“It has been a very friendly meeting and it was very important to us because we considered our duty to give the right acknowledgement to President Mr Ciampi when, just last summer, within a spread and swinging of mistrust feelings, also towards the cluster system, he had raised a high acknowledgement to our District structure. He had identified among our labs and workrooms the starting point from where it should have originated a new course or a re-launch of the economic recovery, which, since there, it appeared no more possible to defer farther. He had underlined that the District structure, within an economic system characterised by small enterprises, it would had represented the most high and valuable resource. Also, today Mr Ciampi gave a huge importance to this kind of District system and to its specificities”

Mr Paolo Terribile, the Italian District Association Chairman, soon after ending the meeting with Mr Ciampi, who has seen today a complete delegation made up also by Mr Terribile and Mr Italo Candoni, among others, and coming from the District Association, demonstrated his enthusiasm. “We are coming out from this very encouraging meeting and we are ready to renew our engagement in a way that the Italian District system would still be seen the winning strategy within our Country.” Candoni also pointed out that: “Today Districts are living an historical moment, they are fixing condition for an economic recovery in our Country, giving also their importance into the 2006 Financial Act in promoting new enterprises.
The auspice is that with the contribution of Italian Districts, the operative stage would start as soon as possible”.

The delegation’s meeting offered to Ciampi the opportunity to better acquaint himself with Italian Clusters and to Italian Districts Association (the former Italian Club for the Industrial Clusters). This Association started his activity twelve years ago. “The Club – said Mr Terribile in his speech to the President – was gathering all the ‘historical’ Districts established within our Country with the aim to increase relationships among themselves in order to combine their experiences and at the same time promoting their territorial formula. From Belluno to Prato, from San Daniele del Friuli to Palermo, from Montebelluna to Biella, the whole Italy, already twenty years ago, has been run through a kind of spontaneous organisation of associations, which involved firms and enterprises belonging to a same production-die.

They were sharing a very strong identification with their own environments, relevant social-economic ties and needs of production and distribution’s modernisation. However, there was and there is more. Because of shared enterprises’ values and enthusiasms, clusters aggregation implemented knowledge widespread and built up a sense of common target towards the innovation. Throughout time, Districts have doubled their numbers. In several Regions there have been ad hoc legislations and in some cases District have been and still are material of investigations and researches for Universities form the all over the world”.

Mr Terribile also underlined Italian District’s flexible character, especially through periods of important economic transformations; he pointed out District’s last successful performances, after the critical moment, which affected Italian’s enterprises in 2003. “Recovery signs are timidly emerging everywhere. Production’s Districts have been with no doubts the major actors of such a recovery. From Friuli to Sicily, it is possible to gather a general dynamicity and an increasing enthusiasm in “making and doing” (it means to say working, producing and doing business). A system proves itself to be vital if it is able to re-think himself each time, developing adequate answers in front of obstacles and new challenges. However, what is important: the system, to overcome difficult moments should be able to provide with people available to explore and develop new innovative opportunities, assuming risks on themselves and investing energy, time and money. From here, the Production Districts are proposing themselves again as economic and cultural structured organisation into a specific territory and at the same time, they look like to be the best actors to constantly boost economy also towards innovation, spreading and socialising technology”.

Mr Terribile, closed his speech with the assessment that districts are shaping a portion of our economy and of our export activities, which are our flag abroad. Moreover, Districts, because of their deep rooting in their own territory, do not merely promote just a product. On the contrary, they promote a cultural system as a whole, which is implicit to, and it is surrounding the product itself. Therefore, our cities, their artistic treasures and the typicality of the local agro-food productions are symbiotic to our lives and lands. That is why we are thinking that Clusters and Districts are our Country’s heart beating”.
“Market changes, Regional legislations and the 2006 Financial Act – added Mr Condoni – are important formal and institutional acknowledgements that have driven Districts to reorganise their structures by priority sectors. This process begun some time ago and every body, from different District, gave and are giving important original contributions with very satisfactory results. At such a purpose, it is noticeable that are increasing collaboration’s initiatives among different Districts, involving economic reality that in first instance could have appeared completely different”.
When the meeting was over, the delegation donated DistrettiItalia 2006 to Mr Ciampi, which is a guide to the Italian Districts by areas. Mr Candoni said that this guide is intended to be a useful and reliable tool where Districts are described through their evolution and strengths.

In attachment: a DistrettiItalia Guide abstract. For care of Distretti Italiani and published by Logo Libri, supported by Unioncamere and San Polo Enterprises. The Guide presents 150 Italian Production District descriptions with the contribution of Enrico Letta, Paolo Sylos Labini, Marco Fortis, Piero Trupia, Debora Giannini, Ruggiera Sarcina.

The abstract districts catalogue is listed by Region and provides writing by Mr Marco Fortis on “L’Italia, Terra di Distretti” (Italy, Districts’ Land) with an example of a Districts description card. Images and texts are published only with the provenience’s source.


Link to the Guide's Abstract: