Twenty-five years of history, passion and attention to a unique and inescapable link with the territory that guarantees the quality of the meat certified Vitellone Bianco dell’Appennino Centrale IGP. The quarter-century anniversary of the PGI awarded by the European Union in 1998 as the first quality certification for fresh beef for Italy was celebrated in recent days with an event at the Rocca di Casalina, in the hamlet of the same name in Deruta and owned by the Foundation for Agricultural Education of Perugia, together with associates, institutions, chefs, journalists and Consorzi di Tutela dei prodotti DOP e IGP coming from the typical production territory of Vitellone Bianco dell’Appennino Centrale IGP.
The event was enriched by another important anniversary that falls in 2023: the 20 years of activity of the Consortium for the Protection of Vitellone Bianco dell’Appennino Centrale IGP, which since 2003 has been carrying out supervision and control activities on the entire supply chain, from breeding to catering through processing and cutting, to guarantee to all those involved the quality certified by the PGI mark.
“The 25th anniversary of the PGI recognition awarded to Vitellone Bianco dell’Appennino Centrale,” comments the director of the Consortium, Andrea Petrini, “was a great opportunity to celebrate together with numerous guests a product that has been synonymous with quality, typicality and territoriality since 1998. Retracing our history was also a way to pay tribute to the Central Italian breeders who in the mid-1990s resolutely asked the European Union for recognition of a quality certification on the meat of the typical Central Italian cattle breeds – Chianina, Marchigiana and Romagnola – in order to defend and enhance the entire sector, to differentiate on the market the meat of these breeds in the close link with the production territory. Today, thanks to their initiative and the 20-year activity of the Protection Consortium, the entire supply chain is supervised, valorized and recognized with an IGP mark that guarantees its quality through compliance with the Production Regulations.”
The event opened with institutional greetings from the president and director of the Protection Consortium, Stefano Mengoli and Andrea Petrini, respectively, dedicated to the history of the PGI recognition and the brand’s promotion and enhancement activities, and continued with the delivery of certificates of thanks to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry and the Regions of Umbria, Tuscany, Marche, Lazio, Campania, Molise and Emilia Romagna, the breeding territories of the cattle from which the Vitellone Bianco dell’Appennino Centrale PGI certified meat comes.
Italian Somelier Association Umbria
To celebrate the Consortium’s 20-year history, a certificate was also presented to Paolo Canestrari, former director of the Consortium itself, and to the Associazione Amici della Chianina, an association committed to the enhancement of the Chianina breed in Valdichiana with which the Consortium has been actively collaborating for many years. The evening then went into full swing with an aperitif and dinner featuring PDO and PGI products from the territories of central Italy offered by their respective Consorzi di Tutela or Associations.
The menu was signed by several hands by the chefs of the Italian Federation of Chefs from the regional Unions of Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Marche, Tuscany and Umbria present at the evening, with dishes paired with locally produced wines served and presented by the sommeliers of AIS Umbria. Closing the important anniversary was the cutting of the cake dedicated to 25 years of Vitellone Bianco dell’Appennino Centrale IGP.
PDO and PGI Consortia in attendance. The first 25 years of Vitellone Bianco dell’Appennino Centrale IGP were celebrated together with Consorzi di Tutela and Associations of PDO and PGI products from the typical territory of the same Vitellone Bianco dell’Appennino Centrale IGP: Prosciutto Toscano PDO, Prosciutto Amatriciano PGI, Prosciutto di Norcia PGI, Mortadella Bologna PGI, Ciauscolo PGI, Finocchiona PGI, Pecorino Toscano PDO, Mozzarella di Bufala Campana PDO, Squacquerone di Romagna PDO, Casciotta di Urbino PDO, Balsamic Vinegar of Modena PGI, Lenticchia di Castelluccio di Norcia PGI, Pane Toscano DOP, Maccheroncini di Campofilone IGP, Patata rossa di Colfiorito IGP, Scalogno di Romagna IGP, Cantuccini Toscani IGP, Zafferano dell’Aquila DOP, Olio Toscano IGP, Pasta di Gragnano IGP, Piadina Romagnola IGP, Oliva Ascolana del Piceno DOP, Pomodorino del Piennolo del Vesuvio DOP.
The celebration for the quarter-century anniversary of the Vitellone Bianco dell’Appennino Centrale IGP continued with a press tour in the Valdichiana area, which allowed some journalists from the trade press to get a closer look at the supply chain, which now numbers 3,218 breeders in 8 regions of Central Italy (Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Umbria, Marche, Lazio, Molise, Abruzzo and Campania); 77 slaughterhouses; 77 trade operators; 123 cutting plants and 997 butcher shops throughout Italy.
