The Italian association of women entrepreneurs and EVOO producers, Pandolea is planning the 2nd edition of their international literary prize.
The Italian association of women entrepreneurs and olive oil producers, Pandolea announced the second edition of an international literary contest Ranieri Filo della Torre based on the theme of olive oil and olive tree.
This is an opportunity to create and spread culture, with the ambitious goal to rediscover hidden values of the olive growing world.- Loriana Abbruzzetti, Pandolea
Following the success of the first edition, the association arranged a rich program, culminating in an award ceremony that will be held February 2, 2018, at the headquarters of the Italian Farmers Confederation in Rome.
The event has the support of the Italian National Academy of the Olive and Olive Oil, which is among the most authoritative Italian institutions in the sector. Chaired by Riccardo Gucci, it promotes research and debate on major issues relating to olive tree and its products.
“The contest is dedicated to Ranieri Filo della Torre, an important figure for Italian olive oil,” said Pandolea’s president, Loriana Abbruzzetti. “This is an opportunity to create and spread culture, with the ambitious goal to rediscover hidden values of the olive growing world, its rituals, and legends, ancient stories, and songs that speak of heroes and brigands, but also of solidarity.”
This occasion for reflection and creativity which goes beyond the production practices and the valorization of products, originates from the artistic expressions beloved by della Torre, who was born in 1951 by a noble family. “But the unmistakable nobility that he possessed was the one enclosed in his soul,” the organizers of the competition told me.
Ranieri Filo della Torre was a member of the National Academy of the Olive and Olive Oil, worked as a journalist with prestigious Italian magazines of the sector and co-authored several publications on olive cultivation. Married with Marida Iacona, a ceramist and painter, they have two children, Roberto and Carmen.
Since 1999, he was general director of Unaprol and this led him to address the problems and hopes of olive growers with passion and competence. “Ranieri was able to empathize with others and tried to understand the feelings, passions and anguish of his interlocutors, both friends and acquaintances, with simplicity and loyalty, without hidden motives,” Abbruzzetti remarked.
Humanity, wisdom, kindness and resoluteness but above all humility characterized him. When at age sixty, in 2011, he died of leukemia, his loss left a huge void. “We want to celebrate his professional and human talents through his passions,” Abbruzzetti pointed out. “Moreover, he was planning an event to celebrate forms of artistic and literary expression and to divulge culture.”
Literature, history and communication, and science are the three sections in which the competition is organized. Corrado Calabro’ is the president of the jury which will evaluate the works including Elia Fiorillo, Loriana Abbruzzetti, Maria Cristina Valeri, Ilenia Gradante, Maria Rosa Patti, Antonio Ragone, Alessandra Felli, Gabriella Rossitto, Sergio De Angelis, Sergio Belfiore, Erberto Accinni, Stefano Colonna and Andrea Tomasini.
‘Olive oil, nutrition of the Mother Earth’ is the topic of the literary section, coordinated by the writer Vera Ambra. The best works will be collected in an anthology published by the Akkuaria Association.
The winner of the history and communication section, promoted by the Vita Romana Association and curated by the archaeologist Maria Rosa Patti, will be published in the Telematic Bulletin of Art BTA, belonging to art history department of the La Sapienza University of Rome.
The scientific section, promoted by the National Academy of the Olive Tree and Olive Oil, is chaired by its president Riccardo Gucci. Coordinated by the researcher Sonia Esposto, it is intended for scholars who have prepared graduate or doctoral thesis regarding the biology and cultivation of olive tree, the production of olive oil and its byproducts, and the preservation and valorization of olive-growing products.
Special awards will go to people who made a significant contribution to the activities of Pandolea Association.
Works, including the registration form, must be sent by October 30, 2017.
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