Slow Food Expresses Solidarity With Those Affected by Italian Earthquake

A devastating earthquake struck Italy on Wednesday. Small towns and villages in the mountainous area where the regions of Umbria, Lazio and Le Marche meet were hit the hardest. President of Slow Food Italy, Nino Pascale, speaks of solidarity in a time of tragedy:

“Our association and all its members are close to the families affected, to those who are experiencing the drama of personal loss and have seen their lives fall apart in a matter of minutes. With great respect, we wish to express our full solidarity. Our network in its entirety is engaged in setting into motion as many actions as it can to support the associations and institutions tasked with bringing help and reconstruction. Albeit rich in history, culture, biodiversity and tradition, inhabited by people of great resources who deserve more care, the areas that are having to cope with these extraordinary events are places already worn down by daily difficulties and impoverished by depopulation, often exacerbated by short-sighted policies that confine them to a marginal role.

We hereby renew our pledge to consolidate the importance of permanence in mountainous regions, a pledge we made three years ago when we formed the Apennine General Estates Communities precisely to provide support, ideas and planning. We intend to concentrate all our efforts on giving all those born in these areas the opportunity to choose to stay and live in the best conditions possible. In the coming hours, we shall be working with our association’s network—with discretion but also with determination, as far as it is within our competence—to aid in the resuming of activity and everyday life in the places in question.”

Nino Pascale

President of Slow Food Italy