by Enzo Coccia
Yesterday, after the launch of Rofrano tomatoat Palazzo Mainenti, the institutional office of the National Park of Cilento, all of us protagonists of this adventure moved to “da Zero” pizzeria to try, or better to taste, some pizzas I made with this unknown vegetable.
Finally, after about a year, I have this tomato in my hands, which I’ve cut a pacchetelle(into four small pieces) with care and dedication and I’ve put it into a clay bowl. While I was working calmly, stretching my dough disc to be then garnished and baked, a thousand thoughts emerged in my mind.
Seeding, planting, farming, ripening and finally harvesting: all these man’s manual activities are in harmony with the fertile Mother Earth. But besides the labour actions of these two guys, Giovanni Cavallo and Giovanni Speranza, different feelings, love, hope, anxiety for the harvest coexist in them.
The Rofrano tomato crop consists of history and identity of men and women of this land: Cilento. Mine is a story that can be read in the eyes of these guys; I know for sure that the tomato Rofrano path will be very difficult but clean, fair and correct, made of many asphalt layers, composed of disappointments, beliefs, perseverance, a real resilience. After all, those who celebrated it at the pizzeria know that a few kilos of tomatoes can not change Southern Italy’s GDP or its destiny but they, me also, are looking for a small, a very small increase in the percentage of GNH (Gross National Happiness) for their family and the community in which they live.
There’s a song by David Bowie that says “we can beat them, just for one day, we can be heroes, just for one day, or we can be heroes forever and ever. What d’you say?”
