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On April 15, Italy celebrates the National Made in Italy Day, an opportunity to highlight the country’s unique excellences. Among them, livestock farming stands out as an ancient root of our identity, giving rise to the very first true expression of Made in Italy: meat. A heritage of quality, tradition, and sustainability that tells the story of our deep bond with the land.

Our history, intertwined with a diverse and generous geography, has endowed Italy with an unparalleled animal biodiversity. Among cattle alone, there are over 80 different breeds, each representing the unique characteristics of their territory and traditions, which vary from valley to valley, island to island. This has given rise to spectacular livestock landscapes, from Alpine malghe perched between sky and rock, to the meriagos of Sardinia, where the ancient language of shepherding still survives.

Just as we inherited a great mosaic of cultures, we also inherited one of the richest cured meat traditions in the world, with hundreds of products, forty-three of which are recognized as PDO or PGI, reflecting an art that blends technique and passion, memory and innovation.

The Made in Italy of our meats and cured products is, first and foremost, about taste, revealing the art of raising animals well and carefully transforming their products. But it is also a guarantee of nutritional quality and food safety, values that are increasingly central to conscious consumption. Last but not least, is sustainability – the real kind – rooted in daily practices and balance with the land, because the pastures and forests of livestock farms absorb CO₂ in such quantities that they completely offset the climate-altering emissions from the entire national livestock sector.

This is why Made in Italy livestock farming is not just an origin label but, above all, a way of preserving our roots, carrying them into the future with respect for animals, the environment, and that culture of the beautiful country that still makes us “vitaliani” today.

*Giuseppe Pulina is one of the world’s leading experts in animal science, Honorary President of the Italian Association for Animal Science and Production, Full Professor of Ethics and Sustainability of Livestock Farming at the Department of Agriculture of the University of Sassari, and President of the Carni Sostenibili Association.

Download the articles from the three experts to fully celebrate National Made in Italy Day >>>