Francesco Alberoni: an intellectual, a Rector

Sociologist, journalist and writer, Alberoni was a master in the analysis of collective movements and love processes, with works that have profoundly influenced the cultural milieu, including the famous Innamoramento e amore (Falling in Love), which conquered the world in 1979 with one million copies sold. Alberoni has held positions of great prestige, including that of member of the RAI board of directors in 2005 and president of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome from 2002 to 2012. His voice resounded in the pages of Corriere della Sera from 1982 to 2011 with the column ‘Public and Private’, influencing the country's cultural debate. He was also a professor in prestigious Italian universities as well as Rector of the University of Trento and IULM, leaving a significant legacy in the academic world.

Professor Giovanni Puglisi, Chairman of the IULM Board, emphasised how Alberoni transformed IULM into a great University, recalling his fundamental contribution in the creation of the Faculty of Communication Sciences. ‘Alberoni lived for culture,’ said Puglisi, ’the University was for him the place where this culture could flourish and influence the future. Alberoni never wrote for the elite, but for everybody. He had a simple language, addressed to a wide audience. It was in this University that his great love for communication was born: he had grasped that it was the common thread linking everyone to everything. Our University owes its birth in large part to this passion of his. We can call him the builder of this project, also because he had a great ability: that of vision, before building.’

Entrepreneur Santo Versace recalled Alberoni's extraordinary ability to anticipate changes, recalling an episode that took place during the ‘anni di piombo’ in which the sociologist, with extraordinary vision, identified in personalities such as Missoni, Armani and Versace himself the sign of a bright future, despite the darkness of the period: ‘An extraordinary person both from a private and cultural point of view. He was like a boy who was always curious to learn, and was very capable of interpreting in advance the phenomena that were about to happen.’

The recollection of Alberoni as an innovator was not overlooked by Rector Prof.essor Gianni Canova, who described the sociologist as ‘a spontaneous innovator, capable of dealing with anything with independence of thought’. Canova also quoted one of Alberoni's texts - L'ottimismo, published in 1994 - where the author invites us to value what is positive in the world, a message that is as relevant as ever today. ‘I also found an article of his published in Corriere in March 2003. "I address all young people who are about to go to university,’" he wrote. "If you want to understand yourselves, go back to classical studies. Do not limit yourself to your specialities, broaden your mind with other readings, read novels, watch great films. Although you will struggle at first, you will have to study more, you will have to learn to argue". Faced with the current scenarios, I believe these words were prophetic,' the Rector concluded.

Paolo Del Debbio, journalist and IULM lecturer, recalled the moment when Alberoni invited him to collaborate with IULM University: ‘In September 1999 my phone rang. Alberoni, whom I admired immensely, told me he wanted to meet me. He had read about my work on the TV and Minors Code and asked me if I wanted to teach here. It was his interest in communication and his encouragement that led me to start my academic career'. Del Debbio reflected on the foresight of Alberoni, whose work on social movements and institutions only revealed its prophetic power years later.

Film director Pupi Avati, on the other hand, shared a personal anecdote about his last meeting with Alberoni, a greeting that sounded like a farewell, full of affection and reflections on the long path they had travelled together during their professional lives. ‘That was the farewell of one of the most affectionate human beings I have known, despite his extraordinary intelligence and acuity.

Vittorio Sgarbi, a long-standing friend of Alberoni, offered an insight into the complexity of the intellect, emphasising how his interest in life, as well as sociology, made him a versatile thinker, capable of touching on profoundly human themes, first and foremost love. His work Falling in Love has marked generations, exploring the dynamics of feelings in an accessible and universal way.

Francesco Sidoti, professor at the University of L'Aquila and sociologist, offered a vision of ‘Francesco Alberoni, as a man of the minority’, emphasising the courage of his choices against the mainstream: ‘Alberoni often maintained reclusive and controversial positions, but always with great courage and profound farsightedness. Like Pareto, the greatest Italian sociologist of the 20th century, Alberoni anticipated trends and movements that would only reveal their power over time’.

Professor Rosantonietta Scramaglia, Alberoni's long-time collaborator, recalled the sociologist's tireless dedication to spreading his thought even in the last years of his life. ‘When he was now 85 years old, he told me: ‘My work must not die with me’. That was how the idea of creating a magazine dedicated to love was born, which we called L'amore e gli amori, later renamed Alberoni Magazine'. Scramaglia also recalled his commitment to creating the Francesco Alberoni Research Institute, so that the sociologist's work could continue to inspire future generations.

Finally, Professor Guido Di Fraia, a former student of Alberoni's, offered a touching recollection of the teacher: ‘The first time I attended one of his lectures, I was thunderstruck by his ability to immerse you in his thoughts. Alberoni would look you in the eye and ask you questions that opened up new worlds'. Di Fraia commented on how Alberoni entrusted him with research with extraordinary rigour, stimulating him to give his all. ‘The last time I heard from him, in 2022, he called me to discuss artificial intelligence and its potential. He was always ahead, always ready to explore new horizons'.

The event therefore paid tribute to a versatile thinker, whose prophetic vision continues to influence the academic and cultural world. Francesco Alberoni, with his ability to read social movements and love processes, built a legacy that lives on today not only in his works, but also in the institutions he helped transform, such as IULM University itself.