After greetings from Federico Visentin, president of the Cuoa Foundation, and Filiberto Zovico, founder of ItalyPost, the meeting will bring together three major players in the food economy, such as Riccardo Illy, president of the Illy Group, Enrico Berto, CEO of Berto’s, and Giorgio Polegato, president of Astoria Vini. Moderator will be Corriere della Sera deputy editor Daniele Manca.
At 4 p.m., also on the premises of Villa Valmarana Morosini, “Art, Food, Culture: a Recipe for Reviving Tourism” will also be staged: the focus of the meeting will be the book “Age of Errancy. The future of tourism between industry, idleness and creativity” by Domenico De Masi, who will be involved in a dialogue moderated by Daniele Ferrazza, a signature of the daily newspaper la Tribuna di Treviso, with Ermete Realacci, president of Fondazione Symbola, and Innocente Nardi, president of the Prosecco Consortium and promoter of the candidacy of the Prosecco hills as a Unesco heritage site. The first of the two debates will address topical issues such as tariffs, business culture, and technological changes in the manufacturing industry that produces ovens, cookers, and refrigeration systems, including in light of the risks and opportunities that continue to alternate.
An example in this sense comes from the history of the Illy Group, founded in 1933: “The farm opened by my grandfather Francesco produced both coffee and chocolate,” recalls Riccardo Illy. After the end of World War II, chocolate production was abandoned, as happened in 1985 for that of tea introduced by my father. In 2004, after my election as head of the new holding company, there was the acquisition of three companies: Damman Frères for tea, Domori for chocolate, and Mastrojanni for wine. A diversification that was also a return to our origins.” For Illy, today competition is played above all on quality: “Our model is based on the combination of research and development. The choice goes to the best raw materials such as our cocoa production in Venezuela and Ecuador, where Domori saved a variety that had almost disappeared. The tea comes from the best producers’ lots or from auctions in China and India, but also from lesser-known markets such as Sri Lanka, Kenya, and Cameroon.”
Then there is innovation: “Our processes,” Illy explains, “are different from the most common ones. Coffee is roasted with software that raises the temperature to develop the flavors and is air-cooled instead of water-cooled, while chocolate is roasted at low temperatures and then undergoes a refining process that takes 8 hours as opposed to 72 in other processes, at 45 degrees instead of 80-85.”
The key to success also lies in teamwork: “Much of the work,” Illy assures us, “is about finding partners who share a passion for quality and a willingness to invest in complex and expensive equipment. And then you have to invest heavily in human resources to have a passionate, trained and consistent staff.” The international economic situation seems favorable: “The world population is growing and so is the affluent segment in search of higher quality, which was almost absent in China alone and now numbers 200 million consumers. Moreover, made in Italy is living an extraordinary moment, as shown by the success of Italian restaurants all over the world. Duties? In our sector for now they are only a threat. Certainly,” Illy concludes, “a possible war of duties would be devastating for exports. And it would be a defeat for everyone.”
