20.000 Italians live in Ecuador and the 75% of them have Ligurian roots. For this reason, Luigi Passano, President in Ecuador of the very famous Association of Ligurian People in the World, organized at the beginning of November “The week of Ligurian People in Ecuador” with numerous events to promote and celebrate Liguria: food and wine, traditions, typical music and a competition of mortar-made basil pesto!

The event took place at the beautiful site of “Società Italiana Garibaldi” founded in Guayaquil in 1883 and at Simon Bolivar Auditorium in Malecon 2000, the famous sea side walk of the Ecuadorian city.

Stars of the event were the chefs of “La Manuelina”, a very famous and high-quality restaurant in Recco. They really pleased hundreds of guests’ palates with “cappon magro”, “troffie al pesto”, typical vegetables pies and “focaccia”. It was a big success for the Genoese singers Max Manfredi, Armando Corsi and Antonella Serà. With the famous song “Ma se ghe pensu”, they really moved the public.

Many people living in Ecuador and having Italian and Ligurian origins took part of the events. Among them, we’d like to thank two very nice ladies, born in Ecuador but with Genoese parents: Clara Bruno, 96 years old, she perfectly speaks the dialect of Genoa and was part of the jury who evaluate the pestos in competition. And Alda De Prati, chief of a very important chain of shops in Ecuador, who won the title of “ganadora del pesto al mortero”. We will wait for her at the Championship 2010 in Genoa.