(On criticism of possible control by multinationals over Expo 2015) Yes, McDonald's is sponsoring it, but in exactly the same way as it sponsors the … - Luca Telese

How the Democratic Party could have voted for a motion that equates Nazi-fascism and communism is one of those mysteries of faith that deserve to be explored. The position of the right wing, which has been dreaming of imposing this fanciful equation for half a century, is easy to understand. And one can understand the vote of the poor, the forgetful, those who were not there or who have never opened a book, a few simple-minded fools seeking light or glory. However, the history of the 20th century, like it or not, is different, and it certainly cannot be rewritten by a few small-time revisionists momentarily involved in a school trip to Brussels or Strasbourg.

(On the role of interns) How can you not realise that being here at Expo right now gives you access to a world of relationships, contacts and cultures that no internship or work experience in the Italian job market can offer?

I have interviewed Giovanni Rana no more than three times in my life. But once – in 1998 – for various reasons, I spent a whole day with him and his son Luca in San Giovanni Lupatoto, in the heart of the family's industrial empire. To describe them, this image, which I will never forget, would suffice: Giovanni recalls his early days as an apprentice in the family's artisan pasta factory, while Luca looks on admiringly. Shortly afterwards, he gets up and shows me how the entire company has grown up around their family home: a house-factory, a life physically intertwined with the idea of work.