MADE IN ITALY DAY
April 11, 2025 | 6:30 PM
The Italian Flair. Is There an Italian Way to Innovation?
From fashion to cars, from food to design, Italians have developed an original approach to the world of business. What is the impact of culture and visual imagination on the creation of the most memorable products “Made in Italy”? In this presentation, cultural historian, associate professor of Italian Studies (Villanova University, Pennsylvania) and host of the YouTube channel and podcast Italian Innovators, Luca Cottini explores the distinctive features of the Italian model of innovation, examining the relationship between entrepreneurship and storytelling, cultural heritage and resourcefulness, in conversation with Mauro Aprile Zanetti, chief business evangelist of the Italian-American scale-up, Cloud4Wi, and philanthropy strategist of the patron Maria Manetti Shrem.
Free Admission | Registration required
Event organized by the Italian Cultural Institute San Francisco, in collaboration with the Consulate General of Italy and the Italian Innovation Hub of San Francisco.
ABOUT
Luca Cottini
Luca Cottini is a scholar of modern Italian Literature, and a cultural historian. He received his training in Classical Philology and Literary Criticism at University of Milan (BA, 2003) and he specialized – at Notre Dame (MA, 2007) and Harvard (PhD, 2012) – in Italian modernist literature, and in the early industrial culture. He also holds a certificate in Digital Marketing from the Yale School of Management (2020).
His research on the 19th and 20th centuries combines a traditional literary focus (on authors like D’Annunzio, De Amicis, Pirandello, Palazzeschi, Marinetti, Papini, Alvaro, Calvino, Fenoglio, and Pavese) with a broader interdisciplinary horizon, including visual studies (on Italian early photography, abstract painting, and silent cinema), social history (the reception of industrialism, the development of advertising and early industrial design), innovation studies, and entrepreneurial strategy.
Mauro Aprile Zanetti
A quintessential Renaissance man for the modern era, Mauro Aprile Zanetti, known as MAZ, is a San Francisco polymath with a strong background in literature, aesthetics, philosophy, poetry, film, and the arts. MAZ currently wears two distinct hats: Chief Business Evangelist at Cloud4Wi, where he champions the humanization of technology, and Philanthropy Strategist at the Manetti Shrem Foundation, leading large-scale social impact initiatives. MAZ is a prolific, multilingual, published author on interdisciplinary topics, seamlessly bridging international PR and media brand marketing while harmonizing humanism with advanced technologies. An integral leader immersed in the Bay Area’s vibrant cross-cultural and business spheres and an American liaison for all Italian affairs, MAZ has forged close collaborations with esteemed luminaries, including Lawrence Ferlinghetti, San Francisco’s legendary first Poet Laureate, Beat Generation publisher, activist, and artist, whom he assisted as an assistant and final assistant. Additionally, MAZ has played a key narrative role for Federico Faggin, a Silicon Valley computer science pioneer and technology pioneer. Through his seminal advisory work with Maria Manetti Shrem, a global philanthropist extraordinaire, MAZ has spearheaded major charitable initiatives spanning education, classical music, the arts, and medicine in the United States, Italy, the United Kingdom, France, Mexico, and Africa. MAZ’s transdisciplinary mastery and extensive international network exemplify his unwavering commitment to fostering innovation, bridging cultural and business divides, and advancing philanthropic initiatives around the world. Additionally, MAZ actively contributes as an engaged public speaker, debunking the technological hype in the international debate on “Generative AI,” striving to make the field inclusive. MAZ is a member of the advisory board of the UC Davis Manetti Shrem Museum of Art and is a global marketing consultant for the nonprofit organization Festival Napa Valley, whose mission is “Bringing Art to Everyone.”