Why I do startups in Bologna (and not in Milan)

There are places you choose. And places that, at some point, choose you. Because you're born there, you grow up there and one day you really understand their potential.

I was born in Bologna, and this is where I want to build. I want to do startups here, I want to build the future of play2match among our towers ❤️

Whoa, Bologna looks like Milan

In June 2024, during WMF week, I wrote that for a few days Bologna looked like Milan: the meeting point for marketing, innovation and digital in Italy. Bologna will never be Milan (and thank goodness, I'd say). But it was changing: from a city of culture, creativity and social causes, it was also becoming a place where people build businesses.

Communities like Learnn, Hi!Founders and Startup Geeks were starting to test the waters, and MUG, Fondazione Golinelli and the University of Bologna were there, ready to build connections. The Bolognese? Resistant, as always: “a tal deg” (I'm telling you), we're world-class at complaining about anything new. But I have one trait that saves me: optimism.

What you find here

Two years later I understood one thing: in Bologna you don't just find opportunities, you find context. People who are super willing to help, connections that happen fast, spaces where you can test, fail and start again. A place where work isn't just work, but becomes something built together.

That's also why I organise the Bologna Startup Network with Nicola Mei: context doesn't appear on its own, someone has to bring it to life. And if you're weighing where to start your own journey, listen to the Bologna for Talent podcast: it tells the stories of people who chose the metropolitan city of Bologna to build theirs.