PALERMO, 27 MAR - They call it the "wheat of the gods" and it grows in the lands that accompany the Temples of the Selinunte Archaeological Park: 10 of the 270 hectares of the Park, where, with the coordination of the consortium Gian Pietro Ballatore which belongs to Sicilian Regional Councilorship for Agriculture, the ancient grains were recovered, today transformed into semolina to be used for charity initiatives.
A&S - Agriculture & Solidarity - is a project developed by ESA in response to the growing demand for food from families struggling with the socio-economic difficulties caused by the Covid-19 emergency.
Thanks to this initiative, it was possible to distribute over 25 quintals of milled wheat, produced at the Experimental Farm of Campo Carboj and Sparacia, to the voluntary organizations.
"Through a moment of solidarity and sharing, we wanted to give breath to a project of recovery and enhancement of the regional cultural heritage that is expressed in the coexistence of all those elements that contribute to creating what characterizes a place: art, history, monumental heritage but also landscape, cultivation techniques, rituals, myths, genomes. The added value that Sicily offers - underlines Alberto Samonà, councilor of cultural heritage and Sicilian identity - consists precisely in this: in the ability to express modernity through the recovery of codes ancient ones that give us back the taste of time ".
"The emergency period we are going through - says the regional councilor for Agriculture and Fishing, Toni Scilla - is evidently returning to agriculture the noble and primary role of guarantor of survival with the production of food. Hence the clear teaching that between rurality and the future there is only common sense and solidarity ".
"The synergy and collaboration between Bodies belonging to the same reference administration has allowed us - says Giuseppe Catania, President of ESA - to implement the directives of the Musumeci Government which provide, among other things, that ESA with its workers and vehicles take care of the extraordinary maintenance of the area pertaining to the Archaeological Park, on the other hand to support a social need through solidarity action ".
For the director of the Archaeological Park of Selinunte, Cave di Cusa and Pantelleria, Bernardo Agrò, "it is a season that opens up to new initiatives aimed at the full use and optimization of resources. After the Cantieri della actively participate in the results related to the latest excavation mission conducted by New York University and the State of Milan, we inaugurated the Cantieri del gusto with the ancient grains and legumes grown by the Ballatore Consortium and with the wine produced by the vineyard planted inside the Park from the Settesoli winery. The products of the earth and cereals in particular - emphasizes Bernardo Agrò - represent one of the strengths of the Selinunte civilization and still today constitute a fundamental component of our agri-food culture and of the Mediterranean diet that UNESCO has recognized as an intangible heritage. of humanity ".
