Pavesino
From Novara (Piedmont - Lake Maggiore)
the icon - cookie that united Italy
on its motorway net
the icon - cookie that united Italy
on its motorway net
Sixty years have passed since
the birth of the icon-cookie, whose name is linked to
the Italian economic boom. The Pavesino cookie has witnessed and
labeled a period of modernization and enrichment Italy
would be very unlikely to handle today. The Piedmontese
company producing the brilliant cookie, with its first factories in
Novara, near Lake Maggiore, advertised it with the motto:
“it’s always the right time for Pavesini”, and
with twelve cookies placed on a clock. In 1953 in Milan,
by notary deed, a whole economic empire was born.
The famous “snack” produced by factories all over
Italy and advertised by Carosello on TV was in fact nothing more
than the traditional cookie of Novara city, produced by Mario Pavesi since
1937 on a much smaller scale.
Starting from
1950 the Piedmontese company spread its brand on a national scale and
built its famous Autogrill service areas, as the new Italian highway
system was taking shape. With their bridge-like structure across the
carriages, they displayed the unmistakable shape of the cookie along with the
Pavesi logo. And this really was the best advertisement ever, since the
insisting commercials broadcasted by Carosello on TV could not endure in time
like an Autogrill service area.
Neither could they be as concrete to the public
as a true rest stop, under which a fast and promising traffic showed that
Italian society was heading towards modernization, wealth and suppression of
the historic differences between North and South. This process was under
everybody’s eyes, especially those who could afford a breakfast on the Pavesi
bridge, on the way to their deserved holidays.
The
first Autogrill service area was built on the Milan-Turin highway in 1950.
Taccuini Internazionali has already covered the topic of Italian modernization
through its highway system and Autogrill areas, whose structure was able to
catch the attention of the public from both sides of the highway. On the bridge you could even enjoy a meal, thus
fulfilling many aspirations of the time: taking a break from the long journey,
feeling part of a community, citizen of a country whose new “way of life” was
making everybody equal and wealthy. Not only could you own a car, but also get
all the services and luxuries linked to it, and things would only get better:
this was the general feeling in Italy right after the Wars and their
atrocities.
Today
Pavesi is owned by Barilla Group, which bought 100% of its block of shares 20
years ago. The founder Mario Pavesi (1909-1990) is still commemorated at the
entrance of the factory, with one of its aphorisms: “Arrivare prima degli
altri” (“Be the first to arrive”): its an artist-like motto, since it means
that primogeniture is what counts most. Being the first to say certain things,
promote and support certain values, in order for everyone to benefit from them.
He was the first one to produce the cookie of Novara industrially, to make it a “snack”, to stand out in Autogrill service areas, to invent crackers, then stuffed cookies (Ringo) in 1967. A story of success which made it possible to invest 150 millions for the factory in Novara, where 400 people are currently employed and where steam cooking was invented, as a way to eliminate fats by 30%.
He was the first one to produce the cookie of Novara industrially, to make it a “snack”, to stand out in Autogrill service areas, to invent crackers, then stuffed cookies (Ringo) in 1967. A story of success which made it possible to invest 150 millions for the factory in Novara, where 400 people are currently employed and where steam cooking was invented, as a way to eliminate fats by 30%.
Year
1950, Topolino, Fiat 600 and 1100, Giulietta Alfa Romeo, Alfa 1900: different
cars for different people, temporarily united in the same Pavesi parking lot
for a break. Rich (a little more sober) and poor (no-longer-so-poor) Italian
citizens in a moment of relax after the long journey. Some were leaving the working North to visit
their family in the South and vice versa. This Italy knew well where to go, and
how to get there.
A well-determined Italy, ready to do anything in its power to
promote itself and reach its destination (not only metaphorically). A hopeful
and resolute Italy, which was not yet acquainted with those odd behaviors that
would jeopardize its economically virtuous path.
Enrico Mercatali
Lesa (Novara), 23 September
2013
adapted and translated on May 31, 2014
(translation from italian by Penelope Mirotti)
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