The Italian cultural establishment can be unbelievably tone deaf. My latest:
open.substack.com/pub/ellswort...

Rothko-Fra’ Angelico: the mashup that the world needed just launched in Florence, Italy.

Four years ago, the Venice Biennale featured drawings by Ukrainian children. In the one starting next month, the Russian (state) Pavillion will reopen.

In Il Riformista this morning, I discuss this stunning reversal and the enduring Russia obsession of the Italian cultural establishment.

Always thought that Claude AI was very smart and now I know why. A notice from the district court of California kindly informed me that one of my books was pirated to train it. You’re welcome, @anthropic.com

Francesca Lollobrigida smiles widely while hugging her son. Quote reads: "It's not that easy to combine being a skater and a mom." Attribution reads: Italian speedskater Francesca Lollobrigida, who took time off after the 2022 Beijing Games to have her son. She has won two gold medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

From @theathletic.com: In her fourth Olympics, Italy's Francesca Lollobrigida said that she was proud of herself for not giving up and for believing she could have a family and be an Olympic champion. She has won two gold medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics. nyti.ms/4ajyEiY

Remigration is word of the year, says @stephenkb.bsky.social in the FT. If you want to see the shape of things to come, check out our @noemamag.com
longread on Denmark, where remigration is now in the political mainstream.
www.noemamag.com/inside-denma...

Il compromesso raggiunto a Bruxelles per sostenere l’Ucraina senza toccare gli asset russi conferma che l’Europa è ancora quella che Ivan Krastev e Mark Leonard anni fa chiamarono la potenza erbivora.
Mio editoriale su Il Riformista.

www.ilriformista.it/leuropa-che-...

Inside Denmark’s Hardline Immigration Experiment | NOEMA Once a beacon of progressivism, the Scandinavian nation has normalized the worldview of the far right.

This is an excellent article by Helle Malmvig and @fabriziotassinari.bsky.social on the "Danish model" on immigration, with clear and detailed explanation of how being tough on newcomers has become a cornerstone of political consensus.

www.noemamag.com/inside-denma...

It shall not be disclosed due to GDPR and decency. But I finished!

Finishing a marathon in front of the Florence cathedral must be the true last remnant of humanism.

Inside Denmark’s Hardline Immigration Experiment | NOEMA Once a beacon of progressivism, the Scandinavian nation has normalized the worldview of the far right.

“The Danish case is less a model than a warning about what happens to democratic politics when politicians from the center & center-left move to the right to regain or retain power, rather than deliberating, informing & modeling responsibility & respect.”

—Helle Malmvig & Fabrizio Tassinari

What happens to a progressive social democracy when it normalises the worldview of the far right?
My latest longform journalism piece, co-authored with Helle Malmvig, in Noema magazine.

I knew that the FT comments section would provide the most plausible explanation to the 28 point plan for Ukraine

50 years ago today died Pier Paolo Pasolini, hands down Italy’s greatest modern public intellectual. RIP.

The latest fallout of the “negotiations” with Russia should show European leaders that their adulation of Trump’s foreign policy is not delivering.

My latest in Il Riformista this morning.

An informal European council takes place tomorrow in Copenhagen, while Denmark is under an unusual amount of pressure from the west (Trump, Greenland) and from the east (drones). Why?
My column in Il riformista this morning.

The great @nilsgilman.bsky.social of the equally great @berggruen.org published an insightful comment to the Le Monde profile, outlining the broader intellectual implications of what we are doing in Florence. Well worth a read:

open.substack.com/pub/nilsgilm...

Wonderful gift from @lemonde.fr
for such thoughtful profile of our Florence School of Transnational Governance @eui-stg.bsky.social

Always a special feeling to co-author with a philosopher. Over at @projectsyndicate.bsky.social I partner with the great @daniel-innerarity.bsky.social on digital technocracy and future-less autocracies.

www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/a...

Albania has appointed an AI bot as minister, showing how digital technocracy is hollowing out democracy. My editorial with the great @daniel-innerarity.bsky.social. For Il Riformista this morning.

Sunset jog after the storm in Florence. Beat that.

Last weekend, the Wizard of the Kremlin premiered at the Venice film festival with young Putin played by Jude Law.

I loved the novel but I wonder why we are so captivated by brutal figures and I worry that works like the Wizard help cultivate their myth.
My column in Il Riformista

It was bound to happen sooner or later… my interview on Alexander Stubb’s worldview, diplomacy and on our friendship. In Il Riformista this morning.

www.ilriformista.it/la-sorpresa-...

Love this article...
Europe without a contrast is disparate, a family constantly at each other’s throats, but with Trump to reflect on, it realizes what bonds it and even in the aftermath of Putin’s best laid Brexit, even the UK speaks as one with its brothers and sisters.

Donald Trump is becoming the greatest unifier of Europe since the end of the cold war | Fabrizio Tassinari The US president may be helping Putin to destroy the west, but his vanity is causing Europeans to speak with one voice in defence of Ukraine, says Fabrizio Tassinari of the European University Institu...

Irrespective of its outcome, the Washington summit showed that Europe still needs the “Other” to shape its identity. My (debut) take in The Guardian.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Donald Trump is becoming the greatest unifier of Europe since the end of the cold war | Fabrizio Tassinari The US president may be helping Putin to destroy the west, but his vanity is causing Europeans to speak with one voice in defence of Ukraine, says Fabrizio Tassinari of the European University Institute in Florence

Donald Trump is becoming the greatest unifier of Europe since the end of the cold war | Fabrizio Tassinari

Europe’s Hogwarts has a new Dumbledore Patrizia Nanz is trying to make the European University Institute relevant

Good to see a piece about the EUI in The Economist. But this is a hatched job, with little resemblance to reality. Charlemagne is usually excellent, so this is odd. Can only think that @spignal.bsky.social talked to people who don't really know what's going on.
www.economist.com/europe/2025/...

EU top court toughens migration rules on ‘safe countries’ Italy’s Giorgia Meloni must justify why nations are deemed safe and allow legal challenges to that decision, says ECJ

EU top court toughens migration rules on ‘safe countries’ https://on.ft.com/44XJvw7

Shopping when in Rome…

Italy just cancelled a concert by conductor and Putin ally Valery Gergiev. Yet last year alone, it issued over 150.000 visas to Russian tourists.

This morning for Il Riformista on the paradox of Italy’s attitudes toward Russia.