The “braid” of Santa Croce di Magliano on the podium of the Coldiretti Village in Venice

CAMPOBASSO. Great visibility for Molise at the Coldiretti Village held in Venice from June 28 to 30 just passed. Over the weekend, about 220 thousand people, including Italian and foreign residents and tourists, visited the Village set up between Riva Sette Martiri and Giardini Napoleonici. A large peasant festival with over two hundred stands, including farmers’ market, street food, agrischool, farm animals, vegetable gardens, educational farms, agrichefs, laboratories, new technologies and workshops, where it was possible to taste, learn, play and have fun creating a strong bond between the countryside and the city.

An exceptional showcase also for Molise which was present with Nutfruit Italia, a company specialized in the production of almonds and dried fruit in shell of the President of Coldiretti Molise, Claudio Papa, the peasant chef and regional President of Terranostra, Felice Amicone, committed in the preparation of excellent traditional dishes, and the young agricultural/zootechnic entrepreneur, Maria Antonietta Paladino, who won second place in the Oscar Green (“Guardians of Italy” category), the national award reserved for young Italian agricultural entrepreneurs, with his famous “Treccia di Santa Croce di Magliano”.

The three-day event at the Village, with the national president Ettore Prandini and the general secretary Vincenzo Gesmundo, was attended by personalities from the political world such as the vice president and foreign minister Antonio Tajani, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty Francesco Lollobrigida, Luca De Carlo, President of the Senate Agriculture Commission, Luca Zaia, President of the Veneto Region, Luigi Brugnaro, Mayor of Venice, Stefano Pisani, Mayor of Pollica. A united front that has lined up in defense of the Mediterranean Diet, the heritage of Made in Italy under attack for the attempt by multinationals to replace healthy and natural foods on the table with ultra-processed products of which often not even the recipe is known.

“The Village of Venice – stated the satisfied President Pope at the end of the three days – was a great opportunity to raise awareness of the biodiversity and sustainability of Italian and therefore also Molise agriculture; a model based on the distinctiveness and quality of Made in Italy agri-food and the entrepreneurial spirit of young farmers. The tens of thousands of visitors – added the President – were once again able to experience first-hand the records of national agriculture which we must now defend and support against attempts to impose wrong and dangerous food models, from Nutriscore to synthetic food”.