The Symbola report describes a system of 292,000 businesses, capable of activating 15.4% of the national economy. Issues linked to stability, wages and professional recognition remain open
A sector that counts around one and a half million people in employment and contributes 5.7% of national employment. This is the picture presented by Io sono Cultura 2026, the annual report promoted by Fondazione Symbola, Unioncamere, Centro Studi Tagliacarne and Deloitte, presented at the headquarters of Universitas Mercatorum and dedicated to Italy’s cultural and creative production system.
Now in its sixteenth edition, the report analyses both strictly cultural and creative activities and professionals with cultural and creative skills working across other sectors of the economy. Opening the event, rector Giovanni Cannata described culture as a “real infrastructure of the country” and as a tool for territorial development.
Activities within the so-called “core culture” account for 3.3% of added value and 3.4% of employment, with around 915,000 workers. Alongside them are 624,000 cultural and creative professionals active in sectors not directly attributable to culture, from construction to real estate, tourism and business services. “Culture passes through people,” observed Alessandro Rinaldi, deputy director general of Centro Studi Tagliacarne, recalling that the perimeter includes employees, self-employed workers, freelancers and businesses.
The cultural and creative businesses identified through ATECO codes number 292,000: 17.9% are female-led businesses and 7.9% are youth-led businesses. Software and video games represent the leading area in terms of value produced, followed by publishing and printing, architecture and design, audiovisual and music, communication, performing arts and historical-artistic heritage.
Taking indirect effects into account as well, the value activated by the cultural and creative production system reaches around 15.4% of the economy.
Cultural consumption accounts for 53.2% of tourist spending.
At territorial level, Lazio, Lombardy and Piedmont record the highest contribution in terms of value and employment, while different regional specialisations emerge: Veneto in architecture and design, Lombardy in communication, Lazio in audiovisual production, Piedmont in software and video games, Sicily in heritage, and Tuscany in the performing arts.
Alongside growth, the report records a number of employment-related critical issues. Within the core of cultural activities, around half of workers are independent, compared with 21% across the economy as a whole — a difference of almost 30 percentage points. Some 7.4% of cultural workers say they are dissatisfied with job stability, compared with a national average of 5.7%, with more marked fragilities in the performing arts and visual arts. Among professionals working in the protection, maintenance and management of cultural and artistic heritage, greater dissatisfaction emerges instead around pay levels. “There is work, there is a lot of work,” Rinaldi summarised, while stressing that these critical issues cannot be overlooked.
The president of Fondazione Symbola, Ermete Realacci, linked cultural production to Italian competitiveness and economic identity, highlighting culture’s ability to influence exports, tourism, innovation and talent attraction. “We must invest in our talents,” he said. The president of Unioncamere, Andrea Prete, also focused on young people and on the role of Chambers of Commerce in supporting cultural initiatives often promoted by small-scale organisations. “We cannot risk losing talent,” he stated, identifying job stability and improved pay conditions as priorities.
“The issue is no longer to say that people can make a living from culture, but to understand how much people can make from culture,” said Beniamino Quintieri, president of the Istituto per il Credito Sportivo e Culturale. His point also recalled the need for consistent metrics to measure the weight of culture and its effects on tourism, education and urban regeneration. To support business growth, Quintieri also pointed to the need to combine public resources and private capital, assessing both economic and social returns.
Giampiero Di Carlo, founder and CEO of Rockol, spoke about the value of music, defining it as “a universal language” capable of producing inclusion, social cohesion and the enhancement of peripheral areas. “Culture underpins the 17 Sustainable Development Goals,” said Ernesto Lanzillo, president of Deloitte, describing it as a cross-cutting element in sustainability objectives. This point underlines how culture’s contribution cannot be limited to GDP and induced economic impact, but must also include its effects on knowledge, education and collective wellbeing.
The meeting closed with a contribution from Talita Malagò, director general of the Italian association of the video game industry. The national sector is made up mainly of small independent studios embedded in international supply chains and active in technological innovation, storytelling and artistic experimentation. Malagò illustrated a number of applications of video games in the enhancement of heritage, scientific dissemination and the design of museum experiences. The perspective she outlined is that of transforming the video game “from a consumer product into a contemporary cultural infrastructure”, connecting creativity, technology, young people and cultural heritage.
Cover image: Cover of the Io sono cultura 2026 report.
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