The Associazione Palatifini

gruppo  bambiniThe association was created in the nineties by a group of friends who had a passion for gastronomy and for the art of being a bon vivant. As time went by, it gradually became structured as a small but strong association capable of proposing and supporting quality events and messages.

With its strong roots in Genoa and in Liguria, and when it came up with the idea and the organization of the World Championship for Genoese Pesto Made with a Mortar, Campionato Mondiale di Pesto Genovese al Mortaio®, the association set itself the cultural and promotional goal of creating an event that was original, strong, and projected into the future. The Championships turned into a showcase of international ability and Ligurian excellence, and also a means to tell and exalt the qualities of an ancient land. The event has already become a tradition. It has an energy that attracts the media, an ever greater emotional appeal, and an ever increasing international involvement.

The association promotes the culture of cultivating good traditions that start in infancy. It has a non-competitive contest for children, the Campionato dei Bambini, and offers other events dedicated to the little ones during theRolli Days. The association supports the Children’s Tumor and Leukemia Foundation of the Istituto Giannina Gaslini hospital in Genoa, giving to the fund a percentage of the association registration fees.

comitato  organizzativo
Today members in the Associazione Palatifini number in the hundreds, coming from all over Italy and the world. Members share the same attention to the quality of life and to the desire to build a future in which good traditions still play a vital role.

To register in the Associazione Palatifini please click here.

 

Pesto as Ambassador for Liguria: Territorial Marketing

Campione con Bruno PizzulTerritorial marketing is the capability of a city or a geographic area to attract companies and people. It is the only real possibility for development in a world that is ever more competitive and able to offer every kind of imaginable suggestion or incentives of all types. In order to enhance the marketing of one’s territory, it is necessary to know how to do three things: protect diversity, promote diversity, and make diversity accessible.

Protecting diversity means knowing and loving your own traditions, the traditions that your own culture holds, with layers of knowledge, history, and life style. It means not accepting a homologizing of your culture into the modern global stream. But to simply defend your own diversity without “promoting” it, quickly turns into a form of snobbism, and leads to isolation. It is necessary to bring in the world, giving them also the opportunity to vent their curiosity and interest. We needed 2004, when Genoa became the Cultural Capital of Europe to discover that Genoa too is a city of art. For decades—and especially for the non-Genoese—Genoa was simple a port. The third factor in our success, “to make diversity accessible”, means to make it physically accessible, with parking areas, hospitality centers, information, all with the scope of stimulating new experiences like for example….well, making pesto with a mortar.

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The World Championships for Genoese Pesto Made with a Mortar® is a challenge that is both interesting and complex. The event is destined, addressed, calls out, to the entire world. Behind pesto is history, and art, and a quality of life. A new economy and a hope for the future. The contest can be won by Italians or by foreigners. But above all, the winner is Pesto, a healthy, natural and democratic sauce. Yes, democratic. Everyone has the right to it, and anyone can do it! In terms of quantity, our land, made up of tiny terraces and small greenhouses, cannot compete with the great world producers. We make it up in quality. Just as with the balsamic vinegar of Modena, which is produced both by the great food industries and by the small local producers, with the difference being in the quality and the promotion. The same thing is happening with pesto produced in Liguria and in the local restaurants. The small and medium sized balsamic vinegar producers are now prospering. It will be the same for Pesto. Once you have tasted the genuine product your palate will never be the same. Our pesto producers will win.

The Trademark and the Coordinated Image

Logo Pesto  Championship

Pesto now has two new colors, gold and black, added to the traditional green. The colors of the trademark of the Championships have become the symbol of this new language. It unites tradition—the green and the mortar, with the writing, “pesto”, in gold—because gold is the color of a winner’s medal, and adds the aggression of black—for modernity and elegance in graphics.


The trademark has become a sort of stamp. A symbol of the same manual capabilities necessary for using a mortar and pestle. This is the essence of the Campionato Mondiale di Pesto al Mortaio® , sanctified by the mark placed on all its instruments, repeating the clear intent to pay homage, keeping alive and contemporary this noble sauce. aria
The graphic element is essential. It serves as a memory aid. It is a gesture, with a subtle underlying grace to increase its importance. All the elements concur to concentrate visual attention on the center of the trademark, where the writing, “pesto” is embossed in gold.

 

 

The Organization of the Championships

Organizzazione  2010The organization is born of the collaboration of professionals from various areas of marketing, graphics, communication, gastronomy, and history of traditions. The president is Roberto Panizza. The steering committee is composed by Sergio Di Paolo, Sara Di Paolo, Mauro Cavallero, Maria Irene Sassi, Gianni Arimondo, Natalia Olivi, Pier Luigi Togni, Sergio Panizza, Paola Toni, and Riccardo Bonini.

More than 5,000 people receive the association’s newsletter, sent by email. Dozens of eliminating rounds are organized across the world. The television showed last year’s Championships in over 30 broadcasts both in Italy and abroad. The news diffuses by capillary action, news and curious facts about the event are spread on the radio and on internet. Thousands access our website. Collateral events involve still more crowds of people, there are interesting gadgets up for sale, we reach top levels on search engines (just type in “World Championships”, and you’ll find us after World Cup Soccer/Football).

Behind this tremendous success in the media and with the public are the efforts of a team of professionals, who day after day work to organize the events, handle the press and the media, invent new gadgets, come up with new actions, deepen gastronomic themes, and make culture.

The three guidelines that organize the organization are: a high level of profession marketing, communication strategies, and the involvement of all the dynamic personalities in the territory.