Museums represent a new showcase to promote fine Italian wines and traditional foods, according to Buonitalia, the company the agriculture ministry created to promote Italian products.
"The idea is to bring together our artistic treasures with the best in farm production to offer visiting tourists a a sample of our country's excellence," Giorgio Serra said here on Friday at the Vinitaly trade fair.
Serra, who is responsible for the wine sector at Buonitalia, made his remarks during the presentation of the company's action plan for the coming months. Working with the culture ministry, Buonitalia is arranging for a displays of top quality wines, olive oil and other local products to be set up in the bookshops and souvenir stores of Italian museums.
Serra said the types of wines and foods 'on exhibit' will represent the region where the museum is located and will be rotated on a regular basis.
The museums chosen so far include the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the Capitoline Museum in Rome and the Ferrari Museum at the sports car's home base in Maranello, near Bologna.
Buonitalia has dubbed its initiative 'Italian Flavor, When Food is Art', and it was first experimented at the Capodimonte and Certosa di San Martino museums in Naples and then at the archeological museum in Paestum, on the coast south of Naples.
Tuscan wines and farm products went sale at the Uffizi last December and in the future these products will also be sold through the museum shop's website along with those from other Italian regions.
After the Uffizzi, showcases will be set up in Florence at the the Academy, which hosts Michelangelo's David, and the Pitti Palace, once home to the powerful Medici dynasty. Buonitalia has already collaborated with Ferrari in the past, when the luxury sports carmaker gave it space at its stand at the Amsterdam Automobile Show to promote Italian farm products.
