AVEZZANO – Not only gin and vodka, but also fennel, carrots and wild herbs to tell the story of Marsica and its thousand facets. As part of the widespread Agri-food festival, MarsicaLand, an unmissable event will be held on Thursday 27 June for lovers of cocktails and local tradition: the competition to identify the Marso aperitif.
The competition will take place in the Me&Fu Go space in Avezzano and will see the participation of professional bartenders from the area who will compete in the creation of an original cocktail, using exclusively typical Marsican products.
“In the wake of what already happened last May with the contest “The typical recipe of Marsica”, also with the ideas competition “l’Aperitivo marso” we want to support a culturally creative process that plays in favor of identity territorial and the growth of the sense of belonging to places”, explained the scientific coordinator of the event, Ernesto Di Renzo, “the recipients of this operation of invention of tradition are above all the young generations who use happy hours and the practices of widespread sociality as spaces for aggregation and as moments of self-recognition.
In order to be involved in the important cultural engineering operation that Marsiland is implementing across the entire territory, they need to be reached, informed and persuaded through a language that corresponds to the communication patterns they adopt in their daily lives”.
The Marso aperitif, organized as part of the festival created by the trade associations with the support of the Municipality of Avezzano, the Abruzzo Region, the regional company for productive activities (Arap), the Province of L’Aquila, the Gal Marsica, of the Marsica Territorial Pact, and of the Fucino PGI Patata Protection Consortium, will have to embody the essence of Marsica, describing the territory through authentic flavors and local ingredients. The competition will be divided into two evaluation phases: a technical jury, made up of industry experts, and a jury of enthusiasts, who will evaluate the proposals of the competing bartenders.
The cocktails that will be made by the bartenders will be evaluated by a jury of experts and a popular jury who will have to analyze not only the taste and quality of the cocktail, but also the creativity and originality, the connection with the territory and the use of typical Marsican products and the ability to tell the local history and culture through the drink.
“The Marso aperitif, in this sense, intends to represent an easy way of thinking about the territory”, concluded Di Renzo, “naming it, drinking it, tasting it and thus activating that familiarity with the word Marsica capable of acting in its different dimensions conscious, unconscious, affective and identity”.
