L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2019 www.italoamericano.org 14 L'Italo-Americano LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE MARIELLA RADAELLI W hen in late October 1929 Wall Street c o l l a p s e d , contributing to the Great Depression of the 1930s, a rural village of Pied- mont started to thrive. In 1929, a picturesque land of plenty called Alba opened the first edition of the international truffle fair that continues attracting connoisseurs of the fragrant, delicious and highly prized white truffles —Alfred Hitchcock, Marilyn Monroe, and Joe Di Maggio were among its most iconic testimonials. A few days ago, this world capital of the white truffles in the province of Cuneo has been selected to be la Capitale della Cultura d'Impresa 2020, or cap- ital of quality culture of enter- prises 2020. "Alba is a high-quality terri- tory," says Mauro Gola, presi- dent of Confindustria Cuneo, the local Italian Manufacturers' Association. "It's an agri-food excellence thanks to man's work who turned this wonderland into a UNESCO Creative City." In Alba, creativity is an engine for economic growth. "In this industrious locale, we are blessed with different identi- ties in terms of landscape, cul- ture, enterprises. They come together to form a uniqueness of the ways of working and think- ing that create a real dynamic territorial system." This beautiful cobblestoned town, which sits at the cross- roads of Langhe and Roero, dates to Roman times. Surrounded by vineyard-lined hills, it is magically entrepre- neurial. Over here, the top industries were created soon after WWII. A healthy, fertile and rich entrepreneurial ecosystem developed in the years. "Alba fuses tradition and modernity, vision and imagina- tion. It is a place where the spirit of sacrifice and entrepreneurial genius combine," continues Gola. "Alba embodies all those elements. It is not a coincidence that the city hosts the most glob- al chocolate factory, Ferrero, the absolute top Italian multina- tional company for reputation and competence in the world." Ferrero's austere modern fortress stands on the outskirts of Alba: it is the hometown plant of the iconic chocolate-hazelnut spread Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, Kinder, Mon Chéri and Tic Tac. Ferrero was founded in 1942 in war-ravaged Italy by Pietro Ferrero, who acquired his essential skills for working with chocolate in 1923, when he opened his first pastry shop in the nearby village of Dogliani, five years after serving the army in WWI. In 1924, he married 21-year- old Piera Cillario, who gave birth to a son, Michele, in 1925. The gentle hills of Alba became their home. And even if for a decade the family moved between cities, opening other shops, also one in Turin, Alba remained their heart place that shaped their identity. It was their ideal locale, not counting that the town always had the best hazelnuts orchards for the pro- duction of Nocciola Piemonte I.G.P. Today, Ferrero is chaired by the 55-year-old heir to the family fortune, Giovanni Ferrero, Michele's son and Pietro's grandson. He took control of the Italian multinational after Michele's other son Pietro died of a heart attack at 47 in 2011. Ferrero is an Italian giant that is still growing and expanding. In 2015, it acquired the British chocolatier Thorntons. In May 2017, it purchased US candy maker Fannie May, followed by the acquisition of Ferrara, the maker of Red Hots and Trolli gummies. In 2018, it took over Nestle's American candy busi- ness. Last April, it purchased the cookie, fruit and flavored snack, ice cream cone and pie crust businesses from Kellogg Company, strengthening even further their position in the North American market. "I feel like we are duty-bound to grow," Giovanni told Forbes in 2018. Other extraordinary industrial performers from Alba are the Miroglio Group and Mondo SPA. The former operates in women's fashion sectors, with 37 business operations in 22 countries. The Miroglio brands include Elena Mirò, Caractère, Per Te by Krizia, Luisa Viola, Motivi, Oltre and Fiorella Rubino. The latter is a company founded in 1948 and is best known for manufacturing and installing track and field sur- faces—it has supplied track and field surfaces for the last ten Olympic Games. The company also produces toys. Alba is one of the gastronom- ic capitals of Italy, also famed for great wines: Dolcetto d'Alba, Nebbiolo, Barolo, Barbera and Barbaresco. "It has always been the peo- ple of this majestic region to guide us," says the Ceretto family, a producer of premium wines since 1930. New York punk icon and poet Patti Smith, who is in love with this beautiful geographical scenery, has been spotted several times walking on the streets of Alba while she was guest of the Ceretto family. Alba cherishes the memories of its illustrious son, Beppe Fenoglio: novelist, partisan and translator from English. The author of the posthumous and massive novel Il Partigiano Johnny (Johnny the Partisan), was born in Alba in 1922 and spent most of his life in the Langhe region. His books became classics of our literature. His book I Ventitré Giorni della Città di Alba (The 23 Days of the City of Alba) includes 12 short stories about the partisans who liberated his native town from fascism. Among their num- ber was the writer himself. His first novel La Malora (Ruin), published 65 years ago, tells about the difficult and harsh lives of peasants near Alba in the early 1900s. Well, that time is over, and long ago. Alba, truffle pearl: a mother lode of enterprises The beautiful Alba, real queen of the Langhe (Copyright: Stefania Spadoni + Archivio Ente Turismo Langhe Monfer- rato Roero)

• Cover