Extract
Neither of the authors Elena Dellapiana nor Lucia Savi could have anticipated that over the past months, current circumstances would turn the phrase “Made in Italy” into a political slogan about upholding national identity in their homeland. However, one takeaway from these two books which both contain the “slogan” in their title, is that the definition of Made in Italy is not limited by the borders of the peninsula. Notably, both authors take account of the fact that over the decades, France and the US in particular have sometimes been business partners and sometimes competitors to Italy, in matters of both commerce and taste. In other respects, the works can be seen as complementary: the authors’ methods differ, with Dellapiana exploring a broad context while Savi offers a selection of in-depth case studies. Moreover, there is hardly any overlap between the figures they cover. For these reasons, each book is discussed separately here.
