Bettina Bush Mignanego

Early March, influencer Chiara Ferragni caused a sensation on a television show in Italy, thanks to her dresses designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri, artistic director of Dior, and the collective Claire Fontaine, with feminist messages that dared to challenge establishment.

Rethinking cities to make them an ideal place to live adapted to climate and social changes, is a major challenge for architects. Hope City in Ghana and Neom in Saudi Arabia are futuristic cities that open the debate on what urbanization should look like in the decades to come. Interview with Paolo Brescia, founder of Open Building Research.

In Portofino and Paraggi, the summer of 2022 will long be remembered. Businessmen and international celebrities flocked to this chic Italian seaside resort. While retaining its identity, this small, thousand-year-old port has successfully undergone a transformation and is attracting new investment.

The new Darsena del Sale in Cervia is a temple of wellness transformed into a space dedicated to culture, entertainment and design. From its rich past, the place projects itself into the future, with a set of offers capable of mobilising the five senses in an innovative way.

The need for dematerialisation is advancing rapidly and the recent actions of the luxury sector in the metaverse are an illustration of this. Canadian sociologist and specialist in connective intelligence Derrick de Kerckhove gives some key insights.

Italy, after France and Germany, has the third largest industrial ecosystem of cosmetics production in Europe. Mainly specialized in make-up, more than 60% of the products sold in the world are manufactured in Italy.

Luca Bassani, the visionary founder of Wally boats, has revolutionized the way of sailing, as well as the lifestyle at sea. Now he’s creating floating villas with a sustainable concept.

To sailing afficionados, The Ocean Race is legendary and the most famous crewed race around the world. Just six months to cross the most remote and challenging seas on the planet, 32,000 miles in the most difficult waters: for its 50th edition, from January to June 2023, it will take place for the first time in the Mediterranean, in Genoa, Italy.

Almost 2,100 exhibitors will unveil their new products in Milan, after a two-year forced break due to the pandemic. Maria Porro, the new president of the world’s largest furniture exhibition, wants to propel the fair towards an ambitious project of circularity and sustainability, capable of accelerating the ecological transition of the furniture industry.

Art, technology, and experience together compose the digital art form which enables the audience to immerse into new artistic sensations. Daan Roosegarde, an important artist of this trend uses technological tools to diffuse and make accessible his art to the greatest number.

If virtual reality is a revolution in progress, the figures show a contrasted truth. While Meta’s Reality Labs division dedicated to the development of the metaverse was losing $13.7 billion in 2022, including $4.3 billion during the fourth quarter, 141 virtual worlds were created overall, according to an analysis by the Politecnico di Milano University.

The close intertwining between art, beauty and well-being is not new. The European Agenda for Culture believes that investment in the cultural sector is essential for social and economic development in welfare societies.

The Altagamma Foundation, which brings together 112 companies profiled in the Italian high-end sector, has published its first Charter of Luxury Values. Its president Matteo Lunelli explains the reasons for this step forward, which sets out the goals and values of Italian luxury.

Forecasts saw the beauty sector grow by 8%, but great groups have outperformed the first quarter of 2022 and announced double-digit growth led by premium divisions, perfumery, and makeup.

NFTs have come to shake things in the traditional art sector. Their artistic and commercial value raise many questions. Luciano Floridi, information philosophy and ethics professor at the Oxford University analyses this phenomenon.