WINE & FOOD: PUBLICITY IN MUSEUMS. FROM THE CAPODIMONTE IN NAPLES TO THE UFFIZI IN FLORENCE, BUONITALIA INVENTS A NEW WAY TO COMBINE ITALY’S ARTISTIC EXCELLENCE WITH ITS FOOD & AGRICULTURE TO GET TOURISTS BETTER ACQUAINTED

The Uffizi in Florence and the Capitolini museums in Rome, the Ferrari museum in Maranello, and Capodimonte in Naples: these are the museums, along with their many foreign visitors, that have become the latest frontier for the promotion of wine and the “Made in Italy” guarantee. Buonitalia, the company created by the Ministry of Agricultural Politics to increase the value of quality Italian food products and to make them more internationally known. In fact, this period marks the beginning of this special publicity campaign in some of the most important museums of Italy.
It is a way to combine food and art to express a culture, and was announced at the Vinitaly exposition in Verona recently by the “promotional branch” of the Minister of Agricultural Politics. Quality Italian wine & food products have been re-launched with force, even targeting destinations beyond the country’s national boundaries.
Exposition spaces in museum bookshops will be set up to promote Italy’s food production sector. Giorgio Serra, head of the wine department of Buonitalia, explained that, “The idea is to unite our artistic excellence with that of food and agriculture and to present our patrimony in a united way to many tourists, in particular foreign ones who visit our museums, thus offering another possibility to get to know and buy our products”. A special and unique “window display” in which companies will be called on a rotating basis to “show off” their best products. Top privilege will be given to wines and typical products of the region, but there will also be space for those from the rest of the country.
Serra also pointed out that, “Getting wine into museums is not easy and it is necessary to arrange agreements with superintendences. But tourists appreciate it and the next step is that of taking our products directly to foreign markets so that the wines that a visitor may discover at the Uffizi can then be found at home as well”. The theme of promotion outside of Italy’s national borders is very dear to Buonitalia, which has long pushed Italian products on the international market. Among the most interesting markets (besides the traditional ones like Europe, the U.S., and Japan), are China, South Korea, India, and Russia. Buonitalia has a project for the future called ‘Italian Life Style’ that will try to move Italian products into market niches that have so far been ignored. Museums, luxury hotels, on cruises, and tourists resorts, are just a few of the locations where promotion is currently lacking and where there is a possibility to create important publicity channels for “Made in Italy”.