Italy

Italy is experiencing a period of great national energy and enthusiasm: the Winter Olympics has generated a cohesion not experienced in a long time. We might call it a double adrenaline rush given what is happening on the LME, with its constant fluctuations and challenges to daily life.

The Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Games represent a significant driver of economic and infrastructural development, with an estimated overall economic impact of over Euro 6 billion. It has been an accelerator of investment aimed at transforming the Alpine region and the host cities into a competitive hub, improving the transportation network and tourism offerings.

Meanwhile, revenues for family businesses are slowing but remain higher than those of other companies, as does profitability. Macro-economic pressures are reducing revenues and profitability while leaderships change because generational transitions are becoming more frequent. The annual average has doubled compared to the last decade: of the 1944 handovers between 2010 and 2024, the average was 192 per year between 2020 and 2024 as against 98 in the 2010-2019 period. It is expected that almost one in two (48.8%) family businesses will be involved in a generational transition in the next 10 years. This means open boards but also supporting the new generations in leadership, accompanying those still in office if necessary in a mentoring process with parents and children leading together.

In recent years, Southern Italy has been expanding at a faster pace than the rest of the country, recording stronger overall growth than the Northern regions since 2014. There are signs of structural strengthening, thanks primarily to National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) resources. While not yet closing existing gaps, this demonstrates more favourable medium-term dynamics than in the past.

The NRRP represents a fundamental lever for the South, where over 110,000 projects are concentrated. However, critical issues remain: Euro 14.5 billion of the allocated resources have been disbursed with a disbursement rate of 27%, which is lower than that for Central and Northern Italy.