From Philanthropy to Business Ethics: Romeyne Robert Ranieri’s Role in the Economy of an Italian Region in the Early 20th Century

The origins of a social component within the dynamics of corporate organisations can be traced back to the Roman corpus of legislation in Renaissance humanistic society and later to the social reforms of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. From Adam Smith to modern theories and interpretations, such as Howard Bowen’s ‘corporate social responsibility’ concept, interest in business ethics has various aspects. The Italian context includes examples of large, well-known companies and those of small entrepreneurs. One of these is Romeyene Robert Ranieri, an American naturalised Italian who, for about thirty years, revolutionised part of the Umbrian socioeconomic context; this gave a strong impetus for local entrepreneurial and artisan development and for improving the cultural and social conditions of women and children. She developed an all-woman entrepreneurial activity with the Sorbello Embroidery School and was a promoter of the application of the Montessori pedagogical method in Italian primary schools.