This Monday is the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci, considered by some to be the greatest artist and polymath in Italy, if not the world. The Renaissance genius was born on April 15, 1452, so it’s not a complete affair this year. But it’s fitting that the newest national day falls on exactly this date. “Made in Italy” will be celebrated for the first time in 2024: this is what the government of Giorgia Meloni has decided. The alliance of three right-wing to very right-wing parties is united by national pride. April 15th will not be one of those holidays when shops are closed and families gather for merry celebrations, but it is a national event Giornata Nazionale del Made in Italy from now on.
“Made in Italy” was an important concern for the coalition partners at the start of their cooperation with exactly this formulation – which is a little surprising because the three parties actually also share a dislike of anglicisms. But they couldn’t think of anything better than “Made in Italy”, and now there is even a separate ministry with that name, the one for economics, which is officially called “Ministero delle Imprese e del Made in Italy”, led by Adolfo Urso, who used to be a journalist and a long-time party friend of Meloni, is from her neo-fascist beginnings.
Urso has more than 200 events, congresses, exhibitions and panel discussions on National Day get listed across the country. He himself is touring the country in this regard and, for example, has the first one in Turin on Thursday Casa del Made in Italy opened, which in this case is a kind of service center for various authorities to arrange meetings with the local administration, chambers of commerce and other business associations.
What does “Made in Italy” stand for?
The newly introduced holiday may have come at just the right time, as the famous “Made in Germany” is slowly but surely fading. Internationally, failed major German projects are being ridiculed, the government is in crisis, industry is weakening and financial policy was once more solid. So now: Made in Italy – but what is that? In the literal sense it’s about Italian origin, of course, there are corresponding test seals and labels for products. But that’s not all. Demand from any consumer goods company yields various cutting-edge definitions, such as that of a mattress manufacturer: “passion, quality and culture.”
The popular Italian bestsellers tend to glorify an endearing but terribly chaotic lightness. But that is definitely not the image that the self-confident Prime Minister Meloni wants to convey to the world. More to their liking are “Made in Italy” high schools, in which pride in one’s own nation is to be taught from the new school year onwards: economics, law, history, crafts, founding mentality – all from an Italian source. The left-wing opposition considers this to be a typically right-wing idea of a cultural re-education of the people. She can still be completely relaxed, because demand for the new branch is slow: just 92 schools have so far had the words “Made in Italy” in their letterhead. Nationwide.