Laboratorio Venezia. Ripensare Piazza San Marco
Venice Lab. Rethinking Piazza San Marco
Book presentation
Simone Bemporad
Group Chief Communications & Public Affairs Officer
for Assicurazioni Generali
in conversation with
Fabio Finotti
IIC-NY Director
Published on the occasion of the completion of the restoration work – promoted by Assicurazioni Generali in the Procuratie Vecchie in St Mark’s Square in Venice and led by David Chipperfield – the book recounts a desire for renewal and rebirth and brings together ideas and reflections on the use of these historic spaces, which today has a new social purpose as The Home of The Human Safety Net, a movement of people helping people initiated by Generali and active in 24 Countries.
St. Mark’s Square, a fundamental monumental and community complex in Venice, is the beating heart around which the critical reflections entrusted to important Italian and foreign authors, the dialogues with the protagonists, the projects produced by the architects involved and by great photographers are concentrated, so as to render the richness and complexity of a vision for the future of the lagoon city; a perspective of social and cultural innovation on which the creation of The Human Safety Net foundation is grafted. It will be in fact one of the new players that will inhabit the recovered spaces in St. Mark’s Square.
This delicate and complex undertaking will be described by a shortlist of Italian and international names coming from different fields and experiences, in order to convey the plurality of intentions and visions that is the hallmark of this project.
Simone Bemporad is Group Chief Communications & Public Affairs Officer for Assicurazioni Generali and member of the Group Management Committee (GMC), overseeing the definition of external and internal communication strategies and guidelines. He is Deputy Chair of The Human Safety Net (THSN) the Foundation which has contributed to create, for the support of the disadvantaged Community in 23 countries in the world where Generali works.
Since its formation, THSN has worked with over 60 non-governmental organisations, providing assistance to over 130,000 children aged between 0 and 6 and their parents in difficult circumstances, delivering substantial support in parenting skills. In the same period, THSN has contributed to the creation of nearly 300 micro-enterprises founded by refugees and migrants across Europe.
As a founder of THSN, Bemporad also initiated the project to restore the Procuratie Vecchie complex in St. Mark’s Square, Venice. The historic Generali building, in a state of semi-abandonment since the 1980s, is now open to the public for the first time in 500 years, and is dedicated to social causes, following a 5-year recovery under the guidance of the architect Sir David Chipperfield. The Procuratie Vecchie now houses the exhibition space of THSN foundation as well as the offices of the newly created Venice World Capital of Sustainability foundation, inspired by Assicurazioni Generali together with other Italian leading industrial and financial groups.
In his role in Generali, Bemporad has driven the implementation of sustainability policies at Group level. As a result of this approach, the new 2022-2024 strategic plan, presented in December 2021, placed sustainability as the “originator” of Assicurazioni Generali’s strategy. This has led to the adoption of clear objectives in order to make all the Group’s activities compatible with the required ESG criteria, the market and current legislation and regulations.
Bemporad began his career in 1991 as a journalist, covering business and finance. From 1995 to 1996 he was press secretary for the Italian Industry and Foreign Trade Ministry.
From 2003 to 2007, he served as SVP of international affairs for Finmeccanica in Rome, where he helped direct corporate strategy, particularly in North America. He also served as board member of Ansaldo Energia from 2004 to 2007.
From October 2007 until the end of 2012 he was member of the Board and CEO of Finmeccanica North America where he was responsible for the coordination of Finmeccanica’s operating companies in the United States and for managing the expansion of Finmeccanica’s presence in the U.S. aerospace, defense, energy, homeland security, and transportation markets.
Mr. Bemporad also served as president of Meccanica Holdings, the parent shareholder of DRS Technologies as a Finmeccanica company, and played a key role managing the integration of DRS into the Finmeccanica Group.
From 2013 to 2014, he was the Chairman and founder of Bemporad & Associates, an international business consultation firm based in Washington DC. He is Non Resident Fellow at the Center for International and Strategic Studies (CSIS).
He has published a number of books and has been featured in interviews. In 2001, he edited the White Paper on Privatisation in Italy, under the direction of the then General Director of the Treasury of Italy, Prof. Mario Draghi. Recently, Marsilio Editori published a conversation that he held with Renata Codello, Secretary General of the Cini Foundation (Imprese Private e Pubbliche Virtù, 2022, preface by Romano Prodi).
He is based in Milan, Italy, with his wife and son, where he teaches a course at Cattolica University on integrated communication, as part of the University’s master’s programme in public relations.
Prenotazione non più disponibile