Italy aims to bring corporate savvy to its heritage, with some critics
ROME - Italy’s Agriculture Minister Luca Zaia helped prepare a McDonald’s sandwich at the fast food chain’s flagship restaurant near the Spanish Steps in Rome. The occasion was the launch of the “McItaly” line, which, says the Minister, makes a strong statement to all who believe that Italian agricultural produce should be used at every level of the restaurant business in Italy.
In the next month McDonald’s Italia will use 1,000 tons of Italian produce, valued at 3.5 million euros ($4.8 million), to make the two new McItaly sandwiches and a new, Italian salad. Mipaaf (Ministero delle politiche agricole e forestali – the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies) has sponsored the line. The Minister says he hopes that the chain’s customers in other countries will ask for the “McItaly” so that Italian agricultural exports can be boosted.
He added, “I want this sandwich to become an international ‘must-have’ food item.” McDonald’s Italia Director Roberto Masi said that the sandwich, which consists of an artichoke spread topped with Asiago cheese, lettuce and, of course, a burger on 100% Italian bread, is already planned to be sold in many European countries and, hopefully, also overseas.
Soon also the second McItaly sandwich will go on sale. It will consist of a hamburger garnished with Italian olive oil, grilled onions and smoked pancetta. The McItaly salad contains lettuce, bresaola and parmesan. Critics accused Agriculture Minister Luca Zaia of selling out to a multinational (McDonald’s) and sacrificing Italy’s culinary traditions and reputation in the process. Italy’s slow-food movement, led by a non-profit organization that opposes fast food, criticized the government’s endorsement of McDonald’s Corp.’s new line of McItaly burgers.
Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food, said that “an Italian ministry has become an official sponsor of a multinational.” Zaia responded that the McItaly campaign would prompt McDonald’s to spend millions of euros a month buying food from Italian farmers. The debate takes place while Italy is facing another macro-row following the decision to put Italy's museums and monuments under the stewardship of a former McDonald's director with heritage guardians spluttering, fearing a "McDonaldization" of culture.
Mario Resca's appointment as "supermanager" of Italy's hun- dreds of state museums and archaeological sites has pitched the dusty realms of curatorship against a hard-edged business environment. Mr. Resca is now fine-tuning a master plan that, he hopes, will achieve double-digit growth in visitors and revenues.
He dismisses fears that his appointment heralds the beginning of an era of tawdry commercialization. He will not, he assures, offer fries with visits to the Uffizi in Florence, raise the Golden Arches over art galleries, or rebrand Donatello as McDonatello. But he will bring the language of the boardroom to the byzantine world of museum administration.
The appointment of Resca, a specialist in turning around ailing companies, was part of a recognition that a country blessed with artistic gems often seems unable to look after them. For a nation with native sons Leonardo da Vinci, Michel an - gelo, and Caravaggio, Italy pun- ches way below its weight. The Louvre in Paris attracts 8.5 million visitors a year, and the British Museum in London, 5 million. The Uffizi in Florence? Just 1.5 million. "Twenty years ago, Italy was the No. 1 tourist destination in the world. Now we're the sixth," says Resca.
"You go to the Louvre and you find Mona Lisa T-shirts, Mona Lisa fridge magnets, Mona Lisa spoons," he says. "And the Mona Lisa is by Leonardo da Vinci, who is Italian! We can learn from that example."
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