The afternoon session of SUD e FUTURI III – "(R)innoviamo il Mezzogiorno" opened with a discussion focused on the ways and possibilities of ensuring uniform development in Italy, making up for the gap in the South. This possibility can now be concretely pursued thanks to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) funds.

The debate, moderated by Paolo Mieli, Paola Bottero and Alessandro Russo, was opened by the president of the “Con il Sud” Foundation Carlo Borgomeo. In his opening remarks he said that "We often hear that we need to invest in the locomotive rather than in the entire train, hoping that the former will pull the rest of the railcars. I believe, however, that it would be better for the country to invest in the South and that the South will be able to start anew, sweeping aside the current attitude of solidarity, pushing instead for concrete decisions to invest in its territory. However, we need to change the attitude of the past, so we cannot just demand quotas, but we must shift the focus to how projects are implemented. With regard to NRRP, the time factor is of paramount importance and it is necessary to address the individual expenditure strategies".

The President Emeritus of the Constitutional Court Antonio Baldassarre continued by saying "Let us set aside southern romanticism and whining and start again from reality. The old national governments threw money at the South without creating development. Extraordinary strategies are needed to also overcome the traditional division of competences between the State and the Regions enshrined in the Constitution. We need a national effort with a project for the South that also aims at defining its role in the Mediterranean."

Maria Grazia Falduto, general manager of Pubbliemme, recounted her experience as an entrepreneur who returned to the South after working in Milan and who managed to get her company back on track, bringing it to the top of the national productivity rankings. However, she had to overcome countless hardships. "The relationship with the public administration," said Falduto "has often been very difficult, especially in Calabria. We found it more difficult to dialogue with the Region than with the European Commission. Now the South is faced with a great opportunity and we need to work with concreteness in mind and not just imagination, starting with the involvement of civil servants who are up to the task."

Giuseppina Paterniti, editorial director of Rai reiterated that: "We need competent local administrations, if we do not address this issue we will go nowhere. To make good use of the incoming resources, training courses and new skills will be needed in order to to carry out important projects and sweep away any kind of opacity."

According to the president of the Magna Grecia Foundation, Nino Foti, "We need a central spending authority able to speed up the design process now that time is of the essence. We also need adequate communication able to inform and act as a form of control when necessary, not the biased press that limits itself to adhering to the powers that be. We can no longer put up with lack of freedom among journalists."