Italo, too, is leaving (after all, it’s a train)

To those who mourned over Italo having been sold to an American financial/entrepreneurial group, Luca di Montezemolo replied: “Where were the Italians willing to help us a few years ago, when we were on the verge of filing for bankruptcy, or where are the entrepreneurs now capable of buying 40% of the company, before going public?”.
A few years ago, when Bulgari was sold to the French company LVMH, its CEO Francesco Trapani, when he received notes of regret from people lamenting that one of the most important jewellery brands in the country was being transferred abroad, replied: “It was impossible to do otherwise; we tried to involve other luxury companies in a group creating a reference critical mass around the Made in Italy. There was nothing to do, each wanted to go their own way”. A business version of the country’s parochialism, wrote il Sole 24 Ore.
And so, one after the other, our country’s leading businesses are passing to foreign hands. Are these foreigners acting as benefactors? Of course not, they can see the great opportunities related to the quality and recognition of our products.
Now, probably it will be the turn of our high-standard hotels. The shopping spree has already begun, and once again we are going to cry crocodile tears. Success in business requires vision, constancy, entrepreneurial spirit and risk-taking capability as active players, which is a quality we often lack.