This week I have been braving Naples driving - red lights and traffic lanes purely advisory - and thunderstorms in Brindisi - a power surge caused by lightning caused my laptop to shut down in a Poltergeist-style frenzy of flashing lights - to bring you a report on the aerospace industry in southern Italy.
Campania, the region around Naples, and Puglia, on the east coast, towards the "toe" of Italy, are perhaps not as well known for aerospace as Lombardy and Piemonte, the regions centred on Milan and Turin in the more prosperous and industrial north. But Campania has many aerospace enterprises - both factories of national players such as Alenia and Avio and a surprising number of independently-owned and highly innovative businesses, including the fast-expanding Dema. Puglia's industry, while smaller than its neighbours, is up-and-coming, with much of it concentrated around the port city of Brindisi.
Although focused further down the supply chain and lacking the final assembly lines found in the north for products such as AgustaWestland helicopters, the Alenia C-27J and the Alenia Aermacchi range, I had made the mistake of thinking the aerospace sector in southern Italy was a lot smaller than it is. I'm not the only one. According to the people at Campania regional government whose job it is to promote the aerospace cluster there, most inhabitants of Naples do not know that their stunningly picturesque (if rather chaotic) city is a hub of aircraft production and engineering. They have a mission to educate not only potential investors and customers from abroad, but their own voters.
The package - in our 16 November issue - will also include features on Italy's space sector, the impact of the fiscal crisis on defence spending, airframers Piaggio and Vulcanair and the global strategy of the country's aerospace champion Finmeccanica.
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