The 10 most influential Italians of 2020

Every year Italian pop culture has its protagonists, but the pop protagonists of 2020 had to be much more than just celebs to dominate the scene. In a year in which the world has been forced to go digital, to confront its own shortcomings and limitations, success has rewarded not only those who have been able to adapt, survive and thrive in spite of all hostile conditions but also those who have managed to promote a change in culture despite all the limitations and delays imposed by the lockdowns that defined life and this year's collective debate. 

Chiara Ferragni & Fedez

Increasingly initiated to become the new Italian royals, the Power Couple of Milan has become one of the best examples of how celebs of the digital age have in their hands the potential to do good concretely. This is demonstrated by the candidacy for the Ambrogino d'Oro and the now-famous phone call by Giuseppe Conte, but, apart from honours, this is demonstrated above all by the millions raised by the two on GoFundMe, the 5000€ packages donated by Fedez around Milan live on Twitch, the photos at the Uffizi and in the rest of the Italian museums to promote tourism and the activist breakthrough undertaken by Chiara Ferragni in discussing important social issues. 

Sfera Ebbasta

The results achieved by Sfera in 2020 are already mind-blowing in themselves, but the most emblematic (which is not even the best of all) was certainly the square of Cinisello Balsamo dedicated to him and named after him. This was the year in which the success of Sfera Ebbasta exploded even more: international collaborations with Tommy Jeans and Dolce&Gabbana and also with KFC, the opening of a recording studio for young people in Cinisello, a docu-film on Amazon Prime, a new album that made sales records and entry into the adidas family alongside figures such as Pharrell and Jonah Hill. 

Remo Ruffini

Ambition, foresight and an extraordinary ability to foresee success are essential characteristics for any CEO, but Remo Ruffini's triumphant journey with Moncler is the result of a completely personal vision, mixed with fashion and finance. A success that went far beyond the success of Moncler Genius but which was also crowned by the acquisition of Stone Island in December - making Ruffini one of the most crucial personalities in the Italian fashion industry in 2020. 

Giorgio Armani

In 2020, Armani became a familiar figure for millions of Italians, fashion enthusiasts or not. Champion of social responsibility, able to bring fashion shows back on national TV, in 2020 Armani became the face of a humanitarian commitment carried out with dignity and security that the entire country, in such a chaotic year, needed.

Alessandro Sartori

Leading Ermenegildo Zegna trying to communicate its values even to the younger generations is a mission that only Sartori could carry out. His highlight of the year was certainly the collaboration with Jerry Lorenzo, whose discreet influence has not only produced a valid collection but also marked a change of gear for a brand that has managed to find a perfect balance between its heritage and the needs of a new market. And if that's not enough, the brand's SS21 show, set in the Zegna Oasis, has included the concept of sustainability in the brand's storytelling with absolute naturalness.

Miuccia Prada

At the age of 71, Miuccia Prada is more than just a designer: she is part of the collective soul of Milan. In addition of having been on the crest of the wave for forty years now, Miuccia has managed this year to relaunch her brand even more not only by winning the game of digital presentations but also by appointing Raf Simons as her co-creative director at Prada - an epochal move masterfully performed in one of the most difficult and complicated historical conjunctions of her long and honoured career. 

Riccardo Tisci

Triumphant of the 2020 Fashion Awards, Riccardo Tisci was another example of an Italian creative director able to lead Burberry not only towards a radical change of image developed and cultivated in recent years, but also to make it remain a protagonist in the field of sustainability and humanitarian commitment. Burberry used the strength of its supply chain to manufacture and deliver surgical masks to British hospitals, converting the famous trench coat factory in Castleford to produce sanitary materials that were later donated. 

Massimo Bottura

Not only the best chef in Italy (if not in the world), not only a public figure so transversal that he can sign the panettone of Gucci Osteria while opening solidarity refectories all over the world through his non-profit Food for Soul, but also a UN ambassador, an innovative hotelier together with his wife with the guest house Casa Maria Luigia and an entrepreneur capable of declining gastronomy towards a cross-sectoral world that reminds us of everything that can be conquered with creativity and heart in the right place. 

Achille Lauro

If Italian music culture has begun to become more lively in recent years, it remains true that the element of disruption has remained substantially outside of our national ecosystem. Enter Achille Lauro - able to turn on Gen Z, to spark a conversation thanks to Gucci looks and, above all, bring New Masculinity to a traditionalist and often boring stage like that of Sanremo. In terms of Italian pop culture, it would be really hard to try to overcome it. 

Italy Segreta

Founded by Marina Cacciapuoti, Italy Segreta's Instagram account was able, in a year of closures and isolations, to distil the Mediterranean aesthetic of summer Italy and tell it to 214,000 followers on Instagram. Between photos of aperitifs on the terraces of Panarea up to spaghetti on a rock on the Amalfi coast, passing through a breakfast overlooking Lake Como. Italy Segreta has been the spokesperson for a familiar and delicate aesthetic that has synthesized the feeling of the most Italian summer for twenty years.