VENICE (ITALPRESS) – “InspiringPR is not only an appointment in the calendar of Italian communication; it is a space in which FERPI renews the sense of its mission, with at the center the value of relations, reputation, trust and quality of public confrontation. This year’s theme, “Resistant Truth”, challenges us deeply. At a time when information runs fast, opinions are polarized and trust becomes an increasingly fragile resource, our trade is called to an even higher responsibility: to guard the truth of facts, to make sense to words, to build authentic relationships and generate value for organizations and for society.” Filippo Nani, President of the Italian Public Relations Federation, opened the twelfth edition of the Festival that closed today in Venice, at the Scuola Grande San Giovanni Evangelista. “The truth needs to be told well. This is the responsibility that InspiringPR puts back to the centre this year, far from predictable format and conclusions already written. The twelfth edition leaves us with less certainty and more right questions. For those who communicate, it is the best possible result”, added Ada Sinigalia, delegate of Ferpi Triveneto.
Andrea Cicini, coordinator and creator of the new role of the InspiringPR Award 2026, welcomed the winners on stage. A proper thanks to the commitment of the qualified Jury – composed by Laura Aglio, an expert in open innovation and European design; Eva Bardanzellu, PR & Communication Manager Bolton Beauty; Nicolò Berghinz, Head of External & Public Relations, Strategic Development & Partnerships ALIS; Sergio Calò, director of Venetian Cluster; Elena Casadoro Kopp, co-founder and director of CASADOROFUNGHER Communication; Annalisa Tarquini – Poli, Associate Professor of Marketing and Director of the Master of Science in Luxury Management International University of Monaco – who had to proceed with a difficult choice for the quality and creativity of all projects presented. Cicini then told the news of this 9th edition and proceeded to the Awards. The heart, Cicini said, is what in fact fills with resistant truths, that communicators have way to return through their communication projects, with their baggage of emotions.
The PREMIO IMPEGNO NELLO SPORT -Progetti that use sport as leverage of inclusion, health, education, sustainability and social cohesion, has been assigned to CASTA DIVA for the “Cerimonia Closing of the Winter Paralympic Games of Milan Cortina 2026”. To withdraw the Premio Francesco Paolo Conticello, CEO Casta Diva Art & Show and creative director and Angelo Bonello, artistic director and director of the Ceremony.
the SUSTAINABILITY AND CIRCULAR ECONOMY – Initiatives that promote sustainability with concrete impact on communities and territories, assigned to HAVAS for the “Red Calendar 2026”. On stage to receive the award Alice Pedretti, Sustainability & Impact Director Havas, Francesca Baiguera, Growth Consultant Havas and Irene De Cristofaro, Legal Advisor & Project Manager DonnexStrada.
EMOTIVE COMMUNICATION – Creative and innovative campaigns (Spot Radio/ TV) using a transversal language and strong emotional impact, assigned to the BANCA OF VISITS for the campaign: “A suspended coffee improves the day, a donated visit improves life”, withdrawn by Michela Dominicis, President Banca delle Visite
INTERNATIONAL TRAINING – Cross-border projects, which promote dialogue between cultures, international cooperation and positioning of Made in Italy, won by CASTA DIVA with the project “Art is”; invited again on stage to receive the prize Francesco Paolo Conticello and Angelo Bonello.
The first edition, entitled to the memory of Mario Bologna, is also a novelty. Presented by Federica Zar and by an intervention by Olga Bologna, he was won by Anna Campi for the thesis “In the crisis of listening with whom dialogue? The case of study in the Emilia-Romagna legislative assembly: between political practice and communication”. The thesis analyses the central role of communication in the account of institutions and its impact on political practice and democratic processes. communication as a fundamental tool to make institutions accessible and dialogue.
Special mention for Elisabetta Pozzetto for “Theorizing Circular Economy Communication: a Framework for the Public Sector”. We read in the motivation: “First organic research to define how the public sector can communicate the Circular Economy to transform citizens’ awareness into concrete action. The thesis proposes Ouroboros Paradigm: an innovative model that conceives communication not as merely data transmission, but as a regenerative cycle of meaning capable of reconstructing the links between people, environment and institutions”.
InspiringPR, promoted by FERPI and organized by the Ferpi Triveneto Delegation together with partners and partners from all over Italy and UniFERPI students is an open space for discussion between professionals, institutions, enterprises, academic world and young students and wanted to contribute this year to indicate a direction to communicators.
A compass towards roads of credibility, trust and reason. Massimo Bustreo, university professor and trainer, presided over the Scientific Committee of InspiringPR, overcoming the new format of the Festival, evident both in the nature and form of the interventions around the “resistant truths”, and in the setting of the related InspiringPR Award, and in the uneducated “Processo alla Verità”, an interactive part that involved the public. All in the direction of claiming the role of best communication in telling facts, out of all emotional manipulation, which help to understand how the world evolves. “The words must be used carefully because they are never neutral; but today abused and exploited. To distract between the information, it is necessary to remove manipulative superstructures and regain reasoning ability.”.
The Region of Veneto with a message from President Alberto Stefani, has found the extreme relevance of the chosen theme, since the search for a conscious and responsible communication represents the challenge that the institutions and the productive world must collect. “This meeting – he said – confirms a moment of unreliable confrontation for the growth of our community. Celebrating the positive impact of public relations and supporting the academic research of young people is, in fact, fundamental to guarantee a future of excellence to the culture of communication in our country. The participation of speakers from different areas offers a multidisciplinary framework indispensable to interpret contemporary social complexity”.
Also from Paola Mar, Common Councillor of Venice, a contribution to the theme of truth: the call to defend the ability to analyze that must have of those who make available to others to tell the reality, like public speakers, to pursue one of the possible truths, certainly confused, but because provided with scientific rigor.
From the speakers very different suggestions around the theme. Alessia Pintossi, musician and experimenter, has literally brought on stage his voice, and then also his story, an example of authenticity as a form of resistance, as a capacity to welcome what he called the ‘light’, his imperfections, embracing the humanity of his own cracks, dislegating voices and personal narratives from the chains and constraints of an increasingly artificial world and the logic of the market. Keep choosing. Alessandra Ballerini, a lawyer committed to the protection of human rights, shared a reflection on truth as civil responsibility and daily commitment, towards the most fragile people, beyond spectacularization, constant commitment, that interweave justice and human lives, remaining firm even when media attention falls. Resistance in keeping the enthusiasm of being on the side of people who need it. A resistance in the commitment borrowed from the resistance and tenacity of the families of the seized, tortured and killed in the search for truth and justice. And in the search for this truth, which comes from seeking it together and from time, attention to the words: the wrong words create “ombre”, wrong narratives that affect perception, even, of what is good and of what is bad. It would be enough to return to the etymology of words to give them the right weight, as in the word “silo”. A truth that does not fear the currents of Admiral Filippo Marini, Commander of the Port of Venice, veiled through a responsible communication.
The duty in truth “because we are all guilty in a story told badly” in the words of Admiral Vincenzo Leone along with the poetic image of a “sea father”. Resistant truth as a responsibility to remain in complexity compared to comfortable, fast, or worse instrumentalized versions, using facts for how they are, taking care of reason. To build trust. Only a story told well can generate a really free society. A concrete truth of public information on rescue at sea for anyone who is in danger of life that of Commander Roberto D’Arrigo, made of protection and responsibility for human life and the marine environment that contrasts the lying narrative that is now widespread. 1.800.000 people were reported at home in the Central Mediterranean of the Italian Coast Guard: people, not numbers. And this is a fact. And this is a fact. Stefania Ricci, director of the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum, testified the value of corporate narratives that are able to transform themselves into lasting cultural heritage through research that gives credibility.
Humour and lightness in the posture of Mons. Giulio Dellavite, Episcopal Delegate Diocese of Bergamo, professor and writer, and as tools able to induce us to slow down in the speed of contemporary communication and rekindle the spotlight on what often escapes the immediate logic of likes. Go beyond looking from above things, through humour, with lightness. Lightness, in fact, is not superficiality, is associated with precision, not with vagueness and chaos, in the search for truth. Search for the truth in the ability to continue dreaming and to imagine. A simulation of truth research through a fake casting for Alejandro Bonn, actor and acting coach, and Pietro Giustolisi: the “resistant truths” are the result of an invisible and daily work based on listening, trust and construction of authentic relationships. From Stefania Ricci, Director of Museo Salvatore Ferragamo Firenze, the testimony of how the narratives of enterprise can build what lasts, museums as a space of truth.
The 2026 edition of InspiringPR has the patronage of City of Venice – City in Festa, Confindustria Veneto Est, Regione del Veneto UNIPD, IUSVE and a network of partners that share the value of the Festival and its commitment to promoting a culture of responsible communication. I am Corporate Partner of the Generali and Progeco Ambiente initiative, while Centro Marca supports the Festival as Supporting Partner. The story and dissemination of the content will be accompanied by Media Partner: Media Duemila, Italpress, Telpress, International Relations, Corriere Veneto and Corriere Enterprise. I am Corporate Partner of the Generali and Progeco Ambiente initiative, while Centro Marca supports the Festival as Supporting Partner.
– photo press office Ferpi –
(ITALPRESS).
