Andrea Balestri
Born in 1954. Graduated with a degree in Economics from the University of Florence, specialized in Business Management at ISTAO and received his M. Phil. in Economics at Lancaster University.
He has collaborated in the study centers of Unione Industriale Pratese and Confindustria Toscana and directed Pratofutura, Assindustria Massa Carrara and the Marble Foundation. He has been a member of the Cnel Management Council and the Fashion Engineering Unit of Pitti Immagine. His research activity has taken place in institutions and business associations for which he has worked on economics and industrial policy, the fashion industry, the stone sector, industrial districts, tourism and sustainability, and the circular economy.
He is a lecturer in Tourism Policies for the Tourism Science degree course at the Campus Foundation.
He has conducted seminars at LUISS, ICER, Istituto Tagliacarne, Scuola Superiore S. Anna, LIUC, Un. Bocconi and Un. Cattolica, Hosey University Tokyo, French National Assembly and Oecd, Bunka College, Datar Toulouse, Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, Sophia Antipolis, Forem Liège and Scottish Development Agency. He has been invited to give lectures on Italian industrial districts at Embassies, Italian Cultural Institutes and the offices of the Foreign Trade Institute.
Among his publications: Ricerche, immagini e testimonianze sul futuro di Prato; Cambiamento e politiche industriali nel distretto tessile di Prato; Imprenditori e distretti industriali; Flanelle e velour; La metamorfosi del sistema industriale apuano; Le ragioni del marmo; In cerca di empatia. Il settore lapideo, le imprese e le comunità locali; Tra Prato e Carrara. Tre passi nella storia e una finestra sul futuro della Toscana.