Pizza as Unesco heritage: a journey of over seven years, a petition with more than two million signatures, a success for Italy. That is how the art of Neapolitan pizza makers was consecrated.
For years I have been committed to ensuring that the Neapolitan art of pizza-making is recognised in Europe and around the world as an Italian and global heritage. The journey that led the art of Neapolitan pizza makers to become a Unesco world heritage began a long time ago.
In 2000 I initiated the procedure for the STG mark (specialità tradizionale garantita, the European mark for recipes) and after many years Neapolitan pizza and pizza margherita are among the very few European dishes to have received this certification from the EU. It is still necessary, however, for an effective consortium to be set up to monitor and promote the "pizzaiuoli" who comply with the product specifications.
Pizza is the best-known and most widely consumed dish in the world, and it will become ever more important to be able to train pizza makers who know how to make it to the highest standard.
The correct procedures must be followed, hygiene and health regulations must naturally be respected, the best and most appropriate ingredients must be used — starting with the right flours and extra-virgin olive oil. Ovens must be cleaned, as every responsible operator knows well, and perforated peels must be used for loading pizzas into the oven, as one of the best-known and most respected pizza makers, Gino Sorbillo, has explained clearly in a widely watched online video.
Some years ago I began inviting everyone to sign online the petition I launched on Change.org for the inscription of the art of pizza-making on the Unesco world heritage list. We have surpassed two million signatures, between online sign-ups and paper collections in many pizzerias across the country.
The first request was to ask the Italian commission for Unesco to support, at its annual meeting, the candidacy of the art of Neapolitan pizza makers for inscription among the intangible cultural heritage of humanity — an application already submitted by the Ministry of Agricultural Policy to Unesco's world headquarters in Paris as far back as 2011.
We made use of the six months of Expo Milan 2015, dedicated to agriculture, to gather the support of other countries.
On 14 March 2016 in Paris, at the Unesco headquarters, we brought the ambassadors the first million signatures collected across the thousand Campagna Amica markets and pizzerias around the world.
Now, in Jeju, South Korea, a journey begun seven years ago comes to a close: the final milestone was the vote of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Unesco.
Obtaining this important recognition strengthens the great campaign to protect made in Italy — the most counterfeited agri-food in the world — against agro-piracy, a term I coined precisely to describe this theft on a planetary scale, and it will help make all operators more accountable for producing quality products crafted to the highest standard.
Read also: The history of pizza, a tasty summary
