The Italy-based Festival dell'Economia di Trento concluded its expanded five-day format today, with Confindustria President Emanuele Orsini delivering the closing dialogue at the Teatro Sociale. The industrial confederation chief appeared in a session titled "Sviluppo economico come priorità sociale" (Economic Development as a Social Priority), interviewed by Il Sole 24 Ore Director Fabio Tamburini. The event, organized jointly by Gruppo 24 Ore and Trentino Marketing on behalf of the Autonomous Province of Trento, marks a strategic expansion from four to five days due to surging attendance that topped 140,000 cumulative participants over the 2022–2025 period.
The 21st edition centered on the theme "Dal mercato ai nuovi poteri. Le speranze dei giovani" (From Market to New Powers: The Hopes of the Young), examining how geopolitical fragmentation, the decline of globalization, and the dominance of Big Tech firms are reshaping economic power structures and youth prospects across Europe.
Why This Matters
• Expanded format: Organizers expanded to five days for this edition, signaling confidence in the festival's role as a major European economic forum.
• Record participation: More than 40,000 individual attendees at recent editions, cementing Trento as a key calendar stop for business leaders and policymakers.
• Youth focus: With Italy's chronic youth unemployment and brain drain, the festival's emphasis on opportunities for younger generations resonates deeply with domestic residents and families.
• Policy proximity: Five Nobel laureates, 18 ministers, and 118 academics gathered in a single week, creating direct channels between scholarship and policy that affect Italy's regulatory environment.
Star-Studded Lineup and High-Level Programming
This year's program featured over 300 events and more than 700 speakers, including five Nobel Prize winners, 18 sitting or former ministers, and 118 academics from international universities. The caliber of participants reflects the festival's evolution from a regional academic gathering into a Davos-style forum for Southern Europe, drawing comparisons to the World Economic Forum's Alpine summit but with a sharper Italian and youth-centric lens.
The audience, affectionately known as the "popolo dello scoiattolo" (squirrel people)—a nod to the festival's logo—has grown steadily. Organizers report that the cumulative crowd from 2022 through 2025 surpassed 140,000 presences, with recent individual editions attracting north of 40,000 participants. This year's expanded five-day schedule accommodated this growth and allowed deeper exploration of complex topics such as artificial intelligence governance, supply chain re-shoring, and European defense economics.
Closing Panels: Industry and Youth at the Forefront
Alongside Orsini's closing address, the festival Sunday schedule included a presentation of Il Sole 24 Ore's "Qualità della vita" index, an annual survey that ranks Italian provinces by quality of life across indicators such as employment, safety, and services. The session, titled "Giovani, anziani, bambini" (Youth, Elderly, Children), dissected generational disparities in well-being, a live-wire issue as Italy grapples with Europe's oldest median age and declining birth rates.
Carlo Calenda, leader of the centrist Azione party, appeared at the Palazzo della Regione's Sala di Rappresentanza for a dialogue titled "I giovani, ultima chiamata per l'Europa" (Youth, Europe's Last Call), moderated by Emilia Patta of Il Sole 24 Ore. Calenda has consistently championed pro-European, technocratic reforms, positioning Azione as the anti-populist alternative in a fragmented Italian parliament. His session framed youth engagement as a make-or-break factor for the European Union's future competitiveness, especially as the bloc faces demographic decline, defense spending pressures, and technology gaps vis-à-vis the United States and China.
What This Means for Residents and Investors
For residents, entrepreneurs, and families in Italy, the festival's thematic focus on "new powers" translates into concrete near-term challenges:
• Labor market transformation: Repeated sessions addressed AI's incidence on employment, automation's spread in manufacturing, and the need for upskilling programs. Italy's traditional sectors—textiles, machinery, food processing—face disruption, and policy debates at Trento often preview government workforce initiatives.
• Youth opportunity pipeline: With Italian youth unemployment still hovering around double the EU average, the festival's emphasis on digital skills, startup ecosystems, and cross-border mobility offers a road map for parents and young professionals navigating education and career choices.
• Regulatory signals: Panels featuring ministers and central bank officials can foreshadow tax incentives, industrial policy pivots, and fiscal reforms. Attendees often report that Trento discussions preview legislation debated in Rome within six to twelve months.
• European integration: Calenda's "last call" framing underscores anxiety about Italy's position in a fracturing EU. For long-term residents and engaged citizens, the festival's pro-integration tenor contrasts sharply with nationalist rhetoric elsewhere, signaling where centrist coalitions may push policy.
Geopolitics, Big Tech, and the End of Globalization
The 2026 theme—"Dal mercato ai nuovi poteri"—reflects widespread recognition that the post–Cold War economic order has fractured. Festival sessions dissected three power shifts reshaping Italy's economic environment:
Geopolitical fragmentation: Russia's autarky, China's Belt and Road dominance, and the U.S. pivot to industrial policy have left Europe scrambling for strategic autonomy. Panels explored how Italian exporters must navigate tariff walls, export controls, and supply chain re-shoring mandates.
Big Tech concentration: A handful of American and Chinese platforms now control AI infrastructure, cloud computing, and digital advertising. Italian SMEs face the dilemma of dependence on foreign tech stacks, a recurring concern in discussions on digital sovereignty.
Youth disillusionment: Surveys presented at the festival show young Italians increasingly pessimistic about homeownership, pension adequacy, and career progression. Speakers debated whether Europe's welfare model can adapt to gig work, remote employment, and cross-border digital nomadism.
The inclusion of five Nobel laureates ensured that theoretical economics informed practical debates. Past editions have featured names such as Joseph Stiglitz, Esther Duflo, and Abhijit Banerjee, whose research on inequality and development directly informs Italy's social policy discourse.
Regional Economic Showcase
While the festival's global themes grab headlines, its Trentino setting is no accident. The Autonomous Province of Trento enjoys special fiscal autonomy under Italy's post-war constitutional settlement, retaining a larger share of tax revenue than standard regions. This has funded robust public services, infrastructure, and cultural programming, making Trentino a laboratory for regional development models that other Italian provinces envy.
Trentino Marketing leverages the festival to showcase the province's appeal to investors, startups, and skilled migrants. The region boasts a trilingual workforce (Italian, German, Ladin), proximity to Austrian and Swiss markets, and a diversified economy spanning tourism, manufacturing, and agritech. For entrepreneurs and residents scouting locations outside Milan and Rome, the festival doubles as a regional pitch.
Looking Ahead
Final attendance figures for the 2026 edition will be released in coming weeks, but organizers expressed confidence that the five-day format proved sustainable. Early signals suggest the extension allowed deeper dives into policy workshops, startup pitch sessions, and student forums—elements that complement the headline dialogues and broaden the festival's utility beyond spectacle.
As Italy navigates a period of political instability, sluggish productivity growth, and demographic headwinds, the Festival dell'Economia di Trento has emerged as a rare space where technocratic expertise, political ambition, and public engagement intersect. For residents and observers, the ideas debated on Trento's stages often become the policy battles of the next legislative session—making the "popolo dello scoiattolo" not just spectators, but early indicators of where Italian economic governance is headed.
