Sustainability and solidarity to get out of the crisis: the message of the Masi prize n. 39

The near future and the long term future, in every area, pass from sustainability, in its environmental, social and economic declination. The red thread that guided the selection of the winners of the Masi Prize n. 39, went to the internationally renowned Italian researcher and virologist Ilaria Capua, to the mountaineer with extraordinary achievements, strenuous mountain defender Reinhold Messner (who is also a wine producer, in South Tyrol, with the Unterortl-Castel Juval winery), to the entrepreneur pioneer of environmental sustainability Andrea Rigoni of Rigoni di Asiago, to Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and to a reality that over the years has spread the culture of quality wine through its glasses, such as Riedel Glass. The award ceremony, which was staged online in recent days, was also a moment of reflection among the winners, in a debate moderated by Radio24 journalist Alessandro Milan, with the focus on “sustainability”, a theme made more topical than ever of the emergency related to the pandemic. From which came out a unanimous appeal to everyone's responsibility and a less selfish attitude, as the winners recalled. “This catastrophe brings with it a generative energy that must take us in the direction of Sustainability, gives us a temporal advantage and obliges us in the immediate future to a model of life with respect for others and nature”, said Ilaria Capua. “The pandemic is the strongest message that nature has sent us: it makes us understand that global challenges can only be faced together”, added Filippo Grandi, while Reinhold Messner stressed that “we are not masters of the world, if we do not respect the rules we will pay”.
“In this historical moment there is no salvation without Sustainability. This is not meant to be an ironic joke, but a statement that expresses an absolute necessity. The Masi Foundation chose this direction because from the very beginning, the Award has had in its DNA the values linked to Sustainability; perhaps not as clearly and visibly as today but, as if by instinct, this direction was already present, which today has become an absolute necessity”, said Isabella Bossi Fedrigotti, writer and president of the Masi Foundation.
“Sustainability is an end and a means, a way of living one’s life, one’s work, the environment and the community”, added Sandro Boscaini, vice-president of the Foundation and at the head of Masi Agricola, leader of Amarone della Valpolicella.
“It is the way human beings should always have operated and acted. There have been leaps forward and, especially in recent years, particularly in the economic, social and environmental areas. Now - emphasizes Boscaini - we have to go back to really rethinking what our final destiny is if we do not move towards a naturalness that means, precisely, “sustainability”. A recent term, but an ancient way of living in harmony with nature and with our fellow human beings”. He continued: “Sustainability at Masi has always been there: we create a food product, a classy product, a product that, the moment we drink it, becomes part of us. Therefore, aspects such as accuracy, quality, integrity, hygiene and genuineness are constantly fundamental for us. Today we integrate environmental and social issues. If we put everything together and encapsulate it in one word we have to say that yes, our wines and our way of acting are in line with Sustainability”.
The President of the Veneto Region, Luca Zaia, also wrote in a letter: “The Masi Prize is an appointment that has become a fixed point in the cultural panorama of our region, combining the qualities of the agricultural world, to which our roots are strongly rooted, with culture. “Wisdom cannot be harmed; time does not erase it; nothing can diminish it”, said Seneca, and I sincerely share these words when I think of our rural society, which over the centuries has acquired wisdom that has allowed it to reach important goals, not forgetting the relationship with the land and the values it is able to transmit”.