BEYOND “FOOD PORN” AND “OVERTOURISM”: MARIO SOLDATI, THE FIRST TRUE ITALIAN “CONTENT CREATOR”

If he'd had a smartphone, Mario Soldati would likely have ignored the algorithms to frame a winemaker's eyes. Long before Instagram, compulsive food porn, and overtourism, writer, journalist, and director Mario Soldati—an undisputed pioneer of Italian food and wine television reporting, with memorable works such as "Journey to the Po Valley," which marks the 120th anniversary of his birth this year—had already invented the authentic narrative of the region, establishing himself as our country's first true content creator.

To transform this precious legacy into a compass capable of orienting us in today's age of social media and Artificial Intelligence, the international talk show "Mario Soldati, the pleasure of telling Italy" was born. This initiative was strongly supported by Chiara Soldati, cousin of the author and fourth-generation member of the La Scolca winery, and by the Mario Soldati Association, with the prestigious patronage of ITA, MASAF, and Verona Fiere Vinitaly.

The format debuted this morning in Rome at the headquarters of the Foreign Press Association, before continuing in Milan on October 6th, flying to New York for Vinitaly USA on October 26th, and concluding in London on November 18th.

Led by Anna Scafuri, a journalist for RAI 1's TG Economia, the debate addressed four major contemporary provocations to provide the public with a veritable "survival kit" against fake news and the standardization of taste. University professor Stefano Carboni, TV writer Marcello Masi, and il Gusto Repubblica journalist Manuela Zennaro contrasted Soldati's slow, investigative journey with today's mass tourism to showcase Italy's "minor" side, free from the filters of Instagram. Chiara Soldati and Master of Wine Cristina Mercuri focused on the accessibility of the world of wine and food, contrasting the extreme aesthetics of fine dining and elitist snobbery, taking up the challenge of the legendary "Vino al vino" (Wine to Wine) to restore the glass's agricultural and human face. Finally, Isabella Perugini delved into the relevance of unfiltered television in the TikTok era, imagining the use of new media by those who first popularized authenticity by looking straight into the camera.

Ultimately, as Chiara Soldati herself emphasized, the goal of the initiative "is not to passively celebrate a surname or dust off an archive, but to make Mario Soldati's genuine thinking and insatiable curiosity walk on the legs of new generations, transforming them into vital tools for decoding tomorrow."

Its modernity lies in its freedom of expression, in its ability to popularize what was cultured and vice versa, interfacing with stories in a completely human way. - he introduced Chiara Soldati, Knight of Labor and entrepreneur - This is the key that made her message great: her unique way of looking at the world and understanding food and wine as a sentimental experience, grounded in slow dining, moderate consumption, and a search for origins. To continue, protect, and share this legacy, we will host a series of meetings throughout the city, with different interpretations, to rediscover a more authentic and accessible narrative of taste.

Soldati's most modern trait lies in his language: fresh, dynamic, precise, and direct, while also being deeply multimedia-focused from the very beginning. - emphasized Cristina Mercuri, Master of Wine, Founder and CEO Mercuri Wine Club - The term content creator should mean creating content with depth and honesty in doing so: this is precisely the approach that Mario gave us in the last century and which should inspire the world of wine today in terms of dissemination, so as to especially bring the new generations closer, combining technique and romance, quality and sensitivity.

"Mario Soldati's modernity lies not only in his extraordinary early insight into cross-media languages, but above all in his understanding, before anyone else, that food and wine could become an extraordinary tool for describing a region," said Manuela Zennaro, a journalist for Il Gusto and La Repubblica . " Today, we're used to seeing food everywhere, on social media and TV, but it's often a spectacularized image detached from its context. Instead, Soldati, through a trattoria, a vineyard, or a conversation with a producer, managed to convey the Italian character, teaching us that to truly understand a place, you have to stop, slow down, and know how to observe."

"I would start with the idea of 'practicing cooking,' an expression that aptly sums up his approach," added Isabella Perugini, television writer . " Thanks to Soldati, food transcends the purely gastronomic dimension, just as wine transcends technical analysis, and both become experiences. He has indeed successfully used television both as an investigative and literary medium, with a profound sense of humility, which is the foundation of his work. Starting from this, Soldati would have approached the world of social media by valuing time for reflection and writing, to truly empathize with the story being told and with those who are listening."

"When it comes to extraordinary men, I believe Soldati represents the ideal archetype," confirmed journalist Marcello Masi, " a man capable of navigating every field with ease, genuine curiosity, and an extraordinarily passionate approach. His strength lay in his simplicity, his ability to truly connect with reality, with content, eliminating the superfluous to get to the essence of the story with effective communication that draws its strength from the honesty of his gaze."

"I see Mario Soldati as an almost mythological figure: an intellectual with his invaluable ability to synthesize and analyze, and at the same time an artist with his gift for empathy and listening," concluded Stefano Carboni, professor at the University of Rome Tor Vergata . " He was able to educate the public not through the product but by putting people at the center of the story. In this sense, I consider him the right man, in the right place, at the right time: in the pre-economic boom in a country among the most important for food and wine culture, he was able to introduce storytelling to our sector, helping to define a new way of promoting Italian taste."