AS / PERSPECTIVES

Volare Alto: space, business and capital

Name: Volare Alto. Sostenere la crescita dell’industria aerospaziale in Italia
ISBN: 9788833658544

Leonella Gori and Alessandro Sannini on what it takes to turn Italy’s aerospace excellence into scalable industrial capability — with four critical readings of the book.

Alessandro Sannini reading in a bookshop — Reading · Bookshop

VOLARE ALTO

The book in four moves

Looking up is easy. Building what is required on the ground is harder. Volare Alto. Sostenere la crescita dell’industria aerospaziale in Italia, by Leonella Gori and Alessandro Sannini, asks a practical question: how can a country rich in aerospace expertise turn technology into stronger companies, resilient supply chains and European-scale industrial capability?

A book about industrial economics, not the romance of orbit

The protagonists are companies: large primes, specialist SMEs, districts, start-ups and research centres. Capital, governance, consolidation, public programmes and geopolitics are analysed together because in space they increasingly determine one another.

The thesis

Italy does not lack talent; it struggles to convert talent into scale. Technology creates durable value when it meets management, patient capital, international markets and public demand designed to reinforce the industrial base.

From book to industrial debate

Volare Alto is also a platform for discussion about private equity, SME growth, European consolidation and industrial policy. The press archive and event coverage follow that debate as it evolves.

Publication: Leonella Gori and Alessandro Sannini · Edizioni Nuova Cultura · ISBN 9788833658544.

Formiche

Marcello Spagnulo: from analysis to industrial proposals

Spagnulo reads Volare Alto as a hybrid of academic analysis, economics and policy paper: its value lies in moving from a diagnosis of fragmentation and undercapitalisation to the practical conditions required for sector growth.

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Pandora Rivista

Luca Picotti: rigorous without becoming inaccessible

Pandora highlights the book’s interdisciplinary architecture: economic data, industrial structure, geopolitics and financing channels become one coherent reading, relevant to sector professionals while remaining accessible beyond the industry.

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Corriere del Veneto

Finance beside the companies that have to scale

The Corriere del Veneto reading brings the argument into the SME and district economy: technical excellence is not enough unless finance, industrialisation and working capital support the transition to scale.

Corriere del Veneto · 08.03.2026

CorCom

Pietro di Segni: supply chains, capital and global competition

Di Segni focuses on the central tension of the Italian system: a vibrant but fragmented ecosystem that can become durable industrial capability only by attracting capital, strengthening management and building critical mass without losing specialisation.

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THEMES

Four ways to read the book

Space EconomyIndustry, public programmes, capital and supply chains: this Topic aggregates content, while the pillar explains how technology becomes industrial capability.→Private EquityGrowth capital, M&A and buy-and-build: the Topic aggregates content, while the pillar develops the operating logic of value creation.→Industrial PolicyCapacity, procurement, capital and governance: the Topic aggregates content, while the pillar examines tools, sovereignty and measurable industrial outcomes.→Corporate FinanceCapital structure, debt, M&A and financing decisions behind industrial growth.→

CONNECTIONS

From the book to the site’s pathways

Space Economy: from technology to industrial capabilityA strategic space sector is built through capital, public demand, supply chains, governance and industrialisation — not through satellites alone.→Private Equity: capital, governance and industrial transformationReturns are built through thesis quality, capital discipline and the ability to turn governance, M&A and investment into a stronger company.→Invest in space. Underwrite the business.A growing sector does not guarantee a growing business. Reading technology, customers and capital needs in aerospace SMEs.→Aerospace M&A: value does not add itself upAcquire expertise, integrate businesses, protect continuity. Looking at aerospace acquisitions beyond the signature.→Dual Use: one capability, multiple marketsSensors, software, connectivity, data and autonomy increasingly span civil, security and defence demand. Value depends on mastering customers, compliance and industrial execution.→Minibonds: capital-market discipline and growth finance for SMEsA minibond is more than debt: it can move an SME toward stronger reporting, funding diversification and a capital structure better matched to growth.→