the European Institute of Oncology (a research hospital and treatment centre) and both have full and free access to each other’s resources to carry out research and provide care in their respective cardiovascular and oncology areas.

Research

• The external of the Monzino Cardiology Centre • The entrance of the Monzino Cardiology Centre

research will continue to be areas of intensive activity in the Monzino Centre in the years to come.

Clinical Research

All the Monzino Cardiology Centre’s “The Monzino Cardiology Centre's Specialist Care Departments are engreat committment is in area of re- gaged in clinical research. The Critisearch provides updated knowledge cal Cardiology Dept. has developed that can be directly transferred from highly innovative investigations on the bench to bedside to improve the qual- use of prevention treatments and protection from acute ity of care given. renal failure in The most inno“ The most innovative patients affected vative treatment treatment tools and by acute coronary tools and protocols developed protocols developed through syndromes. The modern angithrough experiexperimental investigation ography laboratomental investigation are therefore are rapidly offered to patients ries of the Interventional Cardiology rapidly offered to for prevention and care of Dept. are equipped patients for pre- cardiovascular disorders ” with the most upvention and care dated technologiof cardiovascular disorders” said Paolo Biglioli, Scientific cal devices (stents, endoprostheses, etc) Manager of the Monzino Centre, de- and the Department is working mostly scribing the research work involving in the areas of coronary and carotid all departments in a joint attempt to revascularisation, the treatment of aorbring about innovation in the areas of tic aneurysms with endografts and the diagnosis, treatment and management percutaneous treatment of hypertrophic so as to maximise the clinical impact obstructive cardiomiopathies. of scientific research. All specialist care The group of researchers working in departments are directly involved in the area of cardiac rhythm abnormaliresearch work, and basic and clinical ties are now engaged in important in-

www.cardiologicomonzino.it

vestigations based on the most recent discoveries concerning the pathophysiology of fibrillation and have developed numerous non-pharmacological treatment modalities. The Heart Failure Dept.'s activity of the Heart Failure Dept. is centred on the areas of diagnosis and treatment of heart failure through accurate screening of risk factors and ad-hoc diagnostic procedures to identify causes and effects of heart failures and develop new treatment protocols. Clinical and research work is supported by the Cardiovascular Imaging Dept. equipped with echocardiographers and Multislice CT Scanners. Several scientific trials are focusing on the application and development of Multislice CT Scanning with particular reference to CABG and myocardial diseases. Over the years cardiovascular surgery has increasingly adopted a translational approach, investigating areas that were traditionally confined to research in the areas of surgery or cardiovascular anaesthesiology. An example in the heart valve surgery field may be percutaneous aortic valve replacement, where an emerging technology is currently under investigation. The translational approach has been growing significantly also in the clinical and pathophysiolog-

Focus on Italy

Italian Excellence - Monzino

The following images represent the interior of the Monzino Cardiology Centre of Milan

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ical study of CABG, leading to new research work on genome profiling and inflammatory/procoagulant response in patients undergoing CABG surgery with reference to cardiovascular adverse events during follow-up. Finally, another area that is attracting major interest is the study of circulating endothelial progenitor and adult cells during heart surgery procedures and the

Basic research is centered on the genetic/molecular aspects in the cardiac and vascular areas, drug treatment of atherothrombosis and cell therapy

]

development of new research protocols to assess the therapeutic potential of stem cells in heart surgery patients.

Basic research Basic research is centered on the genetic/molecular aspects of the cardiac and vascular areas, drug treatment of atherothrombosis and cell therapy.

Atherothrombosis This is an area of important essential and translational research on cardiovascular diseases involving basic cellular and molecular research as well as meaningful translational research on cardiovascular disorders to assess the significance of disease markers. More specifically, investigation programmes include: • In vivo oxidation markers

Focus on Italy

• Endothelial function markers • Functional and molecular characters of blood and vessel cells and cultures of cardiomyocytes • Cardiovascular proteomics Identification of anatomic and functional vascular markers with predictive value for atherosclerosis. Vulnerable atheromasic plaque and its interaction with blood cells have recently become a key area of investigation to improve our knowledge and control of atherothrombotic events. Exploiting the technologies developed for genomic and proteomic analysis research has brought to the identification of genes and proteins that are abnormally expressed in patients affected by cardiovascular disorders. The thrombogenicity of atheromasic lesions is a consequence of the expression and location of the tissue factor, a protein that is present not only in vascular wall cells but also in blood cells such as monocytes and platelets, as was recently demonstrated by the Monzino Cardiology Centre researchers. Several studies are now under way to clarify the role of the platelet tissue factor and its procoagulant effect in numerous pathological conditions, from autoimmune inflammatory syndromes to acute coronary syndromes. The highly sophisticated research tools now available have resulted in the acquisition of the gene profile of circulating platelets. Information on platelets “mo-

lecular anatomy” may contribute to shed light on the complex protein interactions that regulate platelet function particularly in patients affected by acute coronary syndromes or carrying coronary stents, including drug-eluting stents. The use of stem cells for the regeneration of vascular and myocardial tissue after ischemic damage: preclinical models of myocardial regeneration. A key step in the translational research on stem cells is the validation of their efficacy in animal models reproducing human pathology. In this area, experimental models are used to verify the effect of the use of stem cells or factors that are known to reactivate stem cells that are resident in the myocardium on heart tissue regeneration. An important part of this research will use the Zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a model for the regeneration and functional recovery of hearts damaged by hypoxia and the identification of factors involved in the activation of stem cells residing in the myocardium.

Primary Prevention. Measurement of the carotid artery. A team of researchers from the University of Milan and the Monzino Cardiology Centre lead by Dr. Elena Tremoli has recently made one of the most significant discoveries in the area of disease prevention. They found that the carotid artery acts as a “sentinel

Activity and Services Programme for Overall Cardiovascular Risk Control

artery” reflecting the state of health of coronary arteries that may cause infarction in case of their occlusion. The team proved that there is a correlation between the carotid artery wall thickness, described as IMT (Intima Media Thickness), and coronary artery wall thickness. An IMT of over 1 mm indicates a thickening of the coronary arteries with a consequent 3-fold increase of cardiovascular risk. Awareness of this information and consequent introduction of precautionary measures can help prevent the risk of cardiovascular diseases. The experimental phase of the test, started by the Monzino Cardiology Centre, is taking steps to involve family practitioners so that they will propose enrollment to their patients.

Ethics Committee Clinical research involving patients in the process of new drugs and technologies evaluation has an outstanding role in the work of research hospital and treatment centres. The Monzino Cardiology Centre’s Ethics Committee which has long been

following the Centre’s clinical research activity, received the accreditation of AIFA and the Lombardy Regional Government to evaluate the clinical experimentation performed in the area of cardiovascular diseases. The Committee’s main work is now focused on assessing research projects in terms of their scientific interest, the relevance of their aims and their attention to the rights and well-being of participants.

Agreement with the University The Monzino Cardiology Centre has signed a special agreement with the University of Milan, making their facilities available for all activities of education and research carried out in the courses of the University School of Medicine and Surgery. The facilities are used both for 3-year clinical courses of the undergraduate programme and for postgraduate activity (Specialty courses, etc.). In addition the Monzino Cardiology Centre hosts the Milan University Centre of Pharmacological Research for the Study and Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases.

The Monzino Cardiology Centre facilities are available to the Programme for Overall Cardiovascular Risk Control, a service provided by internists working at the Office for the Prevention of Atherosclerosis and by the Milan University Centre of Pharmacological Research for the Study and Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases under the control of the Scientific Management Board. The purpose of the Programme is to encourage an overall approach to the problem of atherosclerosis by joining together cardiology and/or heart surgery care and initiatives for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Patients are free to join the Programme on a voluntary basis to receive medical consultations and laboratory tests at regular intervals. The Programme is addressed to highrisk patients who have recently undergone vascular surgery or are affected by vascular disorders. It involves family prevention schemes based on the identification of risk factors that might be shared by patients’ close relatives since it is well known that their chance of having one or more risk factors is greater than in the general population and that early action may prevent disease development. In the framework of the Overall Prevention Programme patients are proposed to use specific medical treatments based on drugs that can correct or control risk factors over time and they receive active support for everyday prevention in the form of changing their dietary habits or daily life-styles.

On-line check-up Another peculiarity of the Monzino Cardiology Centre is the on-line prevention service offered to potential patients. The on-line cardiological consultancy procedure is quite simple but has proven very effective for the remote monitoring and treatment of clinical problems. In fact, the Monzino Centre Telecardiology Service is one of the most efficient in Italy. Patients can send the Centre their ECG through a small de-

Focus on Italy

Italian Excellence - Monzino

vice connected to their telephone line and communicate directly with their cardiologist on the phone giving him information on their levels of arterial pressure, oxygen saturation, blood sugars and coagulation parameters. In addition to the frequent telephone contacts the programme includes home specialist consultations. This regular monitoring can allow the identification of abnormalities and a prompt adjustment of treatment schemes.

Telecardiology In a few months the Monzino Cardiology Centre will introduce a new device that can monitor eight parameters and send the data to the Telecardiology Unit, so that specialists can constantly monitor their patients’ health. The device is a simple patch, the size of a packet of cigarettes, that allows to monitor ECG, body temperature, oxygen saturation and some respiratory parameters. The system will initially be used for remote monitoring of about 100 persons chosen among the Centre’s current patients. The cost of the service for patients who live outside the Lombardy region or are not classified as patients at risk is approx. € 250 a year. In the past the Monzino Cardiology Centre had already tested a device, similar to a watch, to monitor heart rate, body temperature and changes in body posture to identify a patient’s fall which could be indicative of a fainting event.

Focus on Italy

Cardiac Day at the Monzino Cardiology Centre During a cycle of conferences called “Le cinque giornate di Milano” (“The Five Days of Milan”) organised by Prof. Gian Paolo Cornalba, Head of the Course of Radiodiagnostics of Milan University, a Cardiac Day was organised at the Monzino Cardiology Centre on November 21, 2007. The event was attended by approx. 150 cardiologists and radiologists. Data on the Monzino Cardiology Centre's 1-year experience with use of the new

GE Healthcare LightSpeed VCT 64-slice CT scanner for coronary and extracoronary application were reported. In addition to the CT scanner, new technologies have also been introduced for 3D US scanning and MRI. The innovative digital control of images (RIS-PACS) allows all Centre Departments to have real-time access to patients’ clinical information, resulting in constant dialogue and co-ordination among cardiologists, radiologists, heart surgeons and anaesthetists.

ALL ITALIAN TAXPAYERS (NATURAL PERSONS) ARE FREE TO ALLOCATE AN AMOUNT EQUIVALENT TO 0.5% OF THEIR INCOME TAX TO HEALTH RESEARCH. TO ALLOCATE THIS SUM TO THE MONZINO CARDIOLOGY CENTRE THE TAXPAYER SHALL PUT HIS/ HER SIGNATURE AND THE MONZINO CARDIOLOGY CENTRE’S INDIVIDUAL TAXPAYER IDENTIFICATION NUMBER (ITIN) IN HIS/HER INCOME STATEMENT FORM UNDER THE HEADING “FUNDING OF HEALTH RESEARCH BODIES” (“FINANZIAMENTO AGLI ENTI DELLA RICERCA SANITARIA”)

For further information, do not hesitate to contact Monzino at following number: 02 58002456 - direzione.scientifica@ccfm.it

Hotels in Italy - Catania by Alessandro Tranchida

Royal Hotel The history of a city wrapped up in a hotel, located within the historic city centre of Catania.

• External • Hall of the Royal Hotel • Suite Royal Hotel

The Royal hotel occupies an attrac- are just some examples of an endless tive position in the historic centre of list of great monuments to visit. Catania, on Crociferi street, fabulous The Royal hotel also boasts an imporcity providing outstanding proof of to tant restaurant which is open to both the exuberant genius of late Baroque the public and our hotel guests. art and architecture. The property Our restaurant is situated on the magis housed in a splendid 18th century nificent terrace of the Royal Hotel, ofbuilding, that has maintained prestig- fering an internal view of via Crociferi. ious frescoes on the first foor. On-site The spectacular view gives you the imamenities include a panoramic terrace pression of walking along the rooftops solarium with a jacuzzi, enjoying a of the city. It is in this unique context breathtaking view that we make the over Catania, a “ A unique atmosphere, re- very most of the bar, a small meetperfumes and aromaining intact over the ing room, a High mas that our becenturies in which tradition Speed Internet loved land of Sicily Point and a wellgives us. We offer and modernity live perfectly ness centre with creative dishes, side by side ” a sauna and fitwhich are also: ness room. The full of flavour and result is a unique atmosphere, remain- delicate in taste. Our style is innovative ing intact over the centuries in which yet very traditional: the strongest eletradition and modernity live perfectly ment that characterizes the simplicity of side by side. The hotel is located a few our dishes, and more importantly pays steps away from the Duomo cathe- homage to the nobility of our basic indral, meaning you will easily discover gredients, an unmistakable Sicilian treasthe marvellous centre of the city, pre- ure. Our chef decides the menu of the serving a unique historical and artis- day based on the availability of the fresh tic vast patrimony: the Palazzo degli products found locally on a daily basis. Elefanti, Palazzo Asmundo di Gisira, Ursino Castle, the Convent of St Maria Royal Hotel dell’Indirizzo, the House and Museum Via A. Di Sangiuliano, 337 of Giovanni Verga, the Massimo Thea- 95124 Catania tre, Palazzo Paliamone, Palazzo dei Tel. +39 095 2503347 Principi di Manganelli, the Roman the- Fax +39 095 2503360 atre, the Belliniano Museum, the Ro- info@royalhotelcatania.it man Baths, the Benedettini Monastery www.hotelroyalcatania.it

www.hotelroyalcatania.it

Focus on Italy

by V.R.

Hotels in Italy - Firenze

Relais & Chateaux Villa la Vedetta Florence Italy A romantic neo-renaissance villa, adapted to a refined 5 star deluxe hotel made of only 18 luxurious rooms and suites.

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The uniqueness of the hotel is given by the exclusive panoramic position on Piazzale Michelangelo, just a few steps away from the Ponte Vecchio, with a breathtaking view of city of Florence, surrounded by its own private park, Italian gardens and beautiful panoramic pool with whirlpool.

Villa La Vedetta: a true urban resort unique in Florence

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The prestigious rooms and suites where the antiques are tastefully blended with contemporary interior design are characterized by a different color which is repeated in the fine marble and mosaics of the bathroom all equipped with a Jacuzzi bathtub. The Gourmet restaurant “Onice Lounge &Restaurant” after opening in 2003 has been awarded flattering reviews from

Focus on Italy

the most authoritative gourmet critics and Food Guide. Onice’s innovative cuisine reinvents the traditional Tuscan cooking with a creative flair and skilfully mixes it with international and unusual ingredients and tecniques. Masterpieces of Onice’s Grand Carte are the “variations” or “trilogies”, a proposal of 3 different and innovative versions of the same basic ingredient be it Lobster, Lamb, Veal or Piedmont beef. All Onice’s specialities are served in a bright, elegant ambience with vaulted ceilings, satin covered chairs and sofas and crystal crocodile tables or in the lovely dehors by the pool. A spacious panoramic terrace ideal for events and banquets: American Bar, Pool Bar. Adsl internet access, complimentary wi-fi large band connection and a Free Internet Point. Also offering a meeting room for up to 70 people.

• External • Panoramic terrace • Inside restaurant • Bellavista suite

Private parking, Sauna & Fitness Corner, Panoramic pool with whirlpool. Free private car to the centre town available upon guests' request. The hotel is also available exclusively for events and weddings. A true “Urban resort” unique in Florence. Villa La Vedetta V.le Michelangiolo, 78 50125 Firenze Tel. +39 055 681631 Fax +39 055 6582544 info@villalavedettahotel.com www.concertohotels.com

www.concertohotels.com

Hotels in UK - Edinburgh by C.T.

The Howard The Georgian pampering in the centre of Edinburgh.

If you imagine a Georgian retreat in Many years later the property was the centre of Scotland’s Capital City, purchased by Mr Arthur Neil who upyou can think of The Howard, the graded the building into an hotel and most discreet 5-star hotel in Edin- renamed it The Howard. burgh, consistently classified as one of Under Arthur Neil’s ownership, The the AA’s Top 200 Hotels in Britain and Howard gained an excellent reputaIreland and recently awarded a Scot- tion and was reduced to 15 bedrooms tish Boutique Hotel Special Commen- to accommodate larger spaces and dation from the using the finest Scottish Hotel of of fittings, fabrics, “ In one of the fifteen paintings and anthe Year Awards individually characterized tique furniture. 2007. rooms, you are taken back The Howard is Originally built now privately as homes in the to the time of traditional 1820’s the three owned and run by Georgian pampering ” The Town House buildings, which Company, which are now The Howard, are part of the city’s New is chaired by Peter Taylor, the owner. Town in Edinburgh. This area of Ed- So during the stay, you are taken back inburgh, is classified as the largest to the time of traditional Georgian Historical Monument in Britain. The pampering, as you relax in one of houses became a hotel just after the the fifteen individually characterized Second World War, when Mr Fergus- rooms (some bathrooms even have son purchased two adjoining proper- freestanding roll top baths). ties, 32 and 36 in Great King Street, The Howard also has an important linking the house at four levels by restaurant; dining at The Atholl’ is corridors and creating 25 bedrooms. an experience. In a warm exclusive

www.thehoward.com

• Junior suite abercromby • External • The atholl

Georgian setting, dinner is meticulously prepared by a dedicated team of chefs and you can enjoy the traditional Scottish fare. Alternatively, you can dine in the comfort of your own room; selecting the meal from the a la carte menu the dinner is served by a dedicated butler. Room service is available 24 hours a day. For an even more discreet experience, there are three exclusive suites with their very own terraced gardens and private entrances. This means an even more private and personalized stay. Relax, history, art in a wonderful setting. All this is The Howard. The Howard Hotel 34 Great King Street Edinburgh. EH3 6QH Tel: +44 (0) 131 557 3500 Fax: +44 (0) 131 557 6515 reserve@thehoward.com www.thehoward.com

Focus on Italy

by V.R.

Hotels in UK - London

54 Boutique Hotel The best of contemporary style in the London’s cosmopolitan atmosphere.

• Outside • Room • Suite • Deluxe room

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Situated in fashionable South Kensington, the 54 Boutique Hotel is a wonderful fusion of classic architecture and cool, urban chic that perfectly captures London’s cosmopolitan atmosphere. The stunning interior con-

The 54 Boutique Hotel is ideally located if you want to experience cultural London

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veys a sense of calm and tranquility with pale wooden floors and neutral colour schemes providing the perfect backdrop for the contemporary furniture designed by CIA Great Britain. The 26 spacious rooms and suites are decorated in contemporary style with ultra-modern sandstone and black granite bathrooms with gleaming chrome showers. Gilchrist & Soames toiletries and Egyptian cotton bed linen by Frette add to the luxurious feeling.

Focus on Italy

They have large windows allowing light and some have private balconies or decked terraces. All rooms have air-conditioning, a modern ensuite bathroom, internet access and a flatscreen television. The hotel’s rooms have recently been completely refurbished. The 54 Boutique Hotel is ideally located if you want to experience cultural London as several of London’s main museums – the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum – can be reached on foot in a matter of minutes. If you prefer shopping, then you are in the right place as you are close to Knightsbridge and Chelsea with their exclusive boutiques and designer shops. Hyde Park, the Royal Albert Hall, Harrods, Harvey Nicholls and Earl’s Court are all in the immediate vicinity. In the morning you will find a tradi-

tional continental breakfast in a casual bar setting. At the end of a hectic day the hotel’s bar is the ideal place to unwind and enjoy a pre-dinner drink while well-informed staff help you choose which of the many local restaurants are most suited for your appetite. The lounge is perfect for meeting friends for a drink before dining in one of the many fine restaurants in this part of London. The 54 Boutique Hotel is the ideal destination for those travelling to London looking for an elegant, quiet surroundings that feature a contemporary setting. 54 Boutique Hotel 54 Queensgate London SW7 5JW Tel +44 (0) 20 7761 4000 Fax +44 (0) 20 7761 4040 enquiries@fiftyfourboutiquehotel.co.uk www.fiftyfourboutiquehotel.co.uk

www.fiftyfourboutiquehotel.co.uk

BCCI Research - Survey by C.T.

The study of British Investment in Italy A research concerning two economic forces, two internationally attractive hubs, two platforms able to generate projects on a global scale, interacting to find pathways and opportunities for increasing the relations between them even further. British Economic Commitment in Italy by David Crackett (President of the British Chamber of Commerce for Italy) Osservatorio Study investment sugli investimenti of British y britannici in Italia in Ital

gies for investment imento Reasons and strate Ragioni e strategie di invest in Italy Italia by British companies delle societĂ britanniche in

concerned, the objective of the study was to identify the main factors, in terms of qualitative and quantitative Italy and Britain have traditionally had variables, that make the Italian marclose ties and relations, both countries ket attractive and able to meet the having always participated proactively demand for investment coming from in an intense exchange that takes place Great Britain. To this end, a sample at various levels, from the socio-cultural of 184 businesses was identified, with to the economic and commercial. Two an overall turnover of 12 billion Euro economic forces, two internationally (in the year 2005) and a total of 41 attractive hubs, two platforms able to thousand employees. The results of generate projects on a global scale, â&#x20AC;&#x153; The objective of the study the study of British investment in interacting to find was to identify the main Italy, conducted pathways and opby Deloitte, show factors, in terms of portunities for how and where increasing the requalitative and quantitative British companies lations between variables, that make the invest in Italy and them even further. Italian market attractive give us a better unIn this context, the British Chamber and able to meet the demand derstanding of the reasons for choosof Commerce for for investment from ing Italy, showing Italy, the Italian Great Britain â&#x20AC;? the perception of Chamber of Comthe Italian ecomerce and Indusnomic and administrative environment try for the UK and the Milan Chamber of Commerce decided to engage in two of British companies that have an opparallel research projects aimed at ana- eration in our country. lysing the general pattern of investment Lastly, the study aims to offer a contriflows that typify relations between Italy bution to the commitment that its proand Britain: on the one hand, the Third moters are pursuing - in a complemenSurvey of Italian Investments in UK, and tary way and with synergy - on both on the other, the Study of British Invest- the British and the Italian fronts, in orment in Italy, produced in collabora- der to stimulate, intercept, support and effectively channel investment flows to tion with UK Trade & Investment. As far as British investment in Italy is and from their respective countries.

The study of British Investment in Italy

The Study of British investment in Italy, which we can consider as a model of collaboration between entities and institutions that promote economic relations between the two countries, allowed information to be collected on the current situation of British investment in Italy with particular reference to the Lombardy Region, which appears to be particularly attractive for the British investors. The sources available enabled to collect information on 184 companies which are a representative sample of British corporate investment in the Italian market. The sample offers interesting points for reflection and some aspects that can be analysed in the future. Insurance companies, banks and other financial service companies were excluded, as these will be the subject of a future study. The information gathered shows how the overall trend of British investment in Italy has been stable over the last few years both in terms of productivity and of workforce. The study also enabled a good deal of information to be gathered through interviews on what British companies in Italy perceive as the strengths and weaknesses of the Italian economic system. In the perception of the British firms contacted, Italy is a desirable market for their products and services, and also offers opportunities for the acquisition of strategic assets. The presence of specialized human resources makes the investment even more attractive. This was a decisive factor particularly for the British companies located in Lombardy, which is the favoured destination for British investment. A good 58% of the whole sample has its headquarters in Lombardy, with a total turnover of 6 billion Euro. From the data collected, the region distin-

Focus on Italy

BCCI Research - Survey

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With total turnover of over 12 billion Euro and 41 thousand employees, British companies contributed significantly to the performance of the Italian productive process

]

Lombardy, a hub with International Appeal by Bruno Ermolli (President of Promos – Special Agency of the Milan Chamber of Commerce) Milan and the Lombardy Region form one of the top international hubs in terms of wealth produced and participation in the flows of the global economy. The area has traditionally been open to international trade and has been called upon to seize and develop all the opportunities arising from growing integration with foreign markets, thus providing an effective response to the challenges posed by an ever more competitive environment. It is against this backdrop that the policies and marketing actions carried out in recent years by the Milan Chamber of Commerce should

Focus on Italy

Reasons for investing in Italy

41% 34%

23%

28% 28%

36%

15%

Need to follow top clients in Italy

38%

■ ■ ■ ■

% ,0 35

11%

42%

Acquisition/Development of strategic assets

Need for specialized resources

62%

23%

13%

Development of new market

guishes itself for the presence of specialized suppliers, the flexibility of its workforce and the satisfactory degree of cooperation with universities and centres of research. It is important to stress that, for almost all the subjects covered in the survey, the companies’ perception of the current market situation in Italy is now better than it was when they first established a presence. Equally interesting are the indications given by the companies interviewed regarding their future plans for development in Italy. For almost the entire sample, Italy is a strategic market where they are planning further investment over the next two years in order to strengthen their presence in the market.

Strategic Significant Non significant Doesn’t know/No response

be viewed. This action was taken through Promos, its Dedicated Entity for international business, and had the aim of strengthening the role of the region as a privileged destination for investment, human capital and foreign tourists, all of which bring added value for the Milanese and Lombard production fabric. Milan’s international perspective is a point of strength for the area which needs to be further developed by taking effective action on the key factors of its attractiveness, starting from the high level of human resources available to the efficiency of its physical and symbolic networking systems. Particularly with its Invest in Milan service, the Milan Chamber of Commerce offers focused support to foreign operators and visitors interested in the area, guaranteeing information and assistance at all stages of the investment process and fostering the development of business plans and the inflow of financial resources from abroad. Within the sphere of this process a central role is played by the Chamber’s alliance with a network of top tier local and international players, which matches the needs of local

economic operators with the expectations of foreign demand, not only in relation to services but also in relation to analysing and sharing strategies.

Methodology for the analysis by researchers The study was carried out in three different stages which started in June 2007 and were completed in October of the same year. In the first stage (Identification of the sample), British investments were identified using parameters which made it possible to select those with controlling stakes in investment companies in Italy. At the same time, an initial contact was made with the companies: in total, 184 Italian subsidiaries of 144 British companies were contacted. In the second stage (Organizing the survey), a questionnaire was designed to collect information regarding the type and size of British investment in Italy, understand the main reasons underpinning the choice of investing in the Italian market, and identify the main strengths of the Italian economic system and the growth strategies

Perception of macroeconomic scenario companies present in Italy at time of investment 28%

Presence of specialized suppliers

34% 36%

17% 13%

38%

Market receptiveness 2%

11% 13%

Political stability

% 45

% 30

38%

■ ■ ■ ■

55%

49%

13%

Economic situation

Positive Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Doesn’t know/No response

of the company. The questionnaire allowed to collect in-depth information regarding a sample of 25% of the companies identified. In the third stage (Analysis of the data), the information collected was analysed. The selection of the sample for the analysis was carried out using four parameters: • a stake held by the British investor of over 25% • a turnover of over 1.5 million Euro • fixed assets equal to or higher than 3 million Euro • at least 20 employees on the payroll In order to obtain exhaustive and informed responses, the questionnaire was aimed where possible at managerial figures such as CEOs, CFOs, members of the Board of Directors, Administrative Directors or press, communication and external relations departments.

Analysis of the data Reasons for investing The development of a new market is

the main reason why British companies invest in Italy, being strategic in 62% of all cases. For 75% of all the companies approached, the need for specialized human resources was a significant element in their decision to invest in the Italian market. This reason had real strategic value for 41% of the British companies present throughout in Italy and for 48% of those based in Lombardy.

Strenghts and weaknesses of the Italian Business Environment Macroeconomic scenario 83% of the British companies present in Italy that took part in this research appreciated, already at the moment of the investment, the economic development level reached by the Italian business environment, at the time of investment. The sample also gave a positive opinion regarding the presence of specialized suppliers. In the case of companies based in Lombardy, almost all of them gave a positive opinion of the Italian economic situation (95% when the investment was made and 84% today). 79% found a sizeable presence of

specialized suppliers at both the stages investigated by the survey. Finally, 87% of all the companies interviewed also judged as positive the capacity of the market to absorb their products and services. Human resources 85% of the British companies present in Italy and 79% of those operating in Lombardy today consider the availability of human resources to be satisfactory. This figure slightly differs from the opinion expressed at the date of their establishment, when 89% of the former and 84% of the latter expressed their appreciation of this factor. From the figures gathered, 95% of the companies operating in Lombardy, compared with 94% of the whole sample, today have a sufficiently specialized workforce: these values have risen from 84% and 79% respectively reported at the time they started up. More critical opinions were given on labour costs. 75% of the whole sample and 79% of the companies based in Lombardy considered labour costs to be reasonable at the time of the investment; but consensus on this issue today has gone down to 56% and 53% respectively. Research and development The Italian higher education system has reached a high standard according to 85% of the sample and 90% of the companies based in Lombardy. On the other hand, the opinion of the companies on the subject of collaboration with universities and research centres has improved. 54% of the British companies present in Italy and 58% of those in Lombardy expressed satisfaction today. Infrastructure and quality of life 79% of the British companies gave a positive judgment on the current level of development of the Italian infrastructure system: an improvement compared to the opinion they had when they set up. Moving on to the

Focus on Italy

BCCI Research - Survey

Public administration 62% of the entire sample consider that the current regulatory environment is sufficiently effective. The opinion expressed by the companies based in Lombardy was more critical. The comments made by the British investment companies on the subject of government incentives available to enterprises were on the whole negative. Assistance to companies Most of the companies appreciated the offer of services by the banking and financial services sector. In relation to the support offered to companies by the Chamber of Commerce network (through their “attractiveness windows”) and by business associations, the opinions of the sample were on the whole positive. The same opinion was given for the commitment offered by Consulates, Embassies, economic promotion agencies and the National Institute for Foreign Trade.

Conclusions The results of the survey on British investment in Italy have provided some interesting points: • The business sector where British companies have most presence in Italy is manufacturing, which alone accounts for 47% of the investments • As far as geographical location is concerned, Lombardy is by far the region preferred • With total turnover of over 12 billion Euro in 2005 and 41

Focus on Italy

Perception of the quality of infrastructure and life according to the companies present in Italy at the time of the investment 11%

Transport and logistics infrastructure

13%

Telecommunications networks

28%

15%

53%

% 45

% 30

51%

38% 9%

28%

Quality of life

■ ■ ■ ■

55%

13%

Cost of living

57%

28%

Energy distribution network in relation to cost

55%

32%

quality of telecommunications networks, the positive opinion expressed at the moment of the investment by 70% of the companies present in Italy and by 90% of those in Lombardy has been reinforced and is now virtually unanimous. However, the current opinion of the energy distribution system is lower than before, especially considering the high cost of the service. The current standard of living in Italy is considered satisfactory, even if the response concerning the cost of living is more critical.

Positive Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Doesn’t know/No response

thousand employees, British companies contributed significantly to the performance of the Italian productive process • According to the British companies interviewed, Italy is undoubtedly a mature market that attracts investment mainly because of the opportunity the market offers for products and services. Equally significant is the possibility for British companies to find specialized human resources in Italy for their production facilities • The companies interviewed have a positive perception of the Italian macroeconomic environment, especially in terms of market receptiveness. There were differences of opinion, however, in their assessment of political stability • The degree of specialization and the value of human resources is becoming more and more a point of strength of the Italian system and of the Lombardy region. In the view of the sample interviewed, this factor, which was already recognized at the time the investment was made, is today considered of strategic importance • An improvement also for the opinion of the British companies

present in Italy on higher education. Collaboration with universities, which was considered insufficient at the moment of the investment, has improved in the perception of the current situation • The companies interviewed gave a substantially positive opinion of the Italian infrastructure system, which was an improvement on the perception they had when the investment was made • The regulatory environment was deemed satisfactory both at the time of the investment and today. But the companies were substantially dissatisfied with the system of incentives offered by the Italian state, which were viewed with a certain perplexity by the companies interviewed. These opinions have worsened in relation to the situation today • For the future the British companies interviewed seem set to implement a growth strategy in the Italian market. 81% want to expand their operations in Italy and 40% are even planning acquisitions in the next 2 years If you wish a copy, please contact: • phoning + 39 02 87798 or by writing to • bcci@brithchamitaly.com

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