{"id":8307,"date":"2026-01-13T14:44:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T22:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/news\/7458791\/italian-cooking-and-its-rituals-get-un-designation-as-world-heritage\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T09:15:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T17:15:41","slug":"italian-cooking-and-its-rituals-get-un-designation-as-world-heritage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/news\/8307\/italian-cooking-and-its-rituals-get-un-designation-as-world-heritage\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian cooking and its rituals get UN designation as world heritage"},"content":{"rendered":"

ROME (AP) \u2014 Italian food is known and loved<\/a> around the world for its fresh ingredients and palate-pleasing tastes. The U.N.’s cultural agency gave foodies on Wednesday another reason to celebrate their pizza, pasta and tiramisu by listing Italian cooking as part of the world\u2019s \u201cintangible\u201d cultural heritage.<\/p>\n

UNESCO added the rituals surrounding Italian food preparation and consumption to its list of the world\u2019s traditional practices and expressions. It’s a designation celebrated alongside the more well-known UNESCO list of World Heritage sites, on which Italy is well represented with locations like Rome’s Colosseum and the ancient city of Pompeii.<\/p>\n

The citation didn\u2019t mention specific dishes, recipes or regional specialties<\/a>, but highlighted the cultural importance Italians place on the rituals of cooking and eating: the Sunday family lunch, the tradition of grandmothers teaching grandchildren how to fold tortellini dough just so, even the act of coming together to share a meal.<\/p>\n

\u201cCooking is a gesture of love, a way in which we tell something about ourselves to others and how we take care of others,\u201d said Pier Luigi Petrillo, a member of the Italian UNESCO campaign and professor at Rome\u2019s UnitelmaSapienza University and Luiss Guido Carli University.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis tradition of being at the table, of stopping for a while at lunch, a bit longer at dinner, and even longer for big occasions, it\u2019s not very common around the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Premier Giorgia Meloni celebrated the designation, which she said honored Italians and their national identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause for us Italians, cuisine is not just food or a collection of recipes. It is much more: it is culture, tradition, work, wealth,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Many gastronomic cultures get recognition<\/p>\n

It\u2019s by no means the first time a country\u2019s cuisine has been recognized as a cultural expression: In 2010, UNESCO listed the \u201cgastronomic meal of the French\u201d<\/a> as part of the world\u2019s intangible heritage, highlighting the French custom of celebrating important moments with food.<\/p>\n

Other national cuisines and cultural practices surrounding them have also been added in recent years: the \u201ccider culture\u201d of Spain\u2019s Asturian region, the Ceebu Jen culinary tradition of Senegal, the traditional way of making cheese in Minas Gerais, Brazil.<\/p>\n

UNESCO meets every year to consider adding new candidates to its lists of \u201cintangible heritage.\u201d There are three types: One is a representative list, another lists practices that are in \u201curgent\u201d need of safeguarding and the third is a list of good safeguarding practices.<\/p>\n

This year, the committee meeting in New Delhi considered 53 nominations for the representative list, which already had 788 items. Other nominees included the Swiss yodelling<\/a>, the handloom weaving technique used to make Bangladesh\u2019s Tangail sarees, and Chile\u2019s family circuses.<\/p>\n

An Italian campaign focusing on sustainability and diversity<\/p>\n

In its submission, Italy emphasized the \u201csustainability and biocultural diversity\u201d of its food. Its campaign noted how Italy\u2019s simple cuisine valued seasonality, fresh produce and limiting waste, while its variety highlighted its regional culinary differences and influences from migrants and others.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, Italian cuisine is the best, top of the range. Number one. Nothing comes close,\u201d said Francesco Lenzi, a pasta maker at Rome\u2019s Osteria da Fortunata restaurant, near the Piazza Navona. \u201cThere are people who say \u2018No, spaghetti comes from China.\u2019 Okay, fine, but here we have turned noodles into a global phenomenon. Today, wherever you go in the world, everyone knows the word spaghetti. Everyone knows pizza.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lenzi credited his passion to his grandmother, the \u201cqueen of this big house by the sea\u201d in Camogli, a small village on the Ligurian coast where he grew up. \u201cI remember that on Sundays she would make ravioli with a rolling pin.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis stayed with me for many years,\u201d he said in the restaurant’s kitchen.<\/p>\n

Mirella Pozzoli, a tourist visiting Rome\u2019s Pantheon from the Lombardy region in northern Italy, said the mere act of dining together was special to Italians:<\/p>\n

\u201cSitting at the table with family or friends is something that we Italians cherish and care about deeply. It\u2019s a tradition of conviviality that you won\u2019t find anywhere else in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Italy is already well-represented on list<\/p>\n

Italy already has 13 other cultural items on the UNESCO intangible list, including Sicilian puppet theatre, Cremona\u2019s violin craftsmanship and the practice of moving livestock along seasonal migratory routes known as transhumance.<\/p>\n

Italy appeared in two previous food-related listings: a 2013 citation for the \u201cMediterranean diet\u201d that included Italy and half a dozen other countries, and the 2017 recognition of Naples\u2019 pizza makers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Petrillo, the Italian campaign member, said after 2017, the number of accredited schools to train Neapolitan pizza makers increased by more than 400%.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the UNESCO recognition, there were significant economic effects, both on tourism and the sales of products and on education and training,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP\u2019s collaboration<\/a> with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.<\/p>\n

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Italian cook Massimo Dante prepares a Carbonara at his restaurant in Rome, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo\/Gregorio Borgia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Customers enjoy their pasta at a restaurant in Rome, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo\/Gregorio Borgia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Customers enjoy their pasta at a restaurant in Rome, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo\/Gregorio Borgia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Italian cook Massimo Dante prepares a Carbonara at his restaurant in Rome, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo\/Gregorio Borgia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ROME (AP) \u2014 Italian food is known and loved around the world for its fresh ingredients and palate-pleasing tastes. The U.N.’s cultural agency gave foodies on Wednesday another reason to celebrate their pizza, pasta and tiramisu by listing Italian cooking as part of the world\u2019s \u201cintangible\u201d cultural heritage. UNESCO added the rituals surrounding Italian food […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":8308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"guid":"060f178e-563c-4d5e-bb72-102846767df2","source":"The Associated Press","byline":"Paolo Santalucia, Silvia Stellacci And Nicole Winfield","published":"2025-12-10 02:30:11","updated":"2025-12-11 09:06:00","_infotelid":"","_prepressid":"","_multisite_post_sync":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1815,1814],"tags":[],"region":[547,548,549,550,1816],"class_list":["post-8307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-world","region-kamloops","region-kelowna","region-penticton","region-vernon","region-world"],"blocksy_meta":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/news\/8307\/italian-cooking-and-its-rituals-get-un-designation-as-world-heritage\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Italian cooking and its rituals get UN designation as world heritage","url":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/news\/8307\/italian-cooking-and-its-rituals-get-un-designation-as-world-heritage\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/news\/8307\/italian-cooking-and-its-rituals-get-un-designation-as-world-heritage\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/inwine-5b7c80adae83161ab083eb066382ecc22ea7ef0a1bf945dfa92ad374dab4ed32.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/inwine-5b7c80adae83161ab083eb066382ecc22ea7ef0a1bf945dfa92ad374dab4ed32.jpg"},"articleSection":"International","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Associated Press"}],"creator":["The Associated Press"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"iNwine","logo":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/06\/logo-inwine.png"},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2026-01-13T22:44:00Z","datePublished":"2026-01-13T22:44:00Z","dateModified":"2026-01-13T22:44:00Z"},"rendered":"