Bertelli underlined that “workers’ salary levels are an issue that affects between 8 and 10 million people [in Italy], people who currently don’t know how to deal with rising petrol costs, utility bills and food prices. A specific strategy must be deployed by the government, regardless of the latter’s colour, to put more money into workers’ pockets. It’s the only way to spark renewed enthusiasm, enabling the economy to bounce back.” According to Prada’s boss, “Italy needs to move up a gear, just as inflation has moved up a gear, after nearly a decade of stable prices, with inflation virtually non-existent.” Bertelli said that Italy’s Minister of economy and finance, Giancarlo Giorgetti, “must take a very strong strategic decision in this direction. Many of Italy’s companies are profitable, and [Italy] is the second-largest manufacturing country in Europe. The workforce is Italy’s locomotive.”

Can fringe benefits and bonuses help? “Many firms, ours included, give year-end bonuses to their employees, but it’s a scattershot approach. There needs to be a more structured intervention, not one that is left to the individual entrepreneur’s initiative,” concluded Bertelli.