A mortadella two meters long and weighing 120 kilos, a one-ton provolone and a 10-meter long braid of Apulian mozzarella: these are some 'giants of taste' with which the hall of the giants of Made in Italy debuts, organized by Coldiretti on the last day of the Peasant Village at the Circus Maximus. The event, which was attended by the Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, and the Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, Francesco Lollobrigida, is organized on the eve of World Food Day in support of Italy's candidacy as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Also on display are 10 meters of red garlic from Sulmona, a three-meter-long and 150-kilogram bread from Altamura, five meters of Norcia sausage rope, a 1.2-meter Finocchiona up to the 530-meter-long necklace of Calabrian Diavolicchio chili pepper.
Italian cuisine "is a world leader," notes Coldiretti, "with 5,547 specialties obtained according to traditional rules protracted over time for at least 25 years surveyed by the Regions," as well as "320 PDO/PGI specialties recognized at EU level and 415 DOC/DOCG wines." Italy, the agricultural organization continues, has "the leadership in organic farming", with about 86 thousand farms, 25 thousand agritourisms and 10 thousand farmers.
The note also notes that the candidacy of Italian cuisine as an intangible heritage of Unesco "protects 4 million workers", including cooks and restaurateurs, farmers and artisans, shopkeepers, food safety technicians, logistics workers and sommeliers. It is a supply chain that is worth 580 billion euros and includes 740 thousand farms, 70 thousand food industries, over 330 thousand catering companies and 230 thousand retail outlets. In the first four months of 2023, there was a 9% increase in exports, according to Coldiretti's analysis of Istat data on foreign trade.
Among the main markets are France (+17%), Germany (+10%), Great Britain (+10%) and the United States (+3%). Against the risks of counterfeiting of Italian products, the president of Coldiretti, Ettore Prandini, observes that "in underlining that "international agropiracy against Italy has reached 120 billion" and that "exports could triple if there is a stop to international food counterfeiting, which is the cause of economic damage, but also of image".
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