{"id":3058,"date":"2026-03-24T16:46:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T15:46:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pestochampionship.it\/senza-categoria\/new-world-champion-crowned-in-genoa\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T16:52:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T15:52:41","slug":"new-world-champion-crowned-in-genoa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pestochampionship.it\/en\/news-headlines\/new-world-champion-crowned-in-genoa\/","title":{"rendered":"New World Champion Crowned in Genoa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 11th edition of <strong>the World Pesto Championship<\/strong> came to a close on Saturday, March 21, Palazzo Ducale in Genoa. Mayor <strong>Salis <\/strong>crowned the new 2026 world champion: <strong>Carla Pensa<\/strong>.<br\/>Born in 1940, a retired greengrocer, Carla Pensa lives in Roccatagliata, a small village of just 53 residents in the municipality of Neirone, in the Genoa hinterland. After an intense day of competition, she managed to prevail over 100 competitors from around the world, winning over the jury with the quality of her pesto.  <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The competition unfolded in different stages: during the morning, thirty judges selected the ten super finalists who competed in the grand finale. Joining the winner in the final ten were Francesca Grasso, Alberto Imparato, Alfio Baudino, Riccardo Bizzarri, Renata Merlo, Giovanni Baghino, Roberto Mercati, Alberto Ghezzi, and Nadia Gherardelli. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All participants were given the same ingredients, symbols of Ligurian and Italian excellence: Italian pine nuts, Vessalico garlic, Genoese PDO basil, \u201c<strong>Riviera Ligure<\/strong>\u201d PDO extra virgin olive oil, aged Parmigiano Reggiano, aged Sardinian Pecorino, and coarse salt from the Trapani salt pans. The jury evaluated the preparations according to five fundamental criteria: manual dexterity and workspace management, fineness of the mixture, creaminess, color, and, above all, harmony of flavors.<br\/>Greeted by a long round of applause and visibly moved, Carla Pensa received not only the glory but also the traditional \u201c<strong>golden pestle<\/strong>,\u201d a symbol of victory. <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The closing ceremony also served as an opportunity to celebrate gastronomic and literary culture. The first <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pestochampionship.it\/en\/pietro-cheli-award\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"1733\">Pietro Cheli Award<\/a> was presented to authors Mareme Cisse and Lidia Pilotta for their book Sogni di Zenzero, published by Slow Food Editore.<br\/>Finally, the traditional plaque awarded by A Compagna to the competitor who traveled the farthest was presented to Craig Stanley Wales, who came from Hawaii, reflecting the Championship\u2019s increasingly international scope. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 11th edition of the World Pesto Championshi came to a close on Saturday, March 21, Palazzo Ducale in Genoa. Mayor Salis crowned the new 2026 world champion: Carla Pensa. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3057,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-headlines"],"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pestochampionship.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pestochampionship.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pestochampionship.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pestochampionship.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pestochampionship.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3058"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pestochampionship.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3059,"href":"https:\/\/www.pestochampionship.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3058\/revisions\/3059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pestochampionship.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pestochampionship.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pestochampionship.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pestochampionship.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}