The never-ending Eighties
September 15, 2026
Summer draws to a close with one of Fondazione Bruno Kessler’s community rituals: the party organized by the FBK Club, this year with the theme “Back to the ’80s.” Through games, music, and surprises, people share memories of the last decade without cell phones—an opportunity to have fun, get to know one another, and create or strengthen bonds of trust.
Today, as many as five different generations work side by side in organizations. At FBK, too, the following generations coexist: Baby Boomers (1946–1964, strongly career-oriented, committed to in-person work, and deeply dedicated to the organization); Generation X (1965–1979, pragmatic and flexible, with an emphasis on autonomy, leadership skills, and work-life balance); Millennials/Gen Y (1980–1996, seeking a clear sense of purpose in their work, transparency, competitive pay, and a high degree of digitalization); and Generation Z (1997–2012, the “digital natives,” focused on mental and physical well-being, fully flexible working hours, and the values of sustainability and inclusion).
At the center, between X and Y, are most of the people currently active in the Foundation. That helps explain the enduring appeal of the 1980s, a decade that lives on in the childhood or teenage memories of many: pop, rock, and dance music, neon lights, strobe effects, and visual illusions; from The Blues Brothers to Dead Poets Society, from La Boum to the fall of the Berlin Wall. In Italy, the 1980s were an exuberant, brightly colored decade of hedonism and consumerism, marked by a retreat from collective engagement into the private sphere, where the personal was no longer political; a decade of lightness, somewhere between Calvino and Kundera, of TV sorrisi e cnazoni, of Milano da bere, while the country looked ahead to the World Cup and its “magical nights.”
Get the party started
And so, once the day’s work was done, the Foundation’s Povo campus came to life in the late afternoon of Thursday, September 10, with pinball machines and vintage arcade games, board games, entertainment for children, themed food, a photo booth, and a handmade goods market. Creative ideas and a great deal of volunteer work came together under the organizational direction of the FBK Club. The evening continued with the “Back to the ’80s” quiz, the announcement of the two best ’80s costumes, and a concert by the B-Ing Band. It was an evening in which different generations came together to have fun and enjoy spending time together outside both the office and… outside the box.
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