Davide La Roccalast edited

  1. “Passionate” is a claim nobody can check. Care shows in the work.
  2. “Authentic” is the claim. “Feels real” is the test.
  3. “Shape the future” is a slogan. Building is a verb with evidence.

I lead onboard marketing and communication at Costa Cruises, research how brands earn authenticity, and build open-source tools for AI-assisted software.

Trust has to be earned with evidence. By brands, and now by AI.

Background & CV →

Index 7 entries

Kept, after the cuts.

  1. 062026

    Authenticity as a Reputation-Building Strategy in Underdog Brands

    With Giovanni Spatola · De Gruyter Handbook of Corporate Reputation Management

    Question
    Can a brand that cannot buy attention earn trust by being demonstrably real?
    Method
    A framework of three strategies for underdog brands, chosen by the market they compete in: transparency, craftsmanship or activism.
    Outcome
    Published as a chapter, pp. 55–68, October 2026.

    CiteLa Rocca, D., & Spatola, G. (2026). Authenticity as a reputation-building strategy in underdog brands: Leveraging values, storytelling, and community to overcome industry-specific barriers. In T. C. Melewar, P. Foroudi & C. Dennis (Eds.), De Gruyter Handbook of Corporate Reputation Management (pp. 55–68). De Gruyter. doi.org/10.1515/9783111478012-004

    MARGINauthenticity is a decision before it is a message

  2. 072026

    Swift Harness

    Open source · Claude Code plugin

    Question
    AI writes code faster than anyone can review it. What keeps it consistent and honest?
    Method
    Design-system rules, reuse checks and quality gates that run on every change.
    Outcome
    Open-source plugin, released often. Now measuring what each check catches; iOS comes after. Latest release
    Real run · excerptswift-harness 1.6.0
    $ scripts/verify.sh fast== swift test: Packages/DesignSystem ==⋮✔ Suite "PillCenter" passed after 5.836 seconds.✘ Suite "PillView snapshots" failed after 5.836 seconds with 7 issues.⋮PillView-error-macos-320-light: no approved baseline in …/snapshots. Show it to the user; only they approve it, with /swift-harness:approve-snapshots. Do not copy it into snapshots/ yourself.⋮verify fast: FAIL (failed on: macOS)
    The end-of-turn check on a test package from the public repository, 7 November 2026, shortened. The turn could not end: seven screenshots had no approved baseline, and only a person can approve one.

    MARGINstructure is what makes speed trustworthy

  3. 052024

    Activating Brand Authenticity: Decisions & Results

    Executive Master thesis · LUISS School of Government

    research
  4. 042019

    Tokyo, with the East Asian Student Association

    Travel coordinator · Lund University

    journey
  5. 032019research
  6. 022017

    Luxury, between the ordinary and the extraordinary

    MA thesis · University of Bologna

    research
  7. 012016

    Best social-innovation project

    IT-Driven Social Entrepreneurship summer school · University of Twente

    journey

Now

  • Leading onboard communication for Costa Cruises
  • Measuring what Swift Harness’s checks actually catch
  • Writing about underdog brands