I hold a degree in Teaching Italian as a Foreign Language, driven by the belief that language and culture thrive through shared spaces. My business idea is to develop a cultural hub that merges editorial curation with high sociality. I discovered EYE through a friend of mine who did it few years earlier. I decided to participate to bridge the gap between my academic background and the practicalities of international entrepreneurship. I chose my Host Entrepreneur (HE), Piena, an Italian bookstore in Lisbon, because it represents a successful model of how Italian heritage can serve as a bridge for both the expat community and new learners. I expected to gain “on-the-field” experience in managing a niche business abroad, understanding international logistics, and learning how to transform a bookstore into a vibrant cultural landmark.
During my stay, I have been involved in the daily operations of the bookstore, from inventory management to international supply chain logistics (handling imports and customs between Italy and Portugal). My relationship with the HE is based on a proactive exchange: I assist in catalog curation while observing his strategic decision-making process. I have taken an active role in cultural mediation, interacting with a diverse public of native speakers and students of Italian. Key activities included the planning of social media content to boost digital engagement and the organization of book clubs.
The benefits have been both technical and visionary. Professionally, I have developed a solid entrepreneurial toolkit, mastering skills in niche marketing, stock management, and financial sustainability for cultural spaces. I have gained direct stimuli from the Lisbon market, learning how to adapt an Italian business model to a foreign context. On a human level, my intercultural competence has grown significantly, and I have built a valuable network.This multiple stimulis gave me a lot for my future project.
I have always traveled through the pages of books; now thanks to EYE I am finally learning how to travel for books, transforming a lifelong passion for the Italian language into a concrete, international entrepreneurial reality.