Villa Zanelli in Savona hosted the Savona “Catering Day”. An event promoted by Confcommercio Savona and provincial Fipe-Confcommercio, which anticipated the appointment of Saturday 18 May, when all of Italy will celebrate the important anniversary with over 50 events organized in the area to support, enhance and tell, obviously through dishes, the culture of conviviality and Italian cuisine.
I’m in the Savona area 165 restaurateurs who joined the initiative and that on Saturday, together with 10 thousand colleagues in Italy and abroad, they will present a special dish, dedicated to the anniversary, and will promote a rreceived funds for Caritas Italian for the financing of three canteens spread across the national territory to offer refreshment and sociality to those living in fragile conditions.
Confcommercio Savona and the provincial Fipe have decided to play in advance: yesterday afternoon, 16 May, they opened the doors of Villa Zanelli, welcoming the restaurateurs of the province, mayors and local administrators, institutions and citizens with the aim of promoting a sector which was able to overcome the critical phase of Covid, has returned to growth, guarantees employment and a quality offer.
«Fipe Confcommercio has been celebrating Catering Day for years – explains the president of Confcommercio Savona, Enrico Schiappapietra -. This year we thought of an event that combines two excellences: the quality of the restaurateurs’ offer and Villa Zanelli, an important reality in the area. The initiative is part of the series of events that we will promote throughout 2024, in which we will also celebrate the 140th anniversary of the Ascom foundation, which later grew and became Confcommercio Savona. Our province is highly touristic in facts and numbers: the catering sector produces 30% of the GDP in the Savona area, it is a number that must be considered and makes it clear how many families live thanks to this work, which is no longer a makeshift occupation , but offers stability and satisfying careers.”
«Today we are faced with a challenge: the concept of tourism is changing, if until some time ago we were used to destination tourism, now among the factors that influence choices there is food and wine – says Schiappapietra -. This trend must be cultivated and promoted: the Savonese area will never have the spaces of other regions, but it has other excellences such as catering and food and wine. Our goal is quality tourism. We are also working on a project to fight food waste. Through Fipe, Confcommercio is about to launch the “Rimpiattino”: that is, the habit of not wasting the food left over on the restaurant plate. It can be taken home and stored away. This habit is not part of Italian culture, while abroad it is the norm, but soon in Savona too we will distribute the kits to promote this culture, which is also a form of respect for those who struggle to fill the family plate.”
Among the objectives of the Day is also to offer a new image of the premises, understood as true “cultural agencies” of the territorywhere man can be re-educated to live together.
It is around the table that families meet, that friends share meals and happy moments.
«The objective of this day is to highlight a sector that has too often been silent – he explained Carlomaria Balzola, president of Fipe Confcommercio Savona – The choice of Villa Zanelli is therefore not random, but the extraordinary scenario that allows us to start thinking about catering and food and wine as a tourist product in all respects. Many times we think about tourism only by thinking about beds, but we can also give an indication by thinking about restaurant seats and the people who frequent our establishments. We can all witness how people stop by chance in the Savonese area, but, knowing its products at the table, then decide to return. We want to work as a team and this is why we will insistently ask the Municipalities to valorise DeCo products: they create added value”.
The Savona event was organized by Ente Fiera-Confcommercio, as the manager explained Laura Chiara: «A very important moment for Ente Fiera which enthusiastically took up the task of coordinating such an important event in a splendid location such as Villa Zanelli. It was an opportunity to highlight one of the most important sectors among the categories of the Confcommercio group, that of interacting between Fipe and the provincial Confcommercio, a way to unite the territory and underline its importance, which always arises from teamwork between the public and private. Ente Fiera therefore wants to start again from here to promote the territory, its companies and its professionals and thus create a synergy with the entire system that can benefit everyone and be the beginning of many other coordinated and specialized initiatives. We thank all those who actively collaborated on this initiative, the partners, the speakers and the administrations and institutions present.”
The event kicked off with guided visits to Villa Zanellithen the program came to life with the round table on the value of local food and wine and raising awareness of food waste, moderated by journalists Luca Galtieri and Stefano Pezzini and which involved the entire world of food and wine and Savonese catering: from the producers to restaurateurs, through institutions and experts.
The president of Fipe Confcommercio Savona Carlomaria Balzola spoke about the value of food and wine tourism, the deputy mayor of Savona Elisa Di Padova about food understood as culture and how Savona is preparing for the challenge of food and wine, on the occasion of the candidacy as capital of culture 2027. The word it passed to the Lombardy councilor Elena Lucchini who brought the Lombard experience as an example of valorisation of local specialties to broaden the offer and knowledge of the territory.
The entrepreneur Marco Luzzati of Cascine Praie spoke about the excellence of Savona and spoke about oenology and the recovery of typical products and valorisation by creating excellence.
The Calcagno family brought the experience of the agricultural company, which since 1984 has been engaged in the cultivation of the typical Genoese PDO basil.
Lorena Germano, an expert connoisseur of the truffle of Val Bormida, illustrated the process of valorising a product, the truffle, to re-evaluate an area on a tourist level.
The starred chef Claudio Pasquarelli, who for years in his restaurant “Da Claudio” transforms local excellences into tasty dishes, illustrated the revisitation of the typical product to highlight the value of the territory.
Press
The Savonese “Catering Day” was also an opportunity to confer i prizes to three restaurateurs from Savona as hospitality ambassadors:
- Franca Capra of the Moses restaurant in Celle.
- Bazzano family of the Quintilio restaurant in Altare.
- Claudio Pasquarelli of the Ristorante da Claudio in Bergeggi.
