About
Why a study circle?
Because the biggest economic decisions of our time are political decisions, and they deserve to be discussed by more than the people who make them. Because a seminar room is more honest than a stage. And because thinking well together is a habit that has to be practised.
The point of the endeavour
il cangatto exists to close the gap between the people who study the economy, the people who govern it and the people who live in it. Each series takes a live question in political economy and works through it with a foundational text, a guest who has faced the question in practice, and a room small enough for everyone to speak.
We are non-partisan but not neutral: we believe the economy is a political object and should be argued about in public, carefully and with evidence. Participation is free of charge and allocated by application.
A brief history
The circle began in the winter of 2025 as a reading group of six people arguing about the European fiscal rules over a kitchen table. By spring 2026 it had a name, a room lent by a university department and its first series, with a sitting parliamentarian as a guest.
The 2026–27 programme is our first full year: three series, a dozen workshops, a public lecture and a policy lab, run by a committee of three and a growing group of organisers.
Management committee
Past & future guests and collaborators
Prof. Mariana Costa
Professor of Innovation Economics
University College London
Dr. Tomas Weiler
Senior Economist
European Central Bank
Hon. Chiara Bellini
Member of Parliament
Italian Parliament
Sara Öberg
Director
Institute for Economic Democracy
Institution partners
Department of Economics, Università degli Studi
Libreria Einaudi
Institute for Economic Democracy
Circolo Arci — Municipality cultural programme
Support us
Free to attend, not free to run.
Rooms, travel for guests, printed readings and the occasional aperitivo are paid for by small donations and by institutions who lend us space. If you or your organisation would like to host a workshop, sponsor a series or simply contribute, write to us.