The Lombardy region of Italy is globally renowned for its economic prowess, but is it doing enough to attract investors and overcome Italian bureaucracy? Michal Kaczmarski investigates.

The southern European countries of Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece are emerging from a period of uncertainty and have a lot to offer investors, writes Sofia Karadima, but levels of success in attracting FDI vary. 

The president of Lombardy on how he is fighting to combat nationwide issues such as high labour costs and excessive bureaucracy in order to make the Italian region more investor friendly.

The beautiful landscape of the southern Italian region of Calabria helps to mask an area with high crime and unemployment levels. And now its one salvation of recent years – the once-thriving port of Gioia Tauro – is struggling to compete against lower cost competitors elsewhere on the Mediterranean. 

For all its economic woes, Italy still has one valuable commodity: its reputation as a world leader in the design and manufacture of high-end, high-quality fashion, furniture and accessories. Foreign investors have long had an appetite for the country's illustrious brands, but only now are these companies starting to see the advantages of foreign capital.

Nichi Vendola, the president of Italy’s Apulia region, tells fDi about the incentives that are in place to attract investors and help the region to defy the recession that is afflicting the rest of Italy.

If Italy is to recover from its economic doldrums, the country’s business capital of Milan will need to lead by example. Hopes are being hinged on Expo 2015 to help the city do just that.