UNESCO celebrates Italian cuisine as a living culture—one that connects regions, generations, and communities. Extra virgin olive oil stands among its most authentic and enduring expressions.
Italian cuisine has officially been added to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity under the title “Italian cooking, between sustainability and biocultural diversity.” The recognition does not celebrate a single recipe or regional specialty. Instead, it honors an entire way of choosing ingredients, preparing food, and gathering around the table.
The strength of Italian cooking lies in its extraordinary diversity. Every region preserves its own ingredients, flavors, and traditions, shaped by the seasons, local biodiversity, and knowledge passed down over time. What brings them together is a deep respect for raw materials and for the gestures through which food is prepared, preserved, and shared.
Cooking the Italian way also means caring for others. Recipes are handed down from one generation to the next, adapting and evolving along with families while creating new opportunities to come together. The table is more than a place to eat: it is a space for connection, memory, and belonging. This same idea is reflected in UNESCO’s recognition of the Mediterranean Diet, where sharing meals is considered an essential part of community life.
Within this tradition, extra virgin olive oil holds a special place. It is both an everyday ingredient and a symbol of identity. It enhances food without overpowering it and reflects the landscape from which it comes. From the simplest home-cooked dishes to contemporary cuisine, a drizzle of olive oil remains one of the most immediate and recognizable gestures of Italian food culture.
For Salvadori, this recognition carries special meaning. For more than a century, the company has promoted a culture of olive oil built on careful selection, expertise, and respect for the product, helping preserve and share one of the essential elements of the Italian table.
UNESCO recognition is more than a tribute to tradition. It is also an invitation to keep that tradition alive: by choosing ingredients with care, reducing waste, passing recipes on, and continuing to share the pleasure of being together.
Because Italian cuisine truly becomes a heritage of humanity when it remains what it has always been: an everyday expression of care, culture, and connection.
