Tall ship embarks on 'Made in Italy' world tour to promote national identity

A tall ship named after Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci will embark on a two-year voyage as Italy's conservative government places the promotion of the country's food and wine at the heart of its nationalist expression of Italian identity.

The navy ship, built in 1930 and described as "the most beautiful ship in the world", will sail on July 1 "to bring the Made in Italy and the excellence of our country to the world", according to the Minister of Defense, Guido Crosetto.

"The armed forces are on the ground to protect the Italian cultural and economic heritage," Crosetto added.

He made the announcement at an Italian wine fair in Verona last week, an event attended by Premier minister, Giorgia Meloni, and other senior ministers, who posed for selfies while sipping a drink described by Meloni as not just an economic phenomenon but "a fundamental part of our identity".

Nearly six months after he came to power, the more nationalistic features of his government are beginning to appear.

A few days before the wine fair, where Meloni pioneered the idea of ​​a "Made in Italy" school, the government approved a bill that would ban lab-grown foods, including artificial meat. Despite several studies highlighting the significant environmental benefits that cell-based foods could bring, Francesco Lollobrigida, Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, said: "Laboratory products, in our opinion, do not guarantee the quality, well-being and protection of our culture, our tradition.”

Food, which has long been used by Italian right-wing parties as a symbol of cultural identity, is not the only thing the government perceives to be under threat.Unhappy with English terms such as "smart-working", "manager" or "babysitting" contaminating the Italian language, Fabio Rampelli, MP for Meloni's Brothers of Italy , a party with neo-fascist roots, has proposed a law banning the use of English terms in official communications, with culprits fined up to €100,000 (£88,000). to Italy's fascist past, with some critics comparing it to Benito Mussolini's "linguistic recuperation" project which aimed to preserve Italian.

It remains to be seen whether the Rampelli's plan will come to fruition, but the chatter surrounding it, along with an emphasis on Made in Italy, has distracted from more important issues.

“The construction of identity is typical of law, although it is not just an Italian thing,” said Emiliana De Blasio, professor of sociology at Luiss University in Rome. "However, I just see a lot of communication and little substance. For example, Meloni's idea for a Made in Italy school is not so bad, but what about improving schools and the dignity of teachers - who are among the lowest paid in Europe - first?"

De Blasio believes that the emphasis on the "Brand Italy" is a sign of the government's ideological position rather than an attempt to delay progress.

Sofia Ventura, professor of politics at the University of Bologna, said: “Promoting Italy in the world is a sacred thing and has value… but there are people around Meloni who have this obsession with Italianness, which comes from a world where there is a strong sense of rivalry. Rampelli's proposal is ridiculous...however, it's also partly about not wanting to offend the sensibilities of a certain fraction of the party or the electorate, and so they play this ambiguous game. »