Italian cuisine has been included in the List of intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO. The decision arrived at the meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee held in New Delhi, with a unanimous vote. The award covers the entire system of practices, habits and techniques that characterize the way to cook and eat in Italy, and not a single dish or specific area, as happened in the past for Neapolitan pizza or for the Mediterranean diet. For Unesco it is a set of gestures, knowledge and relationships that contribute to the social life of communities and the transmission of familiar knowledge.
The application dossier was prepared in the last stages by the jurist Pier Luigi Petrillo, who over the years has followed various Italian proposals inserted in the same list. The document reconstructs the role played by organizations such as the Accademia Italiana della Cucina, the Fondazione Casa Artusi and the magazine “La Cucina Italiana”, which since the 1960s have promoted the standardization of regional recipes and the preservation of techniques considered traditional. UNESCO evaluated these elements as evidence of community commitment to maintain continuity between generations, a criterion required for all countries presenting an application.
Italy already had 20 practices recognized as an immaterial cultural heritage. With this registration it arrives at 21 and becomes the country with the largest number of elements connected to the agribusiness: so far there were eight, including transhumance, agricultural dry mills, tree-lined cultivation of Pantelleria’s zibibbo and the “cave and search” of truffle, still widespread activity in regions like Piedmont, Marche and Tuscany. In Europe, other states had obtained similar awards on specific sectors: France with the art of baguette, Germany with artisan bakery, Georgia with the method of winemaking in amphora. However, no one concerned the entire national culinary system.
The Italian government also commented on the decision. The president of the Council Giorgia Meloni has defined the Italian cuisine “one of the tools with which the country presents itself abroad”, a reference to the activities of promotion of Made in Italy developed in recent years also through embassies and chambers of commerce. The Minister of Agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida spoke of a result involving farmers, producers and restaurateurs, indicating the recognition as an opportunity to strengthen the protection and valorisation of the supply chains, in a sector where the Italian food export exceeded 60 billion euros in 2023 according to Istat data.
The Tourism Minister Daniela Santanchè stressed the impact of recognition on the tourism sector, recalling that the gastronomic component is a significant element of the Italian offer, especially in regions with greater presence of products protected geographically. According to the Enit, in 2023 about a foreign tourist out of four declared to choose an Italian destination also for reasons related to the kitchen. The sector is also involved in the campaigns against the so-called “Italian sounding”, the practice with which non-Italian products are marketed abroad with brands that recall Italy, such as the “parmesan” in the United States or the “prosek” in some EU countries.
The recognition of UNESCO does not entail regulatory constraints, as is often believed, but requires countries to periodically present an update on the measures taken to safeguard the recognized practice. For Italy it means documenting how cooking schools, families, associations and agri-food enterprises contribute to keeping alive techniques and knowledge, and how they adapt to change, for example regarding the increasing reduction of domestic consumption and the spread of ready meals. It is an area on which in the past UNESCO has carefully assessed social aspects, such as the participation of local communities and the presence of accessible training paths.
In the coming months the Ministry of Culture and Agriculture will have to prepare a safeguard plan, as foreseen for all countries that obtain a new registration. It will be defined together with the organisations involved in the application and could include initiatives to document uncommon regional recipes, educational campaigns in schools and digital storage projects. The inclusion in the list could also influence tourist and commercial promotion strategies, an important aspect in other countries that in recent years have received similar awards.
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