It is always the people who make the difference during the visits: for many ITS students and college students, these experiences represent a first encounter with a real working context, and the story from the entrepreneurs themselves, or those working in the company, is always a source of great excitement.
Of the visit from Europa '93, one of the first companies to produce coffee capsules, the aspect that most impressed the Ca' Foscari students involved in the project was the actual museum of coffee machines in the company. Sergio dalla Riva and Francesco dalla Riva have been collecting them for years, with pieces dating back to the 1940s and 1950s. The students were shown the various stages of coffee production, from grinding to roasting. The company today produces blends, capsules, coffee machines and capsule filling equipment. The students' challenge with project manager Elena Masi is to study an internationalization strategy toward new markets, particularly Eastern European countries. The goal is to identify the right formats to communicate the excellence of the brand's products and to reach new potential B2B customers.
Prima Gioielli has been creating eclectic jewelry with Italian, Arab and Anglo-Saxon influences for over fifty years. This reality is embedded within the Vicenza gold sector, which represents one of the most significant sectors for the local and national economy. With more than 1,200 active companies, the city is recognized as one of the leading gold districts in Europe. Each year, Vicenza hosts the Vicenzaoro fair, which attracts more than 1,500 exhibitors from around the world and more than 35,000 visitors. The gold industry employs about 10,000 people in the region, contributing significantly to the local economic and social fabric. A big problem is that of counterfeiting, and this was precisely the challenge issued by La Prima Gioielli to Ca' Foscari students: to devise and design a tool (physical and digital) to combat the phenomenon of jewelry counterfeiting. The goal is to provide a service for all Made in Italy jewelry companies in the sector that intend to defend the originality of their product.
The Lineasette company, on the other hand, is located in Marostica, inside a magnificent building designed by a student of Carlo Scarpa. It handcrafts, exclusively in Italy, design works in porcelain stoneware, a durable and waterproof ceramic material that lends prestige and elegance to every creation. It was founded in 1977; since then the space in Marostica has become exhibition-only, while production has been moved to Nove, a city at the center of the ceramic district. Running the company today is Emanuele Bucco, while the creative mind behind the individual pieces is Laura Pelosio, who studied art in Verona. The challenge for the students of ITS Servizi alle Imprese of Rome and Viterbo with Michele Tagliavini will be to devise a strategy and consequent plan of action that can contribute to the evolution of the company's positioning and especially the Lineasette brand as a leading artisanal reality for ceramic processing.
Students from ITS Servizi alle Imprese in Rome and Viterbo also visited Ronzani, a publisher of poetry, fiction, nonfiction and art and photography books, with 70 titles a year under its belt. The company was founded in 2015 and is located in Dueville, and in addition to the publishing house space, there is a co-working space open to the public and a print store, a great passion of Giuseppe Cantele, who also teaches graphic design at several universities in Italy. With Michele Tagliavini, the students will have to increase the visibility of the publishing house starting from the storytelling of the "book" product, to make people perceive the care and attention with which it is made starting from the local level, devising new communication ideas and community involvement formats.