Networking and cooperative innovation are at the heart of emerging digital communities all over the world. Therefore, it is crucial that innovators and developers come back together after the pandemic to revamp local communities. SpaghettETH is Italy’s first Ethereum Community Hackfest that kicks off a new season of blockchain development with the goal to dream, innovate and build an “open-sauce” future together. SpaghettETH took place from May 3 to 5, 2022 in Milan.
Bringing together a range of experts and business leaders from different blockchain application fields, SpaghettETH’s community aspects were a huge success, with all attendees enjoying networking and talking without strings attached about their recent challenges, takeaways and successes from the industry.
After arriving at the event, host of SpaghettETH Maria Magenes mentioned, “There are a lot of Italians working in Web3 all around the world. The SpaghettETH event was aimed at bringing developers and experts together and kicking off an Italian Ethereum community, and this is what we do. The vibe is great and the presentations are really exciting, as well as the bounties for the hackathon.”
Additionally, Skylar Weaver, Devcon and Devconnect lead at Ethereum Foundation, shared his first impressions with The Future Hour: “It’s awesome to see more regional events like SpaghettETH being created organically by local communities around the world. Some think the Ethereum Foundation plans all Ethereum events, but really we only plan two: Devcon and Devconnect. The communities do all the rest, we’re just here to support.” Anybody planning to host a future Ethereum event can reach out to the Ethereum Foundation Devcon team, which is ready to support Ethereum education events in various regions.
Another great initiative of SpaghettETH was bringing more awareness about institutional business applications on the Ethereum chain. Ledger software engineer Pierre Hay was focused on this idea and mentioned that “SpaghettETH was an excellent opportunity for Ledger to unveil how it unlocks Web3 for institutions. Many interesting DApp founders understood that it’s now possible to build on top of Ledger Vault, which is the Ledger Enterprise self-custody solution. We are currently helping them with the integration. It was a pleasure to break into the Italian Web3 ecosystem for a few days!”
The event concluded after three full days of networking, developing and brainstorming. Simone Romano, developers community growth lead at IoTeX, summarized the event with the following: “SpagettETH was an excellent opportunity to meet with the teams of some very fascinating projects. I was surprised to see so many local developers involved in blockchain. I came across some very interesting Italian projects. One of them was Superfluid for automated crypto payments. I met with other developers who genuinely build real-world solutions and use blockchain for social impact.”
Matteo Tambussi, SpaghettETH co-organizer, concluded the event after being asked about takeaways: “From the very start, this was a collective delivery. Personally, I couldn’t be more proud of seeing it happen: Builders having the peace of mind and time to talk to other builders over the three days in this harmonious location, evaluating integrations, bridges and above all, a general vibe that Web3-powered public goods were finally being addressed at the same level as a hype. Italy has a long tradition of coping with scarcity through community design. Sometimes, this sort of momentum has historically given rise to world-changing cultural waves. SpaghettETH wants to assist that momentum in its own strategic way, as Italian society can be a perfect recipient for sandboxing Web3 projects with an impact focus.” As a final thought, he added: “Today, the world is giving us many reasons to be worried and panic, but I can’t help feeling ecstatic about what Ethereum is creating, and I’m so glad we helped put one more piece to the puzzle.”
Emiliano Bonassi, co-founder of Rentable and DeFi Italy, added that “Italian Web3 communities are very active and they have been in the industry since the early days. SpaghettETH was a great starting point to gather many of them. I have met a lot of new builders and artists. I am energized, I see a bright future for Web3 in Italy.”
Finally, Andrea Cianfruglia, project lead at Balancer DAO, mentioned his impressions about the successful event: “I am happy to have finally seen and participated in the first Italian Ethereum community event. What keeps me absolutely bullish despite the current market conditions is seeing a community so vibrant that continues to innovate and get to know each other. In Milan, I had the opportunity to connect with many projects and I was positively impressed by seeing so many Italian teams. See you again next year!”
The next event on The Future Hour’s schedule is NFT Berlin, find out more here.