Foreign investments in Tuscany reach new high

Tuscany was recently declared the second most attractive region in Europe for foreign investment by FDI, the magazine of the business newspaper Financial Times. In a special biennial report on global appeal of over 486 European cities and regions, FDI ranked Tuscany second behind Lombardy in Northern Italy.

This marks a huge change from two years ago, when European Commission president Juan Manuel Barroso intervened in Tuscany to overcome obstacles to foreign investment.

Since that time, there have been 29 foreign investments in Tuscany, totalling almost one billion euro gained, over 1,000 jobs created and over 1,500 jobs retained. One contributor toward Tuscany's success is the CEO of Ikea Italy, Lars Petersson, who has invested 62 million euro in a new store near Pisa.

This shift towards globalization in the Tuscan economy has largely been attributed to the efforts of regional president Enrico Rossi.