The two days of meetings and debates scheduled in Cagliari, in the "Motzo" lecture hall, the university's faculty of humanistic studies, are dedicated to the relationship between Adriano Olivetti and Sardinia.
Friday 27 October (starting at 9.15) and the following day analysis and reflections to shed light on the path of an entrepreneur who met Sardinia on the occasion of the electoral pact between Community, the movement born inside his factory in Ivrea, and the Sardinian Action Party.
«In mid-January 1958, in view of the political elections – writes the historian of Sardinianism Salvatore Cubeddu, director of the Sardinia Foundation – the alliance of the Sardinian Action Party with the Community Movement and the some farmers. The leader of the initiative, together with the Sardinian Party, is Adriano Olivetti, founder, owner and manager of the company of the same name, a leading company in Italy in the production of accounting and writing machines. The name of the list is ready at the beginning of the year: "Community of culture, workers and peasants of Italy - Federation of autonomist groups". And the fact supposes that the Sardinian leadership group spent the last part of 1957 in contacts, in internal discussions and in the conclusion of the agreement which was immediately spread by the press".
The interventions
The conference, promoted by the Sardinia Foundation, the University's literature department and the Olivetti Foundation, will be attended by, among others, Cardinal Arrigo Miglio, former bishop of Ivrea, the political scientist Mauro Pala, Franciscu Sedda, professor of Theory of Languages, the secretary of the Olivetti Foundation, Beniamino de'Liguori Carino, the labor law expert Gianni Loy, the historian Luca Lecis, the Jesuit Giuseppe Riggio, director of the magazine “Social Updates”, Salvatore Cubeddu himself.
The witness
The Luxurious writer Antonio Cossu, who worked in Ivrea in the political party "Community", was sent to Sardinia in 1958. He is one of the witnesses of the encounter between Olivetti and sardism: «I was sent to lend a hand in the editorial staff of Il Solco. I had constant contact with Titino and Pietro Melis, Carlo Sanna (then secretary of the Cagliaritan section) and with the others. Evidently there was a lot of respect for the autonomy of each organization that made up the list, so my task was limited to the assignment I received. The aim was to send four-five deputies to Parliament; things didn't go that way and in Italy only one deputy was elected, the engineer Olivetti. Politically it was a big setback and, combined with the subsequent death (after two months) of the founder, it contributed to the difficulties of the Movement itself. Some ideas remained, however, and spread."
One of the ideas of Adriano Olivetti, who in his company wanted to achieve a balance between social solidarity and profit and achieve the cultural and human development of those who worked there, was this : «Well, if I may, the term utopia is often it is the most convenient way to liquidate what you don't have the desire, ability or courage to do. A dream seems like a dream until you start working on it. And then it can become something infinitely greater ."
