Vin white, red, rosé. Sparkling wines, distilled. Extra virgin olive oil. Rice, pasta, honey, jams. All products of the highest quality, often organic. These are the flagships of the farms that are found in Italian Agricultural Technical Institutes. Little known, so far they have been marketed only in school stores. But Something is about to change. From autumn, they will be available with a single brand: “Made in Mim”(Ministry of Education and merit).
There is already a catalog with over 100 products, divided by type, each with a very detailed technical data sheet. They will be on sale first in Fiumicino airport, then in the other stopovers And, thanks to an agreement with Coldiretti, also in the Campagna Amica markets. The project of Minister Giuseppe Valditara is part of the plan of enhancing the excellence of the agricultural and hotel institutes. It starts with 22 participating schoolsthen you will grow, both in the number and in the study addresses. It is worth telling some experiences, the most representative of these truly special realities.
“” Made in Mim “will allow us to produce more, not so much for market ambitions but to teach children different models, traditional and intensive”. Attilio Ferraiolo is the head of theAgricultural company of the Garibaldi Institute of Rome, which boasts 76 hectares of vineyards, olive groves and cultivated fields. Every year, Garibaldi markets 30-35 quintals of oil (already sold everything in December), 5500-6000 bottles of wine, in addition to vegetables. “Agriculture is no longer to hoe the earth, now there is an advanced technological level that can passionate about digital natives»He adds.
Students of the Garibaldi Agricultural Institute of Rome during the harvest.
Over the past five years,In this historic institute between Laurentina and Ardeatina, there was an intense renewal workthanks also to the PNRR funds: new machine park, new workshops, a new mill to restart the oil supply chain that had been abandoned, replacement of the old vineyards (the institute is located in via Vigna Murata) with others typical of the lower Lazio. The cellar has been expanded and restoredthis year the first sparkling wine was made. The next step is the reopening of the stable, which has been closed for some time, which will be destined for sheep for the production of the Roman pecorino. In “Made in Mim” Garibaldi participates with white, red, pink wines with oil and pasta.
Made in Mim already has its catalog
Agricultural teachers strongly underline the link between theory and practice in school courses. It is not a question of sending the students to the fields to do the peasants but to put into practice what they study. If we think of wine, they range from the care of the vineyard to bottling: “Alcoholic fermentation is a chemical process” continues Ferraiolo. “They first learn it on books, then follow her in the cellar with the winemaker.”
After graduation, about half continues at the university, While the others are ready to enter the world of work, “who takes them immediately” says Mariagrazia Morgan, manager of Cerletti of Conegliano Veneto. “Generally are the same companies where the PCTOs do. (The former alternation school work) to call them back after graduation.” The Cerletti has 15 hectares of screws, in the “Made in Mim” catalog they are present with the Prosecco Superiore Valdobbiadene DOCG and the Merlot Venice DOC are produced 20 thousand bottles per year that are all sold, both in the shop and with ecommerce. There is also a small brewery, a hydroponic greenhouse has recently been installed, but the heart of the company remains the wine.
To specialize in the sector, After the high school exam, students can enroll in an annual course (a sixth year, in practice) to become wine shops, qualifying very expendable on the market. At Cerletti, which boasts of being the oldest wine school in Italy, because it was born in 1876, today there is a real campus: in addition to the technical institute there is an ITS (Higher Technical Institute), with two addresses, for Agrifood Quality Control & Marketing Specialist and Agritech Specialist for the wine supply chain, while the University of Padua is present with the courses of Oveological Sciences.
Collaboration with the University
Sixth year of specialization and university, in addition to a boarding school with 100 seats, also characterize the iis Celso Ulpiani of Ascoli Piceno where, to the agricultural techniciana food and wine professional, or the former hotel, has been added years ago. “The two institutes work together, we created a pole,” says the manager, Rosanna Moretti. The project works: while in all Italy the inscriptions to the food and wine fall, in Ascoli Piceno is growing: this year there was a first class more. At “Made in Mim” Celso Ulpiani brings not only wines, such as the Rosso Piceno and the Pecorino DOC carriage, but also extra virgin olive oil and pasta, all organic. In the 50 hectares of the farm – which invoice every year around 250 thousand euros – there is in fact space, as well as for vineyards and olive groves, also for arable land of ancient grains and for a “wonderful botanical garden“Says the manager, who declares himself” in love with this school, where the levels are very high “.
Thanks to collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Marchewhich on the campus is present with the address in innovative agricultural systems, new irrigation techniques are being experienced for the great drought and new cultivation methods. «We also have hydroponic and airplane greenhouses – where plants are sprayed with nutrients – without soil consumption. We then bring the collections to the hotel, so the students work them ». The store works, “we also started the door to door and we are giving life to a start -up of young people”.
Students of the Celso Ulpiani Institute of Ascoli Piceno struggling with the olive collection.
In the classroom more and more women
In agrarian institutes, where the student population once was almost exclusively male, The presence of girls is increasing everywhere. At ISIS de Sanctis – D’Agostino Amatucci in Avellino, the female share is already at 20 percent: “There is great attention from women who are opening their farms here in Irpinia,” Pietro Caterini underlines.
The Institute of Avellino also boasts a long history: was founded in 1879 by Francesco De Sanctis, then Minister of Education, to give visibility to viticulture. “From this school all the cellars were born in our territory, about 300” proudly adds the manager. De Sanctis, who sells 30 thousand bottles every year in the school of the school, is present in the catalog of “Made in Mim” with a red wine, the Taurasi DOCG, a white one, the Fiano di Avellino Docg and a sparkling wine brutal Method Martinotti.
But the real added value of the institute goes beyond the products: “The school allows you to stay in the area. We are only 50 kilometers from Naples but it is another world, and it is that of the internal areas at risk of depopulation. The agri -food, and in particular viticulture, gives the concrete possibility of remaining in Irpinia: it creates employment – male and female – and is a fundamental engine of local development. With “Made in Mim” we can let us know at airports, therefore internationally ». Ferraiolo del Garibaldi in Rome concludes: «Ours is a beautiful world, made of open spaces. We hope that our students want to be part of it, like professionals. We baked minds, not arms ». © RESERVED REPRODUCTION