What next for Italy? In this special survey of the nation we look at its fault lines but also the strengths that endure and amaze.

Plagued by scandal and financial woes, Italy has long been making headlines for the wrong reasons. We meet five people striving for change in the country.

The Italian fleet’s newest flagship, ‘Cavour’, is on an unusual mission. The privately funded aircraft carrier is travelling more than 34,000km to Africa and the Middle East to promote Italian industry and to show it comes from a country on the move. Monocle jumps aboard.

OK, so they might have creaking transport systems, crime problems and high unemployment, but Italian cities also have an irresistible charm. Here’s where we’d live.

Whether it is exceptional cuisine or governmental incompetence, Naples is said to exemplify both the best and worst of Italy. Monocle discovers the spirited heart of craft and industry beyond this and speaks to the ‘artigiani’ committed to making the most of their dear city.

Decisive, outspoken, innovative, inspiring, bold; Monocle speaks to the steel magnate, hotelier, vintner, electricity group head and fashion distributor setting their own agenda.

Its cuisine is known the world over and everyone aspires to drive Italian-designed cars. Here are 10 areas in which, economic woes notwithstanding, Italy leads the way.

Buoyed by 100 years of heritage, Alenia Aermacchi has engineered a venerable position at the forefront ofcivilian and military aeronautics. Monocle tours the company’s Turin facility for a pre-flight check.

Set in the heart of Italy’s financial capital, SDA Bocconi is increasingly ranked as one of the world’s best business schools, with 70 per cent of students coming from abroad. We head to the campus to learn more.

There is a weight of passion, wit, intellect and fun to be found on Italy’s screens, in its speakers and in its print. Monocle delves into the quirks of the country’s news and entertainment, and finds the best of its leaders and merchants.

Molteni&C is an illustrious furniture company with nearly 80 years of industry experience – and it is having to call on all of its know-how to keep up with a fast-changing design industry. Monocle meets a family firm intent on modernising with its values intact.

Inspired by a creative affinity for the country, a band of Japanese craftsmen have set up shop in Italy. Monocle speaks to a shoemaker, glass artist and tailor about embracing the techniques and traditions of their foreign muse.

Family business turned worldwide brand Benetton is about much more than high-street fashion. It bought and breathed new life into a roadside food chain and has funded a number of creative projects via its research centre.

Ideally situated to match German efficiency with Italian craft, retail design firm Schweitzer has forged a name delivering store concepts from design to build. Monocle disappears to the mountains to discover how the magic is made.

From renowned fashion houses producing new capsule collections to fresh brands rolling out eye-catching tailoring, the 85th incarnation of the Pitti Uomo trade fair was home to all manner of innovative approaches to menswear.

As a country renowned for taste and style it is little surprise that Italy’s brands have such a strong aesthetic identity. Monocle delves into the nation’s visual history and charts its most striking logos.

A rummage in the Italian president's wardrobe, what's next for the French first lady (whoever she is), and a dispatch on the economic and political state of the UK.

Why everyone's moving to Mexico, a Q&A with new Toronto MP Chrystia Freeland and the Italian diaspora in Brazil.

The no-holds-barred motorcade of the Sultan of Brunei, the debate over "real" Japanese food and the Italy-Korea scientific partnership celebrates its 30th birthday.

The flight path from Addis Adaba to Washington DC (via Rome), a new constitution in Yemen and representing Malians abroad.

Atiu island gets an airport overhaul, gay Aussie couples get state-funded relationship counselling and we interview the MP who represents Australian Italians.

The future of big military programmes in the US, a new "made in Italy" armoured vehicle and why the Argentinians are snapping up American Humvees.

An interview with the Italian ambassador in Copenhagen, plus other diplomatic shenanigans.

A special Italian briefing, taking in paper manufacturing, plane building and cosmetics.

Books, films and music to enrich your life.

A new magazine for chefs, the Italian encyclopaedia of everywhere and the changing fortunes of II Globo

A Q&A with the founder of a Turin-based art organisation, plus new galleries and art sales.

Outfits, brands, designers and retailers with an Italian flavour.

A new glass-wrapped campus in Bologna, a Milan retail venture for a US design firm and our design editor on the peculiar beauty of pasta

An Italian issue wouldn't be complete without a look at food happenings, from restaurants to street markets.

It’s a skill that requires great precision and care, so it’s no surprise Santoni’s shoemaking apprentices can take six years to learn the trade. Master shoemaker Silvano Sollini reveals his pride in passing on the craft to a younger generation.

South Tyrol, the mountainous northern border region of Italy that meets Austria and Switzerland, requires its own air service that reflects the area’s remote beauty, high quality of life and fine traditions. Here’s our fantasy Italian Alpine carrier.

Mistral Air is not your typical airline. Founded by a former film star, it charters passenger flights by day and runs mail services by night – and is a big hit with pilgrims.

We’ve continued this issue’s Italian theme for this month’s Inventory, with a pasta maker, a coffee machine, perfume and grappa all on our wishlist.

We bring you some of the best places to stay in Italy, including a 16th-century former monastery and a 500-hectare estate in the Tuscan hills. We also introduce you to some fine boatyards.

Emilio Aldo Renesto is a steelwork specialist whose frames are one of the first links in northern Italy’s small yet sturdy bicycle industry.

The appeal of this affable port city is rising, especially in the revitalised Cavana quarter.

Cucina Hirata restaurant in Tokyo doesn’t over-think Italian cuisine’s main strengths: quality, simplicity and freshness.

Italy’s ‘capa’ of the design world, Rossana Orlandi, feels most like herself when she’s at the dinner table. Over lunch, she tells us why.

If you’re in the diplomatic game, you could do worse than a posting in Rome, where you’ll probably be put up in a palazzo fit for a pope. Just be careful not to show off.

Italy’s easy charm is its strength and a weakness, says Tyler Brûlé, but the world can learn from both.