my Marche
Art and Culture

Journalist, Belgian origins, food expert and deep connoisseur of the Marche hinterland and its social and economic characteristics. 

They are an example of how the borders between ius soli, ius sanguinis, ius scholae and ius culturae are just pretexts for bad thoughts. I am a citizen born in one country, living in another and I think only where common sense and my heart take me.

Maybe because I know about emigration. I am the daughter of the "Pink poster”, of the De Gasperi-Van Acker agreement, of the coal-miners exchange and of a brave father who descended 18 meters underground in 800 at the age of 1949 and fell in love with the Cité Ardente where he still lives. Which makes me regularly shuttle between the airports of Ancona and Brussels South. So I was born in 1964, the years when social conquest passed through the scholastic path. I am proud of my path in Catholic schools but equally of having chosen to graduate in Journalism and Information Sciences and to have taken a master's degree in Political Sciences at the Institut Européen à la Libre in Brussels, a university diploma of candidatures en droit at the Université de Liège in my pocket. A path that I underline because my parents who arrived with a cardboard suitcase are too proud of it and it gave me the right baggage to be able to work anywhere. Especially after having seduced and married the only love of my life who dragged me to my family's lands between Ancona and Pesaro.

The professional path?

For several years I was the press correspondent of Belgian newspapers in Italy. Then, after a nice stint in the marketing management of typical products companies, the creation of territorial strategic marketing plans for the European funds of the Gal, an experience as a university professor in Bari in the communication of Gastronomic Sciences, I managed to work on the double track of consultancy and information. The one that tells personal legends with authenticity. Who does what, why, where and how. Because that's how I interpret any type of news, even more so for the world of agri-food. I am also an analyst for European agencies that deal with economics, agriculture and food; I write for tourist service portals and guides. To make me angry, just say that I am a food writer. I am not because I never limit myself to storytelling tied to emotions but my role is to contextualize the company, the man, his know-how, his knowledge, his product in the social fabric of yesterday and today, to identify limits and opportunities in light of the evolution of techniques and technologies. But I believe that my real strength is that I arrived 35 years ago as Voltaire's Candide and I love being one so that I can marvel at the beauty, the heritage and the ingenuity wherever I go.

What is your connection with Le Marche? How would you describe it?

Of deep love and respect. There hasn't been a day that I regretted moving. Le Marche is truly Italy in a Region that I have never been able to understand because it continues to sin by excess of modesty and continues to let the parochialism of too many hold back the entire region.

You founded a newspaper that focuses on the stories of small inland towns. As a journalist, how can you describe the society of the Marche?

It is precisely to help overcome these parochialisms and promote unity that the idea was created www.civetta.tv which aims to create a link between small communities that are not talked about enough.

What are the characteristics that struck you the most and that still strike you today?

The ingenuity, the sense of beauty, the ability to interpret what the various communities need. There is always something of the ingenuity of the Marche in any country you go to.

The bond between the Marche and Belgium since the last century is made of emigration and stories of hard work. Does the bond of this community still exist in Belgium?

Yes. Roots tourism exists. The pride of being Italian too.

You often deal with economics and have followed the most important cases of companies in the Marche region for better or for worse. What do you think of the current economic situation and entrepreneurship in the Marche region?

That many understand that the Marche way of life is a real strength to leverage but the Marche economic model is no longer. That there are people who have understood that we are able to accompany "creative destruction" but they absolutely must be listened to and supported. That great change described by the Rector of the University of Urbino, Giorgio Calcagnini, where a new market is born from which marginal companies emerge, the best, most efficient ones emerge, with the capacity for growth and development capable of better competing at an international level because they combine traditions and true innovations on which they have the financial capacity and the men to act as a driving force for entire districts. It applies to organic, I think of Arca, regenerative agriculture, to fashion, I think of collections with new materials, stylists, to pharmacy to nutraceuticals, from machinery for production to luxury navigation, from furniture to jewelry.

You often travel between Le Marche and Belgium… What is Le Marche like from Belgium?

Unknown

What do you bring back from Le Marche for your friends in Belgium? 

Our bags and shoes, Doc wines, Varnelli, gin, sour cherry wine, even craft beers, fresh truffles all year round, cured meats.

A dream for the future of the Marche? 

Let everyone climb the bell tower and travel with the Marche brand that with its plural acts as an umbrella for everyone. Because without that brand we will never be able to provide that indispensable new dynamism that our region needs to emerge from the transition regime, to attract companies and create jobs, to conquer new residents and impose itself in the new global economic organization.

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