F. Chiapparino and R. Covino, La fabbrica di Perugia. Perugina 1907-2007 Perugia, Comune di Perugia, 2008, pages 319 Review by Stefano Morosini

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The volume accounts the origins and the evolution of the confectionery industry Perugina. The case of Perugina, with its famous Baci, has been one of the most studied cases in Italy in the last twenty years, thanks to the re-ordering and the accessibility of its historical archives and because of the importance of a company which had an extraordinary development, made possible by the work of the Buitoni Family through five generations. Finished at the end of the 1970s the role of the family (and more in general of family capitalism which it represented perfectly), the company was sold to a major Italian financial group, Carlo De Benedetti’s Cir and then to the multinational (and today transnational) company Nestlè. The authors describe the fundamental steps in the development of Perugina through the experience of its workers, proud to be part of the company, satisfied by the generous salaries and by the workfare measures it guaranteed, and well-aware of the fact that the factory Perugina led the social and financial changing processes in Umbria, making it an exceptional example for the level of integration between economic development and life quality.