The cost of ignorance, anti-culture in power, the virus: rereading Senza sapere today

Abstract

The rereading of Giovanni Solimine’s book Senza sapere seven years after its publication calls for some reflections on the increasingly worrying cultural deficiencies affetting Italian society. In this period of time, these shortcomings have manifested in two significant events: 1) the victory of the Five Star Movement in the 2018 political elections, an apolitical party able to bring a group of incompetents to the Government of the country and 2) the Covid-19 pandemic which has highlighted the need for specific scientific and organizational knowledge to try to overcome the crisis. The hope is that the Italian NRRP (National Recovery and Resilience Plan) can act as a stimulus to trace the lines of a cultural development policy at all social levels.