The French press reported that Emmanuel Macron traveled to Rome on June 3, 2025, to defuse tensions with Giorgia Meloni, as if there was palpable friction between the two heads of state.
However, many Franco-Italian activities experience these “turbulences”: a governance battle at EssilorLuxottica following the 2018 merger, concerns about job security in Stellantis’s Italian factories after the 2021 PSA-FIAT merger, and criticism by the Italian government of STMicroelectronics’ French CEO. These are facts.
In reality, between “transalpine cousins,” while there are many commonalities, there are also cultural differences that are difficult to manage:
When it comes to negotiation, Italians are more cunning (“furbi” as they say in Rome, which isn’t a criticism) than the French. The French tend towards open conflict, while Italians prefer to maneuver in indirect conflict. And while both peoples are less legalistic than opportunistic (unlike cultures influenced by the Protestant ethic), Italians are generally more flexible than the French in interpreting rules.
In terms of governance, French and Italian managers struggle to truly empower their employees (compared to Americans, for example), but autocratic tendencies are more pronounced in Italy, partly because it’s a country of very flexible family-owned SMEs, versus the “large ships” of France. And while Italians decide with pragmatism, the French tend to get bogged down in concepts, which are elegant but not necessarily beneficial.
Adding to this are daily frustrations in time management: if 9:00 AM is 9:00 AM in Washington and Stockholm, in Paris it’s more like 9:15 AM, and in Rome, 9:30 AM. So, a Frenchman will easily tolerate the first 15 minutes of delay but will complain during the next 15.
The bickering can escalate to the highest levels, as when Giorgia Meloni called the CFA franc a colonial instrument, or when French politicians refer to her party as “post-fascist.” This proves that, on both sides, there’s a lack of historical debriefing.
Franco-Italian collaboration must therefore be watched like a hawk. On the Gapsmoov platform, see the gaps:
- Between conflict and partnership.
- Between opportunism and legalism.
- Between elastic time and measured time.
