Unesco: pizza is World Heritage, 58° award for Italy

Naples - The art of the Neapolitan 'pizzaiuolo' is a World Heritage! Unesco's 12th Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, meeting on the island of Jeju in South Korea, responded positively to Italy's submission. For Italy, this is the 58th protected heritage (7th recognized immaterial heritage), the 9th for the region of Campania. The Italian delegation announced their victory live on Facebook with great joy, from the South Korean island where they followed the works of the UNESCO Committee. In Jeju, waiting for the proclamation, were Ambassador Vincenza Lomonaco, Italy's Permanent Representative at UNESCO, Chairman of the UniVerde Foundation Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, former Minister for Agricultural Policy and the Environment, and Pierluigi Petrillo, legal adviser on the application. The works of the UNESCO Committee will close on 9 December, and only at the end of the session will the Art of Neapolitan Pizzaiuolo be officially registered in the List of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. 

The meaning of this key award was explained by Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, promoter of the #pizzaUnesco World Petition, which supported the Italian application towards its victory, with over 2 million signatures worldwide: "Awarding the Art of Neapolitan Pizzaiuolo with the prestigious Immaterial World Heritage List from UNESCO is a reaffirmation of a historical tradition that has been a true element of cultural union in our Country for centuries. I am really delighted with the result, because even though the application was strong and credible, and took years of intense work, we could not be sure of the positive assessment from the UNESCO Committee. The art of the Neapolitan pizzaiuolo is a unique heritage of artisan know-how that is passed from father to son, a key element of the identity and culture of the people from Naples, who still work this traditional way. I dedicate this victory to my 'pizzaiuoli' friends, their art, creativity, heart and passion. To the city of Naples, the people of Naples and Italy". Launched in 2014 by Pecoraro Scanio on the on-line petition platform Change.org, the campaign went several times around the world, recording the support of 600 ambassadors - from the world of culture, showbiz, politics, sports, and just people internationally - and exceeding its own objective of 2 million subscriptions worldwide from over 100 countries: these figures make #pizzaUnesco the largest opinion movement in the history of all applications to any United Nations agency. From the Napoli Pizza Village 2014, the movement gained momentum with spectacular events at the UN in New York, at UNESCO in Paris, at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, at the first and second Italian Cooking Week in the world, and, crucially, with a global mobilization from Sidney to San Paolo, from Canada to Argentina, from Japan to Korea and Qatar, from Taiwan to Iceland.