When COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown hit Italy this year, the leadership at San Patrignano—a recovery community in the nation’s Emilia-Romagna region that teaches residents the decorative arts—was concerned. The community relied on brick-and-mortar retail.

“During the lockdown in April, we were really worried,” says Luca Giunta of San Patrignano, Europe’s largest residential recovery community. “We didn’t have any presence online, and we didn’t know how the pandemic would evolve in the next months. A partnership with an online marketplace was vital.”