Saturday 26 March will be the national day of the "Italian espresso coffee ritual", a dense program of joint initiatives carried out by the communities that from north to south support the candidacy of Italian espresso coffee as an intangible heritage of humanity.

The announcement was made yesterday, March 23, on the sidelines of the press conference held in Rome at the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, to present the Unesco candidacy of "The Italian espresso between culture, sociability, ritual and literature in the emblematic communities from Venice to Naples”( see EFA News article of 23-3-22 ). Speakers Stefano Patuanelli, minister for agricultural, food and forestry policies, Gian Marco Centinaio, undersecretary for agricultural, food and forestry policies, Vincenzo De Luca, president of the Campania Region and Giorgio Caballini di Sassoferrato, president of the coffee protection consortium traditional Italian espresso.

The signing of the charter of values was officially launched by the emblematic communities of Turin, Milan, Venice, Trieste, Bologna, Rome, Naples, Lecce, Pescara, Palermo, Modica which support the candidacy dossier for Unesco intangible heritage, presented on the joint initiative of the Campania Region and the Consortium for the protection of traditional Italian espresso coffee.

For the occasion, on 26 March in Venice from 9 to 20, there will be free visits to the Florian café; in Trieste from 11 am, opening to the public of historic cafes and some roasting companies in the city; in Milan from 10 am to 5 pm, the "national espresso coffee day" event will be held at the Mumac Museum - Cimbali Group coffee machine museum, with visits and tastings; in Turin at 10.30 will be held "Coffee roasting as a tool for social inclusion for people with limitations of personal freedom" at the prison; in Bologna all day, “Il principe in centro” will be held, tastings in the shade of the arcades of the historic center; in Pescara all day, there will be visits to some schools to illustrate the candidacy dossier and raise awareness among young people about the ritual of espresso coffee; the "constitution of the emblematic community of Rome" will be held in Rome from 11 to 13 at the Antico Caffè of the theater of Marcellus since 1886; in Lecce at 11.15, there will be an informative event dedicated to Italian espresso coffee at the 300mila Lounge Bar; in Palermo from 10 to 12, opening of the Morettino coffee museum factory; in Modica all day, “Your support is worth a coffee” will be held: 120 local Caffè Moak customers will offer an espresso.

In Naples from 9-11, the Gran Caffè Gambrinus will hold an event on the stories about the custom of suspended coffee; at 5 pm there will be a meeting on the disclosure of the secrets of the cuccuma; from 9 to 12, the Gran Caffè la Caffettiera will offer tastings with coffee blends from all over the world; from 15 to 20 there will be an exhibition of the oldest coffee makers. In other cities, thanks to the Fipe and the Historical Places of Italy association, as well as to some museums dedicated to the history of coffee, initiatives will take place aimed at collecting signatures in support of the candidacy.