UNESCO Archivi - Keep Calm and Drink Coffee

NO UNESCO HERITAGE

Mar 31, 2022 | CULTURE, WHO CARES

No UNESCO heritage for espresso: the application was rejected. Passed. Not allowed. What is the most correct wording?

It is certainly more kind to say that the candidacy The Italian Espresso Coffee between culture, ritual, sociality and literature in the emblematic communities from Venice to Naples was not admitted by the committee by the Council Director of the Italian National Commission for Unesco, who preferred the Opera.

Of course we all agree that the art of opera is worth it.

But the coffee just “wasn’t there?” Pity.

However, it remains a heritage for us.

At this point our thoughts turn to the sensational rejections.

The first that comes to mind is the famous Meryl Streep audition for King Kong.

Here she tells us directly, but above all divinely I would say

Or we can quote Fazi Editore and the interview with Elido Fazi: Gore Vidal pointed out Dan Brown to me. His book got there six months before it was released in America. We read it absent-mindedly and didn’t do anything about it.

In other words, we can say that “reading absent-mindedly” harms.

Whenever I think of underestimates I am reminded of Shirey MacLaine and the recurring sentence in The Last Word movie “The Kinks are the most underrated band ever.”

In fact, many were surprised by the choice of David Gilmour who in a 2003 BBC interview indicated Waterloo Sunset as the first of the songs he would choose a desert island.

Do you want to tell me some anecdotes too?

Or maybe you also have a personal experience, of rejection or even better of revenge?

Indeed, more than revenge, I’d like to talk about rebirth

Being born is not enough. It is to be reborn that we are born. Everyday. Pablo Neruda

What do you say?

TRIESTE COFFEE ASSOCIATION

Jan 28, 2022 | ITALY

Trieste Coffee Association is one of the few associations still active and is third in Europe.

Staying on the trend of coffee in Trieste it was really very interesting to learn more about the supply chain.

For this I must say THANK YOU to Fabrizio Polojaz President of AssoCaffè Trieste for the availability and courtesy with which he illustrated every single aspect that connects Trieste to coffee in a total way.

COFFEE FOR TRIESTE IS HISTORY

Trieste has always been a harbor city, as we know it is not remembered as particularly influential: we rather know the magnificence and power of Venice. But between 1710 and 1720 Trieste found “a protector:” Vienna. The Austrian Empire has become a continental empire and decides to create its own merchant port in Trieste.

At the end of 1700, with the sunset of the Serenissima the second important step: the competition was interrupted.

Third crucial point: the construction of a “southern” railway (with respect to Austria), to allow goods unloaded from ships to leave by train to arrive in Vienna within a day.

The fourth important progress takes place with the construction of the Suez Canal: the entrance into the Mediterranean no longer requires the passage through the Pillars of Hercules, and, directly from the Aegean, the way to Trieste is short, as well as favorable.

Even today Trieste is the northernmost harbor in the Mediterranean.

Here you will find an original print from the Dino Cafagna collection illustrating Triste in 1719 before the free port.

COFFEE FOR TRIESTE IS A PRODUCTION CHAIN

As we all know, coffee is not grown in Europe, but grows in the tropical belt: equatorial Africa, Asia, India, Central America and South America.

I quote the words of the President Fabrizio Polojaz:

these goods create knowledge, knowledge creates profession and profession creates supply chain.

This chain begins with the financial part: that is, banking institutions for the purchase, and insurance companies with very specific policies.

Logistics plays an essential role starting with the forwarding agents because obviously we are talking about long-distance transport, but it also includes warehouses for conservation, processing for the improvement of the raw material, and phytosanitary management.

A first transformation is carried out by the roasting companies, which are about fifteen in Trieste.

There is also an industry for decaffeination (there are only nine in all of Europe).

And also chemical laboratories, tasting, experts, training schools and various equipment sector.

COFFEE FOR TRIESTE IS A MEETING POINT

Three European language families:

Latin
Slavs
Germans

three preparations:

for Italians moka and espresso
for Nordic filter coffees
for the Balkans, Turkish and Greek coffee

again, I quote the words of President Fabrizio Polojaz verbatim

People from Trieste are spoiled consumers, and lovers of good coffee.

And again, paraphrasing Nino Manfredi’s historic and unforgettable commercial

coffee is recharging, even spiritual and if the coffee is not good … what pleasure is it?

How can we disagree?

Among other things, it must be said that Trieste consumers are not only “spoiled:” compared to a national average per capita consumption of about 5 kilos per year, the Trieste average reaches almost 10!

Not bad really.

But what’s even more fantastic is theirs… how can we call it?

Nomenclature? I would say no: it’s not exactly technical terminology.

Code? Nor, code is too “mathematical.”

Peculiarities? But it sounds not very poetic to me.

In short, they have their special habit, of asking for a NERO when they want to order an espresso at the bar, just as Nick also told us in the comments about his professor.

When I asked the President Fabrizio Polojaz if there is a particular reason for “nero” he replied simply: to fondle.

However, it is not just a question of nero, apparently the bartenders in Trieste have something more to learn than the others: are you ready?

The typical cappuccino does not exist in Trieste.

For the milk and coffee drink we are used to thinking about, we order caffellatte.

CAPO, is also shortened in size: small cup or glass.

But if it were a glass, then it would be CAPO IN B, obviously, right!?

Don’t you immediately feel like trying, even considering what Luciana told us here?

Finding ourselves “at the cafe,” it is natural to ask for an opinion also regarding the increase in the price of coffee, so much criticized almost everywhere.

In this regard, the President of Assocaffè Trieste invites us to take a look behind the scenes.

The cup represents a series of very long steps: after cultivation, the coffee is stripped, processed, kept in silos, treated in parchment, bagged and shipped.

At its destination, further selections are made, it is roasted and blended, because the coffee is the result of the composition of different qualities, before reaching the barista who grinds and presses it.

All these are the items that make up the bill.

The last two years, so difficult for everyone and everything, have been problematic from the point of view of cultivation, which has suffered production drops caused by the difficulty of harvesting the coffee at the right time.

And there is not only a shortage of good quality products, there is also logistical difficulty, both in terms of traffic: after the long period of inactivity everyone wants to ship, and in terms of costs that have literally increased tenfold.

But the considerable decreases in consumption and, last but not least, the organizational and managerial burdens that the barista had to adopt to fulfill the requests of the various DPCMs were also affected.

So it is worth defending quality and work, do you agree?

COFFEE FOR TRIESTE IS ALSO TOURISM

In addition to the historical cafes already mentioned that offer a unique experience to visitors, Trieste is organizing a coffee festival: the Trieste Coffee Festival, in addition to the professional Triestespresso Expo exhibition, and in particular the Coffee Trieste Association is working with tour operators.

The goal is to ensure that the knowledge they have gained, so deeply rooted in the territory, and characterized in full, can also be enjoyed by tourists.

Among other things, it is already possible to organize visits to coffee roasters to discover this important stage in coffee processing, for example.

What do you say at this point?

They can truly say they are the capital of coffee.

Although, rightly, Minister Centinaio in response to the tweet wrote that the dossier presented to Unesco involves the symbolic cities of coffee in Italy, including Trieste.

WHAT ABOUT TRIESTE?

Jan 21, 2022 | ITALY

Trieste is the unofficial capital of coffee.

I read it on a foreign site though: BBC Travel.

Wandering in search of confirmation, beyond the history that brings back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it would seem that Illy, more than Trieste, included in 2015 the qualification of capital in the presentation at the Expo.

Also in 2015, a virtual exhibition connected to Expo was set up at the Salone degli Specchi. Illy was an official partner, in collaboration with the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and the Municipality and the Chamber of Commerce of Trieste, which bears the wording of capital.

In an interview in Trieste Prima Franco Bazzarra, another roasting entrepreneur, declares: they often ask me if Trieste can really be considered the Italian capital of espresso coffee. I always reply that it is, without hesitation.

With all due respect to Naples? Not really.

The Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies presented the applications for intangible cultural heritage of humanity of the Rite of espresso coffee traditional Italian, which is also a real art, and in the alternative that of the culture of Neapolitan coffee, a reality between ritual and sociality, and unanimous approval is fresh news.

The Neapolitan coffee is in the alternative for a matter of timing relating to the presentation of the proposals.

In all this, however, I would say that after three c in Naples, coffee for the Milanese, and the details on Dublin, it is now the case to find out what coffee represents for the Triestines.

Perhaps the first answer is provided by the website of the Municipality of Trieste which reports: “The Trieste ‘feels’ coffee as ‘home’ “

Do you have any more direct experience?

ITALIAN YARDS IN TBILISI

Aug 7, 2021 | CULTURE, WORLD

Lela is teaching me a lot about her country and their traditions, topics almost unknown to me up to now.

A few days ago it happened that she tagged me in a very funny tweet that can only make you smile, but even then I learned something.

Did you know that the courtyards of old Tbilisi are known as Italian Yards?

Italian courtyards.
I find it simply fantastic!

So, now fascinated by this thing, I started looking for information.

The result was an exploration in the literal sense since obviously the institutional sites are written in the Georgian alphabet.
Which by the way is composed of three systems: Mrgvlovani, Nuskhuri and Mkhedruli and has very ancient origins.

Oriental languages, my always dream.

Lela, you know it, indeed sorry again for the question of the pending books, and always correct me if I’m wrong, but I have the hope of being able to slowly learn a minimum of these characters that I find harmonious, almost as if they were able to communicate to me a sort of melody together with the words.

It is no coincidence that the three writing systems of the Georgian alphabet have become UNESCO heritage.

But let’s go back to the courtyards!

First I would tell you to look at the photo of this tweet because it looks like a painting.

So far I honestly have not found an immediate resemblance to the courtyards we are used to seeing.

But I found a first explanation here:
people often name this type of courtyards ‘Italian’, but it were rather Persian caravanserais which influenced to Georgian tradition structure of houses. Unlike the both of them mostly square shaped and surrounded by solid stone arcades, the Georgian ones will impress you by unpredictable shapes, light and elegant wooden arcades richly decorated by carving with unique combination of Classicist and Oriental motifs; crazy combination of numerous superstructures, overhanging bridges connecting houses , spiral staircases, glazed loggias, patches of various materials used during renovations, picturesque bunches of pipes and wires, riot of greenery (thanks to the wet Georgian climate) the effect is breathtaking.

And I would say that we are all in agreement on the breathtaking effect.

Here there is a series of photos by Ksenia Vysotskaya to reconfirm of the intrinsic beauty that transmits life lived at first glance.

Having established that the splendor is undisputed, however, it remains to be discovered how the parallel with the Italian courtyards arises.

Ask any Tbilisi local, however, and they’ll tell you the city’s much-loved architectural treasures are its charming “Italian” courtyards. What makes them “Italian” has less to do with the architectural style than the relaxed way of life that flourishes between its wooden facades. “There is a lot talking, arguing, gossiping that happens here. Georgians are very emotional, just like Italians.”

So it’s not about aesthetics but about essence!
What unites us is the way of life, isn’t it wonderful?

And it reports exactly to Lela’s tweet.

By a curious coincidence these days commenting on “the consolation of the willow” by OREAROVESCIO I found myself remembering the courtyard of my childhood.

The speech then continued with the memory of Bianca also on her blog.

So I’d like to continue with memories but also anecdotes of the present: how do you live or how do you see Italian courtyards?