“I wanted to express the Region’s gratitude for the work you have done together with your teachers. I I’m proud of you and you should be proud of yourselves and your school for the important recognition that you have obtained. You have shown that when we Calabrians put in the effort we can be the best in Italy.”. The president of the Calabria Region said this when welcoming to the Citadel, together with the regional councilor for agriculture, the students and teachers of the “Majorana” Higher Education Institute of Corigliano–Rossano.
The students were awarded the “Silver Diploma Pandolea 2024”, first prize awarded to the best extra virgin olive oil produced by the Agricultural Technical Institutes of Italy. The award is promoted by Pandolea in collaboration with Gambero Rosso and the National Network of Agricultural Institutes (Re.N.Is.A).
The director of the IIS Majorana also spoke at the event, together with a representative of the protagonist school community, Saverio Maderaand the Institute’s strategic communications manager, Lenin Montesanto.
“We – stated the councilor for agriculture – we are asking for quality from our companies and our young people, we ask for quality in production and transformations and I must say that the young people of the Majorana institute listened to us and were proudly first in Italy in this national competition”.
“It deals with – he remarked – of a result that is doubly proud because it testifies both to the commitment invested by the school world in promoting the culture of quality extra virgin olive oil, in raising student awareness in the valorization of biodiversity and local productions; and because it goes hand in hand with the investments that the Calabria Region continues to make to promote not only the sector but above all that cultural process of re-appropriation of identity awareness and eco-sustainable development of our land”.
The best extra virgin olive oil that has received the coveted recognition is called “Momena” And takes its name from the district that hosts the 18 hectares of land of the special agricultural company of the Agricultural Technical Institute, in the urban area of Rossano. In particular, there are 4 hectares of olive groves, for a total of 800 plants. The varieties present are Dolce di Rossano and Roggianella. The exposure of the plot is north-east with a mild climate, favorably influenced by the Pollino massif and the breeze coming from the Ionian Sea.
The Madera manager explained that “Produced only over the last two years by the Institute’s agricultural company (one of the largest and most extensive in Southern Italy), Momena represents the symbol of a true cultural revolution in the managerial valorization of its own territorial agro-food heritage and of the training courses connected to it, launched with awareness and determination by the new school management. Majorana, with its activity and with this important recognition projects the most evident image of a new horizon given by the importance of Made in Italy agri-food”.
Montesanto highlighted that “It is the first time that Calabria has won this award which also represents the victory of the South given that the second and third place were won by the regions of Puglia and Campania”, and then reported: “The ITS Majorana of Corigliano-Rossano has a school community of over 1000 students and around 200 teachers and ATA staff, divided into three institutes, the professional hotel institute Ipseoa, the technical hotel institute Ita and the industrial one, in 2023 first institute in Calabria for complexity”.
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