“I would be jumping up and down telling my friends: ‘Oh my god, don’t you see what’s happening—we need to do something!’” Ippolita Rostagno tells host Dennis Scully in the latest episode of the Business of Home podcast. “But of course, these problems seem so large that it’s like, Where do you start? This is an Italy problem.”

Rostagno is familiar with Italy problems. The acclaimed jewelry designer grew up in the Oltrarno neighborhood of Florence, where artisans have practiced their trades for centuries. Rostagno left Italy to study in America, but every year she returned, she noticed more and more empty shops.