Testimonials and Acknowledgements

CELEBRITIES

Politicians – Activists:

Ali Babacan – former Turkish Foreign Minister

António Guterres – current UN Secretary General (since 2017)

Antonio La Forgia – former President of the Emilia-Romagna Region

Ban Ki-moon – former UN Secretary General

Barbara Duden – Politician, scholar, feminist writer

Bell Hooks– Politician, scholar, Feminist writer

Cécile Kyenge – Politician; former Minister for Integration of the Italian Republic of the Letta government 

Claudio Scajola – former Italian Minister of the Interior

Danuta Maria Hübner – former Commissioner for Regional Policies in Barroso Commission

Duccio Campagnoli – Former Councilor for Industry and Manufacturing Activities of the Emilia Romagna Region – Former President of BolognaFiere – 

Emma Bonino – Italian Radical Party member, Politician, MP, former Foreign Affairs Minister of the Italian Republic in the Letta Government

Fatema Mernissi – Feminist writer Politician, scholar,

Fausto Bertinotti – Politician, former secretary of the Communist Refoundation Party

Gian Carlo Muzzarelli, Mayor of Modena – Former Councilor for Industry and Manufacturing Activities of the Emilia Romagna Region

Gianfranco Fini – Politician; former President of National Alliance; former Speaker of the House,

Giorgio Napolitano – former President of the Italian Republic

Githinji Gitahi – Global CEO of Amref Health Africa

Giuseppe Conte – Italian Premier

José Barroso – former President of the European Commission 

Khalida Messaoudi (alias Khalida Toumi) – Algerian Minister of Communication and Culture in 2001. Symbol of the movement for women’s rights and equal opportunities in Islamic countries

Liliana Segre – Italian politician, Holocaust survivor and active Italian Shoah witness

Luigi Di Maio – current Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in the Italian Government

Mario Raffaelli – President of AMREF Italia

Martha Nussbaum – Feminist writer Politician, scholar,

Massimo D’Alema – Politician – former Italian Foreign Minister

Maurizio Landini – General Secretary of the Italian Trade Union CGIL

Mel Sembler – former US Ambassador to Italy

Michele Bulgarelli – Secretary General of the Italian Trade Union Fiom-Cgil of Bologna

Palma Costi, former President of the Emilia Romagna Regional Legislative Assembly; Former Councilor for Industry and Manufacturing Activities of the Emilia Romagna Region –

Pierluigi Bersani – Politician; former national secretary of the Democratic Party; former President of the Emilia- Region;

Piero Fassino – politician; former national secretary of the Democratic Party (DS)

Renato Brunetta – politician (Forza Italia)

Robin Morgan – Feminist writer Politician, scholar, 

Romano Prodi – politician; former Italian Premier; former President of the European Commission

Ronald Spogli – former US ambassador to Italy

Sandra Harding – Feminist writer Politician, scholar,

Sergio Blasi – regional councilor of Puglia Pd, former mayor of Melpignano, Puglia

Sergio Cofferati – politician – former mayor of Bologna; former secretary general of the Italian Trade Union CGIL

Sergio Mattarella – President of the Italian Republic 

Simona Caselli – President of Legacoop Reggio Emilia – former Councilor for Agriculture, Hunting and Fishing of the Emilia Romagna Region

Stefano Bonaccini – President of the Emilia-Romagna Region

Susanna Camusso – formerly Secretary General of the Italian Trade Union CGIL (2010 – 2019)

Tommaso Padoa Schioppa – Italian economist and politician

Umberto Veronesi – Italian oncologist – politician. Founder and President of the Umberto Veronesi Foundation

Vasco Errani – former President of the Emilia-Romagna Region

Virginio Merola, Mayor of Bologna

Walter Vitali – former Mayor of Bologna

Zahira Kamal – Palestinian activist and politician of the Palestinian Democratic Union. Former Minister of Women in the Palestinian National Authority.

Chefs & Pastry Chefs:

Annabelle Lucantonio, World Pastry Champion “The Pastry Queen 2018”

Antonino Canavacciuolo – Master Chef

Cher Harris (USA), Pastry Queen 2014 World Pastry Champion

Gabriel Paillasson – Pastry Chef, president Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie

Iginio Massari – Pastry Chef,The Master of Italian Pastry Masters

Philippe Rigollot – Pastry Chef, president of Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie since 2018

Roberto Rinaldini – Pastry Chef, award-winning Italian pastry chef

Silvia Federica Boldetti – World Pastry Champion “The Pastry Queen 2016”
Sonia Balacchi – World Pastry Champion “The Pastry Queen 2012”

Nobel Laureates:

Muhammad Yunus – 2006 Nobel Peace Prize

Rita Levi Montalcini – 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Robert Engle – Nobel Prize in Economics 2003

Shirin Ebadi – Nobel Peace Prize 2003

Wangari Mathai – Nobel Peace Prize 2004

Academics/Scientists:

Fabio Alberto Roversi Monaco – former Rector of the University of Bologna

Francesco Ubertini – Rector of the University of Bologna

Francesco Garibaldo – Director at “Claudio Sabattini” Foundation

Ivano Dionigi – former Rector of the University of Bologna

Marco Biagi – Italian jurist. Professor of Labour Law and industrial relations at the University of Modena

Maurizio Cheli, Astronaut

Patrizio Bianchi – Full Professor of Economics and Industrial Policy – coordinator of the Committee of Experts set up by the Minister of Education – former Councilor for Labour and University of the Emilia Romagna Region, former Rector of the University of Ferrara

Pier Ugo Calzolari – former Rector of the University of Bologna

Pierre Lévy – sociologist

Volker Telljohann – senior researcher at IRES Emilia-Romagna

Sport:

Bebe Vio – world and European champion in Paralympic individual foil

Umberto Pelizzari (Italian freediver – world records in all the existing disciplines of freediving)

Veronica Yoko Plebani – Paralympic athlete

Fashion:

Franco Catania – business manager, production-distribution of some of the main fashion brands (Jacob Cohën, Karl Lagerfeld Denim, Vilebrequin Denim, Hand Picked). 

Giorgio Armani – business executive – stylist

Stefano Bonacini – business manager – President of Gaudì

Stefano Saccone – CEO of Woolrich International

Literature:

Ala Al-Aswani 

Alain Mabanckou

Amos Oz

André Schiffrin

Asha Phillips

Assia Djebar

Azza Filali

Bernard-Henri Lévy

Bruce Sterling

Clara Sanchez 

Daniel Pennac

Danny Wallace

David Peace

Dominique Manotti

Edgar Morin

Eliette Abécassis

Etgar Keret

Jake Arnott

Jan Brokken

Janne Teller

Jonathan Coe

Marc Augé

Margaret  Atwood

Mathias Malzieu

Mohsin Hamid

Nancy Richler

Paule Marshall

Sharon Draper

Stefano Benni

Suad Amiry

Tahar Ben Jelloun

Vandana Shiva

Veronique Tadjo

Economists:

Alan Neil (International and Comparative Labour Law professor)‬

Daniel Susskind

Edgar Parnell

Jacques Rojot (International and Comparative Labour Law professor)‬

Jeremy Rifkin 

John Kenneth Galbraith

Louis Sabourin – economist, sociologist, international cooperation scholar 

Manfred Weiss (International and Comparative Labour Law professor)‬

Marco Biagi (International and Comparative Labour Law professor)‬

Nassim Taleb

Nelson Barbosa

Nouriel Roubini

Philip McCann

Richard Keegan

Richard Sennett

Robert Engle – Nobel Prize in Economics 2003

Roger Blanpain (International and Comparative Labour Law professor)‬

Stefano Zamagni

Tiziano Treu (International and Comparative Labour Law professor) (Former Italian Labour Minister)‬

Marketing:

Several Marketing experts and Gurus, Economists (The House Ambrosetti) including:

Adrian Furnham

Alec Ross

Anantha Duraiappah

Ashira Prossack  

Daniele Agiman

David Posen                                                                                   

Eric Axel Zimmer

Giulio Monti

Jan Ardui

John Zimmer

Leandro Herrero

Miquel Lladò

Peresh Shah

Richard Norman

Richard White

Soumitra Dutta

Stefan Stremersch

Business sector:

Andrea Battista – President of Net Insurance; former CEO Eurovita

Andrea Zappia – former CEO of Sky Italia 

Carlo Cimbri – CEO Unipol Gruppo SpA and Chairman of UnipolSai Assicurazioni SpA

Claudio Domenicali – CEO of Ducati Motor Holding

James Muir – former President and CEO of Mazda Motor Europe 

Lorenzo Cagnoni, President of Italian Exhibition Group Spa (the merger between Rimini Fiera and Fiera di Vicenza)

Luca Cordero di Montezemolo – politician, business executive and entrepreneur. Former president of Ferrari SpA; Former president of Confindustria

Marco Tronchetti Provera – Italian business executive manager. Pirelli Group CEO

Nerio Alessandri – President and founder of Technogym, president of the Wellness Foundation

Oleskiy Lomeyko CEO of PMMTB

Pierluigi Stefanini – Chairman of Unipol Group and Deputy Chairman of UnipolSai Assicurazioni 

Sergio Marchionne – former President of FIAT, FCA, CNH, FERRARI

The European House – Ambrosetti – several business executives and marketing gurus 

Thierry Porté – entrepreneur in the financial and insurance sector; former President of Eurovita

Valerio De Molli – Managing Partner and CEO of The European House – Ambrosetti

Architecture:

Stefano Boeri

Arata Isozaki

Cartoonists:

 

Mordillo Guillermo Menéndez – Argentine cartoonist, illustrator and author of animated cartoons

Albert Uderzo –  Didier Conrad – Jean-Yves Ferri – French cartoonists of the series Asterix (Asterix and the Picts (Astérix chez les Pictes), 2013; Asterix and the papyrus of Caesar (Astérix et le papyrus de Cesar), 2015; Asterix and the Italian race (Astérix et la Transitalique), 2017; Asterix and the daughter of Vercingetorix (La Fille de Vercingétorix), 2019

Show business (TV, Cinema) / Film directors /actors:

Antoine Simkine – special effects for Amélie’s Fantastic World

Atom Egoyan – film director

Carlo RambaldiOscar for the best special effects for Alien (1979); ET the extra-terrestrial (1982), Oscar Special Achievement Award for the visual effects of King Kong (1976). 

Gomorra Cast – SKY television series

Hassan Benjelloun – film director

Jersey Shore Cast – MTV television series

Matt Dillon – actor

Michael Cacoyannis – film director

Michael Dobbs – writer of the novel of the same name from which the television series House of Cards is based

Nabil Radio Dervish – singer

Noa – singer

Patti Smith – rock star 

Philip Glass – Contemporary music author, composer, American pianist

Police – Steward Copeland (drummer)

Pupi Avati – film director

Simona Ventura – TV presenter

Stefano Sollima – Italian director and screenwriter (Gomorra; La serie, Romanzo Criminale) 

Tim Roth – actor

Psychoanalysts:

Alberto Merini

Armando Bauleo

Bernard Aucouturier

Bernard Cramer

Bessel Van der Kolk

Catherine Hamon

Donald  Meltzer

Francesca Molfino

Francisco Palacio Espasa

Jacques Hochmann

Louis Sanders

Marie Rose Moro

Meg Harris Melzer

Omar Ndoye

Omar Sylla

Philippe Jeammet

R.Lazar

Romana Negri

Tobie Nathan