Sequel partnered with the ninth edition of La Piazza - Il bene comune, the political and economic event that Affaritaliani.it has organised since 2018 in Ceglie Messapica, in the province of Brindisi. Three days, from 27 to 29 August, with ministers, national political leaders and leading Italian entrepreneurs taking the stage, hosted by Francesco Giorgino and editor-in-chief Marco Scotti.
Why this event mattered to us
Two of the threads running through the three days pass exactly through our work. The first is artificial intelligence and the place it must occupy in the country’s agenda. The second is the future of professional information. In Ceglie Messapica we found them both on the main stage, in the same weekend.
AI in the country’s agenda: Marco Scotti in conversation with Marco Lenoci
On stage, Affaritaliani editor-in-chief Marco Scotti interviewed our CEO Marco Lenoci, who leads Evolution Group, the group Sequel belongs to. The starting point was a concrete matter: the infrastructure of artificial intelligence, from cloud to models, sits in the hands of a few large companies.
Lenoci brought the perspective of someone who watched this technology grow from the inside, with five years in Silicon Valley working on partnerships for Google’s AI products. «I am worried, because artificial intelligence does not seem to me to be at the centre of the political debate the way it should be. It is the greatest technological revolution humanity has ever seen: depending on what we do with it, it can be the best possible innovation or the worst scenario for the future of work and of people».
The opportunities are enormous, from the contribution to fighting climate change to the discovery of treatments for very rare diseases. The risks are just as concrete, from the concentration of the technology in a few large global players to cybersecurity, through to the impact on employment. Hence the political point of his talk: planning and common rules are needed, and the right scale is the European one. «From a technological standpoint, Italy without Europe does not exist. We must be proactive in asking Europe for common rules, so that AI becomes a positive factor for everyone».
The institutional response: European digital sovereignty under Italian leadership
The institutions answered from the same stage. Serafino Sorrenti, Executive Vice President of the European Digital Infrastructure Consortium, retraced the path that led Europe to entrust Italy with a leading role in the transition towards European technological and digital sovereignty, with the creation of the Digital Commons EDIC, built on pillars ranging from cloud to artificial intelligence through to the digitalisation of public administration. «Three years ago, when I put Italy forward for this project, someone told me I was crazy. Today Europe has chosen Italy as its model».
Sorrenti also pointed to law 132 of 2025, which made Italy the first European country to legislate on artificial intelligence after the EU’s AI Act.
A dialogue between those asking for rules and those writing them is exactly what an event like La Piazza can stage, in front of those who carry the responsibility of deciding.
The era of information without journalism
The second thread came from Francesco Giorgino, host of this edition, with his reflection on the era of information without journalism. It is a theme that touches the heart of the work we do every day with Italian publishers: helping those who produce information with method and professional ethics defend their visibility, in search engines and in AI answers. We devoted a full piece to it in our Dentro l’Algoritmo space.
Thanks to those who made it possible
Congratulations to Marcello Antelmi, president of the La Piazza Association, to editor-in-chief Marco Scotti and to the whole Affaritaliani team for a flawless organisation. See you at the tenth edition.
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