Passion behind a mountain food label
07.05.2015
In Montefortino, a breathtakingly beautiful mountain village in Central Italy, Alice Alessandrini started a mountain food label in 2012. Her pasta making business ‘Regina dei Sibillini’ produces wheat in the foothills and also at 1 000 metres altitude in the Monti Sibillini National Park. The mountain location creates some distinct advantages.
The cool mountain air, in all seasons, allows the grain to be stored in ventilated silos without necessitating fumigation or any spraying. Here small-scale production, plus the mountain location, offers a healthier product for consumers.
Being a small family business ensures that the flour is transformed into pasta within a month of being milled, eliminating the need for chemical stabilizers. Following the traditional practice, the pasta is drawn through bronze wires and allowed to slowly dry in a cool temperature, preserving the flavour of the mountain grain.
“Generally consumers are now very educated,” Alice explains, speaking of her experience at food fairs. “They care about the fact that we use mountain water and that we have pure land at a high altitude.”
Alice relates how the image of mountains, which they designed for their logo, has positively impacted on sales.
“Consumers connect mountains with health. We live here. We love the mountains. Our gain is sewn at the end of October so it grows gradually beneath the melting snow. Our enthusiasm for the mountains communicates to the public that we have a special product.”
After completing a degree in political science Alice faced the typical dilemma of having to leave the mountains to try to find work. Instead of out-migrating she started her own business.
By cultivating land as naturally as possible, and increasingly using historic grains that have lost popularity due to their lower productivity, Alice intends to assist biodiversity and food security while promoting human health and the territory she loves.
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News and photo by Tamara Griffiths
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