An incredible Discovery tour.

There is a quote from Marcel Proust, one of the favourite writers of my twin brother Ranieri, which I always carry with me before leaving for a new adventure:

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

When I was invited to participate to the “Discovery Tour” of Porto Marghera organized by Confindustria, it was clear to me from the beginning that I had to forget the vision of the past at times difficult to tell, especially because there are many people still anchored to it.

When travelling to Venice, I often considered Porto Marghera as an antithesis to the wonderful city of Venice and felt that these two realities could not coexist next to each other.

Looking at it from another perspective was an extraordinary opportunity for me to open my eyes to a completely new world.

Because Porto Marghera is everything you don’t expect: a place in constant evolution and in full cultural ferment, where you can breathe business culture and sustainability. An innovation pole ready to lead the new generations into the future. 

What I saw there was simply Margheravellous!

A story of excellence renewed.

The history of Porto Marghera is linked to the fascinating personality of Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata, one of the protagonists of the most incredible achievements of the Twentieth Century: the birth and development of one of the most important industrial centers in Europe.

Multifaceted character, visionary entrepreneur, industrialist, politician, lover of art and culture, director of the Venice Biennale, promoter of the International Film Exhibition, founder of the Adriatic Electricity Society, leader of Confindustria in the 1940s.

Volpi is not only an emblematic figure who embodies the spirit of the time, but also a source of inspiration for the many innovative startups, young entrepreneurial talents, artists and creatives who are today committed to giving new life and impulse to Porto Marghera, with the same initiative, creativity and cultural sensitivity of Giuseppe Volpi.

For those interested in learning more about his figure, I recommend watching an interesting video contribution edited by Professor Luciano Segreto of the University of Florence, by clicking on this link.

Venezia Heritage Tower: a tower looking at the future.

My tour begins with the concrete expression of ​​rebirth and regeneration of Porto Marghera: the former cooling tower, now home of the cultural startup Venezia Heritage Tower, born with the ambitious goal of stimulating “High Visions“.

This huge Cooling Tower literally took my breath away: it is a huge structure built in 1938, made of reinforced concrete in the shape of a hyperboloid. A true masterpiece of industrial archeology that has become the subject of a recovery and restoration project unique in Italy and Europe that has transformed it from a symbol of industrial progress of the twentieth century to a “meeting place between past and future, between culture and business, between institutions and citizens “.

As Alessandra Previtali, CEO of VHT, told me during the Tour:

Inside Venezia Heritage Tower you can find all the most beautiful business stories of our territory […] that have made a difference in the world and which we must treasure today and, above all, pass on to the new generations who will build our future […]

Click here to see the full interview I uploaded on YouTube.

In the past, cooling waters flowed; today ideas, stimuli, experiences, emotions, transversal skills, cultural and institutional initiatives, educational workshops, museum activities, creative talents, human skills and entrepreneurial projects converge, held together inside this huge tower in a virtuoso exchange of excellence and in a continuous productive dialogue.

All this moves and animates Venezia Heritage Tower, a “Margheravellous” Creature re-emerged from the past and ready to win the most important challenges of the future, focusing on sustainability, culture and business.

A huge open window on the excellence of the Made in Italy.

60 meters high, the view of the present and the future is truly incredible. An experience that captured my senses at 360 degrees. From up here, in fact, neither borders nor distances seem to exist. My gaze manages to embrace Venice and its port as well as the enchanting islands of Burano, Torcello and Murano, the Dolomites, the Euganean and the Prosecco of Conegliano hills.

An open vision which contains the most ambitious challenge for the excellence of Made in Italy: reconnecting the vast artistic and cultural heritage of the territory with its precious productive knowhow.

A high aspiration that you can breathe and touch with your hands inside the Tower. On the first floors there are over 7000 “pieces” including patents, brands, exclusive productions, unpublished projects, which testify how historically important the productive heritage of this area has been, which over the course of its long history has attracted numerous Made in Italy excellences and investments from all over the world.

Today that entrepreneurial knowhow has evolved, as Christian Sottana, Director of Transport Service Pesce M&C explained to me:

In Porto Marghera we have a very high concentration of small and medium-sized companies that have replaced large ones […] the Made in Italy is present everywhere from these windows […] To all those 30 million tourists who come to see the Doge’s Palace, the soul of historic Venice, I recommend stopping in the industrial area of ​​Porto Marghera because they will certainly be able to do business and find those stimuli that have historically been produced by our companies.

To see the full interview I uploaded on my YouTube channel click here.

An example of contamination that is good for the territory.

Porto Marghera is today among the most virtuous examples, in Italy and in the world, of cultural contamination. When I visited its docks, I immediately thought of London’s Southbank, Tank Shanghai or other post-industrial areas of Rotterdam and Hamburg, regenerated through art and culture and transformed into interesting aggregation centers for enterprising young people. Areas that are being colored with street art and populating with artists, creatives, photographers, university students, committed to bringing new ferment to the territory.

This phenomenon is also taking place in Porto Marghera, where many intellectuals, architects, professionals and designers have decided to settle down and move their businesses.

Just think of Via della Pila which became famous thanks to Luca Massimo Barbero, the volcanic curator of the Peggy Guggenheim who chose to open his own studio in a portion of a former 1950s factory.

A territory that is changing face, as shown by the many places born in the sign of regeneration, from “Molo 5” the most fashionable restaurant in Marghera inside the former Italsider Dopolavoro to “Il Vapore” which today is considered a cult venue for all jazz lovers.

But the contamination does not stop there: the Ca Foscari University has landed in Marghera to create VEGA, one of the most important science-technology parks in Italy, which currently hosts start-ups, spin-offs and innovative companies mainly operating in the ICT sectors, the Green Economy and Digital Manufacturing.

As Elena Bonafè, Environment and Safety Manager of Confindustria, told me during the interview:

Cultural contamination is an aspect of the liveliness of this territory […] there is not only the primary manufacturing industry, but there is a whole world that rotates around it: we have artists, designers, innovators, centers of digital services. A world that is developing around and beyond industry […]

Click here to see the full interview I uploaded on YouTube.

This weekend I want to surprise you.

Porto Marghera was a beautiful discovery for me that I wanted to share with those who look at the world with “new eyes”.

This is why I have prepared an interesting photographic and video journey, to introduce you to the new face of porto marghera that I have picked up during the Discovery Tour. Are you ready to travel into the future? My video interviews have been uploaded on Youtube, pictures and videos to come on my Instagram and Facebook channels.

Today is FRAday, how Margheravellous!