Make Italy Great Again

“Make Italy Great Again” isn't theft. It's a deliberate reinterpretation. We chose these words because they spark debate, stand out, and stay with people amid hundreds of generic slogans. The provocation is intentional: we'd rather start a conversation than go unnoticed.

But the question we hear most often is different: “Great when?” No single era holds the answer. The story is larger than nostalgia.

Italy was great during the Renaissance, when cities such as Florence, Rome and Venice were among Europe's leading centres of art, culture, science and innovation. It was great during the postwar economic boom, when in just a few years it grew from a largely agricultural economy into one of the world's leading industrial powers.

That doesn't mean Italy was ever perfect. The point is to remember that this country has already shown it can build, innovate, produce, take risks and transform itself. Today, we so often seem to have stopped believing we can do it again.

Today we face problems we cannot ignore: wages that grow too slowly, enormous public debt, mounting pressure on the pension system, difficulties for young people and businesses, and a country that too often pushes talented people to seek elsewhere the opportunities they wish they could find here.

We are not a political party. We have no membership cards. We are not asking for votes. We do not want to persuade anyone to adopt an ideology. But we do want to talk about Italy's problems as well as all the opportunities that lie ahead for our country. Being nonpartisan does not mean being indifferent, and debate, even when uncomfortable, is part of a living society.

We don't believe change should begin with a party, an election or a slogan. It primarily begins with people: those who start businesses, do research, teach, work well, hire, invent, study, invest and take responsibility. Those who could leave but choose to stay. And those who have left and decide to bring skills, ideas and opportunities back here.

For us, Make Italy Great Again means this: recovering our ambitions. Not going backwards. Not recreating a past that no longer exists. But building an Italy that once again believes in its ability to compete, innovate and make its mark.

A country that gives people a reason to stay. And to those who have left, a reason to return. We love this country deeply. That is precisely why we cannot simply accept it at face value.