A few days ago, at the end of a long workday, I was unwinding a bit on Audible by listening to a book by Beppe Severgnini: "Signori, si cambia. In viaggio sui treni della vita" (Rizzoli Editore, 2015). 

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A title that, despite being ten years old, hasn’t aged a bit. It feels more relevant and fitting than ever in terms of timing—but we’ll get to that later. By the time we reach Chapter 9—the second-to-last in a series of journeys around the world, filled with stories, observations of change and social evolution, encounters with indigenous peoples and quirky travelers—we come across a digression on the “ten things not to do when it comes to inventing.”

I’ll spare you the interesting ten-point list and focus instead on what concerns our world—the world of the Italian Bees. Come to think of it, the advice could be quite useful to anyone who has chosen storytelling as their craft. But we’ll focus on the last of the ten points: “Don’t become rigid.”

Here, Severgnini refers to The Wrench by Primo Levi, in which the author describes a phenomenon that many of us—especially in the depths of Italian life—observe on a daily basis: the brilliance of manual labor. Within this paradigm, BSev draws a parallel between craftsmanship and writing: “If publishers had the analytical skills, flexibility, and precision of a carpenter or a farmer, books would do better.”

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A concept that perfectly aligns with what Italian Bees has been dedicated to since October 2020: telling the story of the world of Made in Italy craftsmanship, in a country that exports excellence across the globe. And not only in the often overused—but unfortunately growing (according to AIRE data, editor’s note)—form of a brain drain.

Taken out of context, “don’t become rigid” is a concept that fits well with those working in craftsmanship: being ready for change. Data shows that, beyond the quality of their products, not everyone succeeds in this. From 2019 to today, around 59,000 manufacturing businesses have been lost in Italy alone: more than one in ten have stopped production and ceased exporting their qualities to the world (Infocamere – Movimprese data, editor’s note).

Italian fashion—also affected by the ever-growing spread of fast fashion, which is swallowing both the present and future of our environment and the quality of products—has lost 15,000 companies in just the past five years. Another 9,000 have disappeared from the metalworking sector. Agriculture, forestry, and fishing have seen nearly 53,000 businesses vanish. In total, 143,000 companies have disappeared since 2019. You might say it's due to inflation, economic crisis, the slow post-Covid recovery, raw material shortages, and rising energy costs.  

Correct. But only partly. Many companies—beyond their ability to renew staff, structures, and ways of thinking and operating, and beyond the natural challenges and evolutions of the market—lack the ability to tell their own story. And in a world dominated by social media, where we are constantly bombarded with stimuli and information—often useless—storytelling still makes a difference.

This is the field in which we, the members of Italian Bees, can take action: not with a chisel or the help of a lathe, but rather through the tapping of our fingertips on a keyboard—or in front of an iPad. Even better: with a camera or a video camera. Our goal: to try to tell stories—without arrogance. To try to do so with even more quality than what has already defined our work so far. To reward, through that effort, the trust of the more than 134,000 visitors who, in 2024 alone, have read our stories at least once.

With Italian Bees’ 150 journalists spread across every region, ready to set out and reach even the most remote mountain villages. Highlighting not only the products, but above all the life stories—often those of parents, grandparents, or even great-grandparents—who started those businesses.

"Handle with care" is one of the most common warnings found on boxes containing fragile materials. In this case, “handling those stories with care” will be the approach we adopt. With respect for the work. With respect for Made in Italy. We hope you will continue to follow us on this long journey across Italy— in search of the Italian Bees.