Attendance boom for the Coldiretti Village which on 30 September landed in Milan with 10,000 farmers in tow. Throughout the Sempione Park, in an area of over 200,000 square meters, 800,000 Milanese people have rediscovered the values, aromas, flavors and genuineness of great Italian agriculture, a unique heritage of our country. The Coldiretti President, Ettore Prandini, inaugurated the event and welcomed numerous institutional exponents, representatives of civil society and scholars.
For the whole weekend, from Friday to Sunday, young and old people were immersed in a rural dimension represented by 400 stands of excellence from all the Italian regions.
An exclusive experience, especially for those young people who only know the rhythms and life of a metropolis. It was nice to see the curiosity and enthusiasm of children in contact with animals that perhaps they had only seen in photographs. There were many educational opportunities reserved for them. In the maxi-farm they have seen closely the animals that have been saved from extinction over time and in the pet therapy sector they have been able to ride a horse, caress the donkeys, play with the goats. For the first time they discovered how a stable works, tasted many typical foods, learned how to knead bread and experienced the emotion of the sensory therapeutic garden. It was like living a wonderful and unusual adventure, fun and educational at the same time. An important contribution to help them become aware and respectful consumers of our generous Earth.
It’s impossible to list all the agri-food present in the Coldiretti Village, just thinking about it still makes your mouth water: fine cured meats, cheeses with designation of origin (PDO), meats, oils, bread. Walking through gastronomic stands is an assault on the senses. And what about the show cooking? The most delicious recipes of the great chefs, based on typical regional products, have been proposed in a great variety of menus at a cost of only 8 euros. Impossible to taste and drink everything. In fact, in order not to give up so much goodness, the Milanese took it home, shopping in the large zero-kilometer market of Campagna Amica.
In this event of Italian excellence, the stand of our partner BF spa with the brand of “Le Stagioni d’Italia” could not be missing. The absolute protagonists are some of the best-known products from a short-traced supply chain and 100% Italian, such as Senatore Cappelli Wheat Pasta, ancient and precious wheat and the novelties of the frozen market.
Throughout the weekend, academics and institutional representatives discussed the issues of sustainability, the energy crisis, the environment and even health, worried about the spread of a diet increasingly linked to standardized consumption models.
At the end of this real gastronomic marathon, President Ettore Prandini declared: “The Coldiretti Village in Milan was a great opportunity to raise awareness of the biodiversity and sustainability of Italian agriculture, a model based on the distinctiveness and quality of Made in Italy agri-food, the entrepreneurial spirit of young farmers and the frontiers of innovation”. He underlined that “citizens have once again been able to touch the primates of national agriculture that we must now defend and support against the crisis triggered by war and energy price increases but also from wrong and dangerous food models such as the spread of synthetic food”.