ITALSERVICE: Tonidandel, Gastaldo, Galliani, Badahi, Petrucci, Taurisano, Achilli, Barichello, Saponara, Ramon, Manservigi, Panzieri. Coach Del Grosso. POMEZIA: Fionchetti, Gattarelli D., Carvalho, Santos, Bueno, Gattarelli A., Magno Del Castro, Cutrupi, Cutrignelli, Raubo, Molitierno, Matteus, Dudu, Tiaguinho. Coach Angelini. networks: 16' and 14' of the first half Dudu; 8' and 10' Saponara, 13' and 35' Matteus, 19' and 45' of the second half Ramon. With less than 4 minutes to go, the home team's bench calls a time out. Barichello wears the flying goalkeeper's jersey to try everything. Achilli almost scores at 39'', Saponara also tries at 19'', but hits the right post. From far away and out of nowhere comes a missile of Ramon which inflates the net 15'' from the end (2-2). Get quality reporting directly into your inbox Pomezia is known for high volumes of mafia activity Thursday’s seizure is one of the largest in counterfeit cigarettes in Italy in recent years with 44 tonnes of them already packaged and 38 tonnes of tobacco still to be processed The value of the seizure is estimated at well over 19 million euros (US$21 million) in tax evasion Authorities said that the 10 workers they found were Russians and Ukrainians who were forced to work under extreme conditions Several local institutions have made accommodation available to the exploited workers since the raid took place Police said the individual they arrested is the owner of the illegal factory The investigation showed that the suspect has a prior record of smuggling The production and smuggling of counterfeit cigarettes has been booming in Italy In December, the Guardia di Finanza intercepted a criminal group trafficking counterfeit cigarettes into Italy valued at 3.5 million euros ($3.8 million) The investigation resulted in 12 arrests and multiple asset seizures including 16,000 euros ($18,000) in cash In June, an investigation conducted by OCCRP found that 17 tons of illicit cigarettes seized in Italy could be traced back to an executive in China Tobacco’s European factory where he was working closely with several smugglers to help move cigarettes into Europe Support from readers like you helps OCCRP expose organized crime and corruption around the world you’ll be directly supporting investigative journalism as a public good You’ll also gain access to exclusive insights and benefits A bust of 17 tons of illicit cigarettes in Italy led back to China Tobacco’s European factory — where an executive was.. Two of Italy's most powerful mafia groups had ties to one London address: 29 Harley Street This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page was instead transported to the hospital in Pomezia for toxicological tests A 17-year-old boy died following a road accident that occurred last night in Marina Tor San Lorenzo a car and a motorbike collided in via dei Lecci The Carabinieri and 118 operators intervened on the spot even though there was nothing that could be done for the 17-year-old Roman Read also other news on Nova News Click here and receive updates on WhatsApp Follow us on the social channels of Nova News on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Telegram has completed the acquisition of SOFAR S.p.A. thus officially beginning the integrating process of the two companies which was launched last August and was scheduled for completion in October 2022 was successfully completed in full compliance with the planned timeline Alfasigma is one of the leading multinational pharmaceutical companies with over €1 billion turnover in 2021 an on-site presence in 17 markets plus an indirect presence in about 70 countries SOFAR is an Italian pharmaceutical company active in the research and dietary supplements -with a long-standing tradition and well known to professionals and patients- with a turnover of more than 100 million 150 references marketed in more than 10 therapeutic areas and 300 employees worldwide SOFAR brings in 54 years of history in the field of gastroenterology and a product portfolio highly complementary to the Alfasigma's one "This acquisition," says Stefano Golinelli "will get our company the ultimate consolidation in the Italian market and an even stronger focus in the gastroenterology area thus adding into our company's ambitious growth strategy and taking up the challenge strongly wished by my father Both companies are sensibly inclined to innovation through the Kilometro Rosso Science and Technology Park in Bergamo a center of excellence in microbiota research whereas Alfasigma is developing a pipeline of products focused on the gastrointestinal area through the enhancement of their respective scientific know-how will enable an even more leading positioning in the gastrointestinal area an area in which SOFAR records more than 80 percent of its sales "Alfasigma has a clear goal in mind: to focus on innovation to become increasingly stronger on the gastrointestinal area and to maximize the international market's potential We are one of the leading multinational pharmaceutical companies with Italian capital we're starting from a solid present which is at the same time full of potential for the future with great opportunities for improvement," explains Francesco Balestrieri Chief Executive Officer of Alfasigma who adds more specialty care and more focused on the gastroenterological area We still have ample room to develop the current portfolio starting by the international expansion of the Consumer Healthcare division The physiological growth will take place together with a major inorganic development both globally and in Europe in order to develop our R&D pipeline in Gastro specialty areas The goal is to more than double our revenues in 10 years" notes the CEO The synergy between the two companies will lead to the expansion of Alfasigma's product range in Italy and in foreign markets adding to its portfolio SOFAR's products: Pentacol Enterolactis and Gerdoff for the gastrointestinal area; Cistiflux and Siler for the gynecological/urological area Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1325576/Alfasigma_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/alfasigma-acquires-the-entire-share-capital-of-sofar-an-italian-pharmaceutical-company-301653852.html Industry news and insights from Europe and around the World Keep up-to-date with the latest new products and technology ITALY: Commercial refrigeration equipment manufacturer Epta has sold its Misa cold room business to Purever Industries the global insulation group with headquarters in Madrid Epta will continue to purchase and supply Misa brand cold rooms Established in 1969 with headquarters and factory in Pomezia Misa was acquired by the Epta Group in 2011 It joins Purever’s other cold room and insulation businesses Coldkit Purever Industries operates 11 factories in six countries and has over 1,100 employees Luis Coelho Borges added: “It also reinforces our presence in Southern European countries particularly in Italy where we also have started Dagard Italia The deal is part of Epta’s strategic intention to focus its investments and development on the group’s core natural refrigeration systems business It follows the joint venture deal with Viessmann Refrigeration Solutions and the purchase of Heifo’s refrigeration business last year “The sale of such a specialised business is a physiological step in order to continue Epta’s path of consolidating its leadership in its core business and will allow the company to concentrate its investments in complete refrigeration systems and services bringing the Group one step closer to its goal of becoming the global leader in commercial refrigeration in the spirit of sustainable innovation,” commented Epta president and CEO Marco Nocivelli.  Epta and Viessmann form joint venture – 18 July 2023ITALY/GERMANY: Italian manufacturer Epta is to create a commercial refrigeration joint venture with German company Viessmann Refrigeration Solutions (VRS). Read more… Cooling Post is the leading online resource covering latest news and developments in the cooling industry air conditioning news and the latest heat pump developments Privacy & Cookie Policy © Copyright 2025, Cooling Post Ltd - All Rights Reserved | Website by Capital Web You don't have permission to access the page you requested What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed one of the world’s leading producers of renewable is responding to the needs of communities in Italy in the face of COVID-19 The company has been donating thousands of corrugated boxes to a number of hospitals medical units and charitable organizations such as the Civil Protection local foodbanks and others across the communities where it operates The Pomezia Box Plant donated a half pallet of corrugated boxes to the Monterotondo Association for Civil and Environmental Protection The organization is using the boxes to store goods International Paper has also donated 10,000 corrugated boxes to the Red Cross Italy and two hospitals for the use of surgical waste “These boxes are much needed and used for a variety of purposes from packing storing and shipping essential items such as food for the needy and medical materials to the safe collection and disposal of surgical waste,” explains Manuel Guerrero Regional General Manager Italy for International Paper’s corrugated packaging business International Paper is delivering critical components of the supply chains required to continue producing and delivering food and emergency supplies to consumers around the country The paper and packaging manufacturer continues to operate its facilities and serve its customers the majority of whom are themselves part of the essential industries that keep the supply of goods flowing in the country “As a long standing and committed member of the Italian community International Paper is pleased to be able to offer support in this time of need with our products that people depend on every day,” continued Manuel Guerrero “We thank and applaud all the many Italian people who are working in the front line to fight COVID-19.” International Paper focuses on the production and marketing of office papers and fiber-based packaging We are a leading supplier of high-quality cutsize papers coated and uncoated paperboard and corrugated containers for a wide range of applications Net sales for International Paper in EMEA were approximately $3.1 billion in 2019 the company employs some 600 people and operates four corrugated packaging plants in Bellusco (MB) More from International Paper Company designed for organizations committed to maximizing their impact designed for organizations looking to scale impact designed for organizations ready to amplify their impact message Share your brand’s purpose through high-impact original content crafted by the TriplePundit editorial team Talk to our team about maximizing your impact communications with 3BL Experience the latest ESG and sustainability news reported by veteran journalists Celebrate your company’s placement on this prestigious ranking Discover what consumers expect from businesses and actionable tips for effective impact communication See how sustainability communications performed throughout 2024 to refine your strategies in the coming year Uncover the top 10 red flags in impact content and practical advice on how to combat these mistakes We help organizations share their sustainability communications with audiences around the world Learn more about the people behind our brand provides valuable insight and a unique perspective to our organization About International PaperInternational Paper (NYSE: IP) is a global producer of planet-friendly packaging and one of North America’s largest recyclers we employ approximately 39,000 colleagues globally who are committed to creating what’s next with manufacturing operations in North America Additional information can be found by visiting InternationalPaper.com “The current year has been key for the GCAP as the programme scheme has become clearer which together with the definition of the work allocation among the three nations as systems integrators led to the agreement on the future joint venture At the national level we signed R&D contracts worth around Euro 100 million with subcontractors to allow developing the national contribution to put on the table of the future JV,” Lorenzo Mariani He emphasized that Italy is fully engaged in the GCAP the Italian MoD having already provided some Euro 8.8 billion for the first phase of the programme “Something that seldom happened during my career,” Mariani underlined During the Q3/2024 results presentation on November 7th explained to investors that the workshare allocation and key terms of the programme have been agrees by the three partners these having a 33.3% share and equal rights in the JV The Italian NATCO (national company) will be the leader in four domains and in two activities for the mission system with considerable artificial intelligence content an innovative model that will see the three national entities working together the leading nation ensuring the coordination in the different sectors EDR On-Line understood that this will lead to clusters of engineers from the three nations working together at the different sites the main one for Italy being Torino Caselle which is already the home of the Eurofighter assembly line The aforementioned cooperation scheme will be adopted for all key activities linked to 6th generation aspects while more conventional elements will be assigned to single nations for development the main Italian site will be Torino Caselle but the work will be spread among Leonardo sites in Rome Florence and Nerviano for electronics and avionics the GCAP programme having led Leonardo to cancel the planned closure of the Pomezia facility Development work will also impact tier one subcontractors The GCAP already started to have an impact on employment a few hundred engineers having been hired specifically for that programme “Thanks to new acquisitions and to the upgrading of the Eurofighter Typhoon this programme will keep us busy until at least 2050,” Mariani explained which means there will be some overlapping with the GCAP which leads to the need of increased manpower Leonardo hired some 6,000 employees in the last two years the Italian universities generating yearly a number of engineers which might be insufficient to cover the needs “We are working closely with Academia to orient their syllabus in order to generate the kind of engineers that will be needed in 10-years’ time,” Lorenzo Mariani said “Overall over 9,000 people are involved in the GCAP at the current stage as well as hundreds of providers along the supply chain,” Guglielmo Maviglia stated Cyber-engineers are another critical issue; “The GCAP being a 6th Generation bird is a fully interconnected and interoperable system cyber protection and data management being therefore key issues,” the company Co-General Manager explained therefore digital engineers are in high demand.” Cyber-security is a key issue not only for the GCAP itself but also for all the facilities which will cooperate among them exchanging data at distance the GCAP aims however at increasing the number of nations involved the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia having shown considerable interest while the United Kingdom is approaching Australia EDR On-Line understood that new partners are more than welcome however their participation will be subject to a validation process should not disrupt the planning as well as the timeline some nations having more stringent rules compared to the UK and Italy Mariani does not consider realistic a possible merging of the two 6th Generation European programmes which do not to simply develop an aircraft but rather a system of systems might well be developed to answer the requirements of both programmes Indo Defence – Jakarta – 11-14 June DSEI – London – 9-12 September PARTNER – Belgrade – 23-26 September Seafuture – La Spezia – 29 Sept.-2 October ADEX – Seoul – 29 October-2 November Dubai Air Show – Dubai – 17-21 November Milipol Paris – Paris – 18-21 Novenber Expodefensa – Bogotá – 1-3 December Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" is taken on a tour of the labs at IRBM in Pomezia Geraldine Hope Ghelli/For The Washington Post SHOWS PROMISE: Researchers works inside the labs at IRBM a drug-discovery company currently in the process of working on a vaccine for COVID 19 Italy – On a day in mid-March – as the pandemic began to grip the world – Francesco Calvaruso noticed a box from Oxford University at the lab where he works south of Rome Each one held a few drops of "seed stock," a starter kit for the production of a potential covid-19 vaccine His company's job was to turn a few droplets into an amount large enough for 13,000 people – a sufficient quantity to perform large-scale trials unfolding now on several continents "We could really feel the pressure," said Calvaruso and purify a trial vaccine known as AZD1222 like all the others designed to combat the pandemic But it is farther along in the trial process than the others and it has turned into the West's best – and perhaps only – chance to have a viable vaccine before the end of the year Oxford manufactured its own vaccine for use in the earliest But for the far larger trials now ongoing – involving tens of thousands of people – it turned to Advent which for a decade has focused on making one particular type of experimental vaccines The notion of having a vaccine so quickly – when the process of experimentation and approval normally takes a decade – might have seemed fanciful at the beginning of the outbreak But given the scale of the pandemic and the speed at which scientists are racing ahead European countries are now lining up behind the Oxford University project saying the early signals give grounds for optimism France and the Netherlands struck a deal for 400 million doses of the experimental Oxford vaccine would be produced by the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca That company has also reached similar deals with Britain and the United States where the Trump administration has supplied $1.2 billion in funding "We can't imagine to only bet on this vaccine," Italy's health minister "But this is the vaccine our scientists think will arrive before the others we could have the vaccine by the end of the year." told the company's employees that "this vaccine may be among the most promising It gives me goose bumps to think that we're talking about the chance to save human lives." In the global race for a coronavirus vaccine universities and drug companies have started off on experimental missions according to the World Health Organization have reached the stage of clinical testing The WHO says that only Oxford University's vaccine has reached what is known as Phase III landscaped science campus on the outskirts of Rome are being used now in those trials AstraZeneca also won approval to conduct a trial in Brazil seeking volunteers in parts of the world where the pandemic is raging Advent is also producing a batch of doses that will be used in trials in several African countries The Oxford lab had a head-start because it had already been working on a similarly styled vaccine for MERS another coronavirus that was first detected in Saudi Arabia in 2012 proved effective and safe with rhesus monkeys during the earliest stage of experimentation "There is quite a strong probability that the vaccine will work," said Walter Ricciardi the World Health Organization's Italian government adviser or it might inoculate only some of those who are injected it remains unknown whether it will offer long-term protection The world will ultimately need more than one vaccine anyway as demand will soar beyond what any one company could produce "The expectation is that we will have a protective vaccine Probably more than one," said Antonio Cassone the former head of the infectious-disease department at Italy's national health institute "But nobody will know at that time how long the protection will last This will be yet another jump into the unknown." A Chinese biotech firm has reported encouraging results in early-stage clinical trials and is also among the front-runners to crack the vaccine code Any country that produces the first effective vaccine will earn not only a dose of national pride but could also have the chance to distribute the first doses to its own citizens a major advantage in returning to economic normalcy said Italy would be willing to turn to any country that produces the vaccine "We will do whatever is needed to get to that point" of protecting people said the process of turning several drops of seed stock into three or four liters of vaccine is "not straightforward." She said the scientists had to create conditions in which the seed stock would grow into a far larger mass scientists had to remove impurities using a gel that isolates the vaccine from the contaminants "this would mean two to three months of work thrown away," and the timetable for the vaccine delayed and the one developed by Oxford uses a tweaked version of a virus found in chimpanzees - something that The chimpanzee virus is loaded with a synthesized replica of the coronavirus's most important weapon the so-called "spike protein" that it uses as a harpoon for human cells Oxford University said it would not provide comment while trials are in progress AstraZeneca announced a deal with Oxford for the global development and distribution of the potential vaccine it agreed to a license with an institute in India that would supply doses for low- and middle-income countries Advent said it did not yet have a similar deal in place but it expects to produce the vaccine if ever it is approved by regulators "We'd surely remain part of the game," said Piero Di Lorenzo "We have offered our help to AstraZeneca and the Italian government and we are waiting for them to tell us how to proceed once tests are over." "we need to cross our fingers and get going to wait for the response of science." University of Guam students and faculty are leveraging international academic conferences to foster economic innovation and workforce development positioning the island as a hub for what School of Business and Public Administration Dean Roseann Jones Saturday’s Mad Collab Block Party in Hagåtña brought together more than 70 local businesses and artists in celebration with hundreds of attendees It was all about the wonders of Artificial Intelligence in the palm of your hand All of the latest features in Samsung's Galaxy AI were showcased at a GTA-sponsored event Thursday Poll results are published every Monday in The Guam Daily Post Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: which began a month ago - when four councilors left the majority of the 5-star Movement to create an autonomous group "Active Pomezia" - today resulted in the fall of the last pentastellate council of Lazio with a plebiscite of votes in the second round (68,8 percent against 31,2 percent of the center-right rival) from today Adriano Zuccala leave the town hall who delivered their resignations at the same time To move the ranks of the rebellion the councilor of the Democratic Party who also received the honor and the burden of announcing the fall of the last grillino bastion in the Lazio territory on social networks: "Together with 12 other colleagues we registered the director dem Mengozzi includes a "political crisis with the prospect of paralysis" and explains that Someone had to take on this responsibility ” there would be more long-standing political tensions which exploded in recent months also as a result of the national scenario that has seen a split in the 5-star Movement itself between those who remained and supports the president Giuseppe Conte and who has embraced the splitting line of the minister Luigi Di Maio The thirteen councilors who have resigned come from the ranks of both the center-left and the center-right and have been strengthened by the four exiles from the M5s (Silvio Piumarta has entrusted his outburst to social networks: “A cowardly gesture was enough by people who do not even know what it means to represent a city they professed transparency for weeks and then avoided the only possible democratic confrontation The four councilors elected with the votes of the 5-star movement are guilty of being exploited by an opposition which until yesterday attacked with their heads down and with them prepare the lists for the next elections Without a political personality of their own they are unable to understand the real consequences of their actions blinded by self-centeredness and a desire to appear in view of the next local elections that will undoubtedly place them in the political nothingness from which they come They bow their heads and put themselves at the service of the center-right and the Democratic Party of those who would like to take back a city that the 5-star Movement has saved from the brink of averting financial distress and making it a virtuous model " The former mayor of Pomezia never misses an opportunity to comment on the facts Zuccalà is no longer the mayor of Pomezia and the M5s no longer governs our city The time of arrogance and arrogance in institutions is over Zuccalà and the M5s have failed on everything Once again the M5s does not end its mandate They are not suitable for governing and Zuccalà who in recent years has only thought about feeding his ego has shown himself to be a poor mayor with nonexistent leadership skills They finally went home and Pomezia was freed ” Now the Municipality will be police station until the next election when citizens will be called to the polls: a hypothesis could be the merging of the vote with the next regional elections Electoral race in which we will see where the councilors who resigned today will line up Essential digital access to quality FT journalism on any device Complete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders Complete digital access to quality analysis and expert insights complemented with our award-winning Weekend Print edition Terms & Conditions apply Discover all the plans currently available in your country See why over a million readers pay to read the Financial Times Amid violent clashes and a deteriorating security situation in Tripoli 149 vulnerable refugees and asylum-seekers were today evacuated to safety in Rome One of the children was born just two months ago Many of the evacuees need medical treatment and are suffering from malnourishment the UN Refugee Agency’s Gathering and Departure Facility (GDF) after surviving months in dire conditions inside detention centres in other parts of the city The evacuation was carried out in collaboration with Libyan and Italian authorities “More humanitarian evacuations are needed,” said Jean-Paul Cavalieri “They are a vital lifeline for refugees whose only other escape route is to put their lives in the hands of unscrupulous smugglers and traffickers on the Mediterranean Sea.” Sudan and Somalia were also evacuated from Tripoli to UNHCR’s Emergency Transit Centre in Timisoara clothing and medical treatment before travelling onwards to Norway The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) provided support with transportation UNHCR is grateful to States that have come forward with evacuation places however new detainees are arriving at a faster pace than people are departing More than 1,000 refugees and migrants have been evacuated or resettled out of Libya by UNHCR in 2019 while more than 1,200 others have been returned to Libya by the Libyan Coast Guard in just May alone after being rescued or intercepted while attempting to flee by boat With the fighting in Tripoli showing no sign of stopping the risks of detainees being caught up in the clashes are rising UNHCR reiterates its call to States to urgently come forward with further offers of humanitarian corridors and evacuations in order to bring detained refugees in Libya to safety More than 83,000 Libyans have been forced to flee their homes since early April as rival forces continue to engage in fighting and heavy shelling Local municipal governments and host communities have played a critical role in providing assistance to the displaced many of whom are sheltered inside schools and other public buildings Others have left to stay with friends and family in neighbouring towns and cities UNHCR has provided more than 9,000 displaced people with emergency assistance and relief items and donated medical supplies and ambulances to hospitals through the Ministry for Health and the Libyan Red Crescent Nearly 600 people have lost their lives in the recent clashes according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) two ambulance drivers died after being caught up in shelling attacks UNHCR reiterates that targeting civilians and humanitarian workers constitutes a violation of international law and calls for any perpetrators of such attacks to be held accountable produces in its two plants – one located in Pomezia (Centre Italy) the other one in Brescia (Northern Italy) – over 10,000 tons of potato chips and snacks 14 different lines of products in over 180 different sizes Thanks to the national and international success of its own brands ICA Foods is today present on the market of over 25 countries around the world The Italian distribution network has been constantly expanding in its forty years of existence and has now reached considerable articulation – i.e 750 salesman active on the field and over 55,000 points of sale reached on a weekly basis The distribution chain of ICA Foods products combines deliveries shifting from the Modern Distribution to the Normal Trade stores including Hypermarkets and smaller retailers ICA Foods has long provided a wide range of high quality products to its customers who have expressed in return an elevated degree of satisfaction The punctual quality of its service and its appealing marketing strategy have always been core features of the company Northrop Grumman Italia will provide the Eurofighter Fiber-optical Gyro Inertial Navigation System and a global positioning system (GPS) receiver for Eurofighter aircraft in all participating nations (United Kingdom Northrop Grumman Italia previously delivered more than 400 inertial navigation systems for Tranches 1 and 2 of the Eurofighter program Northrop Grumman's inertial navigation system and GPS receiver are based on fiber-optic gyro technology and feature an anti-jam antenna system and selective availability/anti-spoofing module architecture The GPS unit supports future enhancements like digital maps and direct drive display which employ a graphics processor capable of controlling the aircraft's multifunctional displays for improved viewing and integration in the aircraft's avionics Wanted in RomeMagazine Much of the sea water around Rome is not suitable for bathing according to data released recently by the Lazio branch of Italian environmental body Legambiente In early June the agency tested the water quality at 24 points along the 330-km Lazio coastline with the worst results found in the greater Roman area contained levels of lactic acid bacteria including traces of e.coli Legambiente classified 13 of the 18 areas as "heavily polluted." These include sections along S The “polluted” classification went to sections at Ladispoli The areas within the legal limits comprise Pomezia The environmental agency blames the polluted water on drains not being properly cleaned and found the dirtiest water in the vicinity of the mouths of rivers To see the full findings, including the exact areas classified, see the Legambiente website Wanted in Rome ™ is member of the Wanted World Wide Ltd network.Click here to find out more about our Network or Follow us on social networks © 2025 / 2026 Wanted World Wide LTD Network as most Italian and imported olive oils failed tests while nearly all California sam­ples passed was financed by the California Olive Oil Council and California brands expressed skep­ti­cism about the study’s method­ol­ogy and results a high-pro­file Italian olive oil pro­ducer con­ducts exten­sive inter­nal test­ing and qual­ity con­trol mea­sures to ensure the purity and qual­ity of their olive oils and the com­pany has a strong com­mit­ment to main­tain­ing their brand rep­u­ta­tion With sus­pi­cion — that’s the way the olive oil world here in Italy is view­ing the recent and con­tro­ver­sial University of California, Davis Olive Center report. The study per­formed in con­junc­tion with the Australian Oils Research Laboratory exam­ined mass-mar­ket and store brand extra vir­gin olive oils and those of California pro­duc­ers. Most Italian and imported olive oils failed sen­sory and chem­i­cal tests while nearly all California sam­ples passed The study is seen as a way of mak­ing a mar­ket for California olive oil That the research was financed by the California Olive Oil Council and two of the stud­ied California brands The Italian press has had lit­tle cov­er­age of the study an online pub­li­ca­tion focus­ing on oil and wine each ran a piece on the UC Study and dis­cussed the valid­ity of the tests and both opined that the lop­sided study favored California-pro­duced extra vir­gin olive oil Bertolli and Carapelli were all con­tacted for their views of the UC Davis study a Spanish com­pany. By press time only Colavita agreed to answer our ques­tions regard­ing the study who heads up the Colavita export office and oper­a­tions in Campobasso said via phone they had thought of releas­ing a state­ment on the UC Study but decided against it since ​“it could pro­duce even more con­fu­sion.” Asked about the gen­eral idea of test­ing extra vir­gin olive oil he told Olive Oil Times that he wel­comed test­ing test­ing where the stan­dards are agreed upon inter­na­tion­ally and also the method­ol­ogy.” After a brief con­ver­sa­tion and a cou­ple of days the writer was invited to the company’s Pomezia plant in order to dis­cuss the UC Davis Study and to view their facil­ity It is here that they pack­age their extra vir­gin olive oil The com­pany is 24 kilo­me­ters (15 miles) from Rome a south­ward lead­ing ancient Roman road are broth­ers and joint heads of the fam­ily firm the Colavitas pro­duced olive oil in Molise’s Campobasso province ​“Sant’ Elia Pianisi has 2,000 inhab­i­tants and at least 30% have Colavita as their last name.” Their father went into the pack­ag­ing of olive oil dis­tinct from grow­ing and press­ing olives Leonardo’s son Giovanni is President of Colavita USA and lives in New York; Leonardo’s daugh­ter Carla works in a role which sounds like Chief Financial Officer and is now in New York for four months but is gen­er­ally in Italy Enrico’s son Andrea is Director of Sales; and his other son and will join the com­pany after grad­u­a­tion what seem like very small num­bers for such a high pro­file com­pany Colavita’s main prod­uct is extra vir­gin olive oil with 80% of their rev­enues com­ing from export pre­fer­ring to say that their aim is to sell 15 mil­lion liters a year He’s just come off four con­sec­u­tive two-year terms as its pres­i­dent he says he’ll go back to being pres­i­dent Colavita extra vir­gin olive oil was tested After the pub­li­ca­tion of the study in July Colavita ana­lysts tested bot­tles from the same lots tested by UC Davis Colavita is a test-happy com­pany and keeps three sam­ples from each lot it pro­duces dubbed ​“the sac­risty,” is the most beau­ti­ful and impor­tant room in the whole com­pany and sam­ples for each lot are arranged by date Leonardo says of the room ​“People like to talk about trace­abil­ity but this is the real trace­abil­ity.” He also said that the police tasked to inspect the food indus­try are amazed by the room when they come for inspec­tions Someone who works the way God wants us to work.” They keep the sam­ples to test how their prod­ucts are far­ing with the pas­sage of time, in case of a dis­pute, a recall, a ​“Tylenol event,” or some­thing like the UC Davis study. After 30 months in the sac­risty, sam­ples are emp­tied into lam­pante oil bins a num­ber between 1 and 365 for the days in the year and lots in the sam­ple room are grouped by month of pack­ag­ing They tested all of the lots used in the Davis study and found all to be extra vir­gin olive oil if not the very old­est sam­ple tested by UC Davis The Los Angeles bot­tle did not have a ​“best before end” date but it had the lot num­ber L0816208042 (Lot and 8:42 in the morn­ing) which means it was bot­tled June 11 2008 — 21 months before it was tested by the Davis study The oil in the 2008 bot­tle showed signs of age Colavita does not dis­count the pos­si­bil­ity that the LA bot­tle was improp­erly stored the com­pany has intro­duced a ​“best before end” date on US bot­tles Retailers had been reluc­tant to include the date The case car­tons them­selves always car­ried the ​“best before” date ele­vated tem­per­a­tures and light degrade extra vir­gin olive oil Harsh super­mar­ket lights often beam day and night Bottling in dark glass helps pre­serve oil ​“Even if con­sumers want to see the color of the olive oil we are mov­ing to all dark bot­tles.” Another bot­tle failed the UC Davis sen­sory and chem­i­cal tests Because Colavita’s own tests were inter­nal said they couldn’t be con­sid­ered sci­en­tific as they would be from an inde­pen­dent lab their inter­nal tests help their peace of mind beyond pack­ag­ing Colavita and Rachael Ray olive oils a pop­u­lar Lazio brand that the Colavitas bought The DOP oils they buy from mak­ers in Molise and are kept here before ship­ment to clients The Campobasso plant instead pro­duces fla­vored oils and the company’s line of veg­eta­bles packed in olive oil NJ plant pack­ages Colavita Canola-Olive Blended Oil Renzo Casagrande is the Factory Manager at the Pomezia plant He had his start at Heineken work­ing on beer; worked for many years at Unilever and may­on­naise; and then in Unilever’s olive oil divi­sion help­ing that com­pany in their goal of becom­ing a world leader in olive oil (Around 2008 Unilever switched course and exited the olive oil mar­ket entirely.) When Unilever have a great deal of respect for this man He is respon­si­ble for the Colavita taste blend­ing extra vir­gin olive oils to meet the expec­ta­tions of Colavita cus­tomers Casagrande patiently showed me around the fac­tory ​“When we mea­sure a road or mea­sure a piece of cloth The California study used mea­sures that are not uni­ver­sally accepted About the 1,2‑diacylglycerol and pyropheo­phytins mea­sured by UC Davis ​“These para­me­ters were tested by Europe the European Community decided that the tests were not reli­able.” Similarly the International Olive Council rejected the meth­ods and some see it as disin­gen­u­ous for the UC Davis Study authors to sug­gest using these tests to an orga­ni­za­tion they know has already rejected them They might have said that the Council should recon­sider their deter­mi­na­tion say­ing that the tests gave con­tra­dic­tory results (false pos­i­tive or neg­a­tive) and that weather at har­vest time and type of cul­ti­var threw the tests off The 1,2‑diacylglycerol (DAG in the study) and pyropheo­phytins (PPP in the study) tests were orig­i­nally known as meth­ods to screen for olive oil adul­ter­ated with deodor­ized and refined oils Casagrande finds a lot wrong with the study The fact that the California and Australian labs didn’t per­form the exact same tests Another is that a sec­ond panel did not repeat the sen­sory test — some­thing that is uni­ver­sally done if a sam­ple fails I asked him if he was sure they did not Australia received just one bot­tle of the three bought in each store This means that the Australian lab car­ried out all the chem­i­cal analy­sis and sen­sory eval­u­a­tion on the same avail­able bot­tle.” “This is why sen­sory eval­u­a­tion could­n’t be repeated they did­n’t clar­ify this aspect.” On the list is the small sam­ple size and the fact that the study was paid for by inter­ested par­ties the sam­pling mode is very impor­tant for proper bench­marks to ensure that all prod­ucts have had the same stor­age con­di­tions in ware­houses and on the shelf (light the rota­tion speed of the prod­uct on the shelf) Unlike the imported prod­ucts pur­chased in dif­fer­ent chains the five California oils were all pur­chased in the same chain.” he is refer­ring to the fact that the California oils were exclu­sively pur­chased at Whole Foods shops while the imported brands were pur­chased at Bel Air He says that this kind of test can be done inter­nally (Colavita often tests the olive oils of other com­pa­nies) but should never be pub­lished since it doesn’t use uni­ver­sally rec­og­nized tests and is so far from being rig­or­ously sci­en­tific Leonardo Colavita and I had a brief dis­cus­sion about adul­ter­ation and the 2007 New Yorker arti­cle by Tom Mueller enti­tled ​“Slippery Business,” Colavita said ​“We’re posi­tioned in the medium to the high level of the mar­ket We’ve worked hard to make a name for our­selves What do they think? That we’re out to ruin our name our brand for a lit­tle trick worth quat­tro soldi (mean­ing four bits or a few bucks) It sig­ni­fies that they think we’re totally stu­pid I mean you have to be stu­pid to destroy a brand you’ve worked a life­time to cre­ate for quat­tro soldi.” Renzo Casagrande works closely with Leonardo Colavita on the pur­chase of the extra vir­gin olive oil for the brand The vast major­ity of their olive oil comes from Puglia the region that pro­duces nearly half of Italy’s olive oil ​“Puglia is the region that deliv­ers the best qual­ity for price.” Lesser quan­ti­ties come from Molise Their Colavita Extra Virgin Olive Oil is made solely from Italian oils The com­pany works with four bro­kers who col­lect sam­ples from approved fran­toios Pallotto and Spoladore visit the fran­toios to see how they are run an Italian asso­ci­a­tion devoted to best prac­tices and qual­ity con­trol vis­its 10 to 15 Colavita sup­plier fran­toios each year Colavita bot­tles and tins carry labels with the CERMET cer­ti­fi­ca­tion The com­pany pur­chases oil from about 50 fran­toios many of which are long-stand­ing sup­pli­ers Each fran­toio owner must sign a let­ter of com­mit­ment before work­ing with Colavita Brokers go around to the approved fran­toios to col­lect olive oil sam­ples I ask them why they don’t buy directly from the fran­toios and Pallotto and Spoladori responded that it would be too time-con­sum­ing and would mean that Signor Leonardo would have to run all over Puglia Casagrande and Leonardo Colavita taste the olive oils so that their facial expres­sions won’t influ­ence each other oth­er­wise some­body else might buy the oil from under you.” After they agree to pur­chase the oil with deliv­ery date and time to Colavita and to the fran­toio makes sure the right olive oil is being loaded into the tanker truck and seals the tanker Once the tanker arrives at the Colavita plant the paper­work is checked to see that it matches and a sam­ple is taken into the lab to com­pare it to the oil that had been sam­pled ear­lier the olive oil is trans­ferred from the truck to one of their many tanks Another test is per­formed dur­ing the trans­fer and a small amount of oil drips down into a con­tainer giv­ing a sam­ple of the entire con­tents of the tanker This is done because a trick of 20 years ago was for trucks to have two cham­bers and another one with lesser oil.” With all of these tests I ask myself if I’d want to be a ven­dor to these peo­ple It seems like a lot of test­ing to undergo the ana­lysts and the Colavitas are friendly – they don’t have the pinched faces of sus­pi­cious peo­ple they don’t keep ven­dors wait­ing for pay­ment Leonardo says their sup­pli­ers like work­ing with them because they pay part on the day after deliv­ery and the bal­ance at 30 days Each tanker holds 30 tons and has a value of 70,000 euros The olive oil is sub­jected to another more thor­ough exam­i­na­tion The infor­ma­tion from the tests is impor­tant to deter­mine which tank the oil should be put in and impor­tant to Casagrande for his work in for­mu­lat­ing a blend The num­ber of oils blended depends partly on the time of year olive oils from as many as 8 tanks could be blended a blend might have olive oil from just two tanks The com­pany has 11 tanks with 300-ton capac­ity; 6 with 500-ton capac­ity; and 6 tanks with a 60-ton capac­ity All the tanks are made of stain­less steel This is how Casagrande describes the chal­lenge of pro­duc­ing what Colavita cus­tomers want and expect: I choose olive oils that are fruity (frut­tato) but they don’t want an olive oil that will dis­turb them ​‘There’s some­thing not right here.’ Instead it’s the piquancy which makes the oil good We have to decide whether we want to be edu­ca­tors the polyphe­nols and toco­pherols dis­turb the palate but they are what guar­an­tee con­ser­va­tion or shelf life We pro­duce olive oil that is between what the con­sumer expects and what we want.” I asked Casagrande if there are dif­fer­ent tastes for dif­fer­ent mar­kets and he said which has the same pro­file every­where: Italy And there we have more of a piquant aspect you’ll see that there are more polyphe­nols than in the stan­dard It is an oil for olive oil enthu­si­asts.” For every bot­tle of Fruttato comes up with a the­o­ret­i­cal recipe for a blend He then gives it to a fac­tory oper­a­tor who places the oils in the right pro­por­tion into a blend­ing tank The oil is then ana­lyzed and tested for taste Casagrande and I walked around the fac­tory to see the immense tanks and the place where the oil is fil­tered The com­pany could buy the olive oil already fil­tered from the fran­toios, but Casagrande says We want to do the fil­ter­ing our­selves.” Four to five hun­dred tons of olive oil is pack­aged in a week We saw ster­il­ized bot­tles removed from pack­ag­ing enclosed cham­bers where bot­tles are being filled a con­veyor belt where bot­tles are sealed Casagrande says it takes about 15 days for their con­tain­ers to reach the US Five con­tain­ers were loaded before I arrived at the Pomezia plant and employ­ees must visit the doc­tor at least once a month The doc­tor decides which per­son­nel can lift car­tons into the con­tain­ers and which ones shouldn’t I asked Leonardo about what seemed to me this abun­dance of cau­tion I asked him if he got it from his father what I got from my father was the impor­tance of clean­li­ness.” He asked me if I noticed that his fac­tory smelled good This is the first pack­ag­ing fac­tory I’ve vis­ited so I didn’t have any­thing to com­pare it to He tells me that a lot of olive oil pack­ag­ing fac­to­ries smell bad He also told me that his olive oil is the only Italian brand he knows of which is kosher and to make sure employ­ees aren’t eat­ing close to the work­space etc He seems pleased to have the encir­cled U on his labels The kosher cer­ti­fi­ca­tion is impor­tant in the US where Colavita sells more than 40% of its oil I ask myself if this young man could really be the head of sales A few moments into the con­ver­sa­tion all doubts dis­si­pate He’s easy to talk to — prob­a­bly essen­tial in sales — and speaks English very well Andrea says of their mar­kets ​“After the US with the strongest mar­kets on the east and west coasts and in the Chicago area.” He thinks the American con­sumer is well versed in olive oil He said that peo­ple in Italy just want it — peo­ple go through a bot­tle a week and cost is a big dri­ver I asked Andrea his thoughts on the UC Study Because in the last three years we had the same thing a German buyer went to the store to pick all the sam­ples. And we had the same in France.” He sees a cer­tain nation­al­ism in the stud­ies Enrico Colavita spends most of his time in Campobasso All the Colavitas travel fre­quently between the two loca­tions Enrico Colavita is an ele­gant Italian busi­ness­man In a con­ver­sa­tion on what he terms the recent ​“fac­tious­ness,” he said ​“You’re telling me that your olive oil’s good and mine is dis­gust­ing That helps nei­ther the sec­tor nor the con­sumer.” He believes there are good oils from many places For next year they’re plan­ning to sell a Colavita Selection a pack with half-liter bot­tles of extra vir­gin olive oil from Argentina It would be sim­i­lar to their sell­ing of packs of Italian DOP oils I asked Leonardo if they get offers to sell the com­pany. ​“Oh yes And the last time was a very nice offer was some­thing like 60 mil­lion ($82 mil­lion). A nice sum I say that the train only passes once in life You have to know how to take the oppor­tu­nity when it comes My brother and I called the chil­dren together and said ​‘Kids we have the pos­si­bil­ity of sell­ing the com­pany and live in a dif­fer­ent way than we’re liv­ing now pos­i­tive see­ing that they all want to work.” More articles on:  , , Olive Center to Host Inaugural Olive Oil Sustainability Conference The International Olive Sustainability Conference will discuss sustainability from farming and milling to marketing and certifications Producers Navigate Climate and Market Headwinds with Optimism In the annual Olive Oil Times Harvest Survey farmers and millers rated their harvests above average while citing familiar challenges of climate change and consumer confusion Fustiness, Rancidity Are the Most Common Defects in World Competition Submissions Defects prevent olive oil from qualifying as an extra virgin while diminishing its taste and health benefits Regenerating Soil Helps Tackle Water Crisis, Experts Say Specialists suggest agronomic plans to improve organic fertility University of California Releases Manual on Growing Olives for Oil Production The Olive Production Manual for Oil covers olive farming with chapters written by experts in each field Italian Police Official Explains How Olive Oil Fraud Works As the ways in which olive oil fraud is perpetrated have evolved law enforcement has worked hard to keep up The Many Values in Recovering Abandoned Olive Groves in Tuscany Andrea Pagliai and Gionni Pruneti produce extra virgin olive oil from recovered trees to benefit communities and the environment Extra Virgin Olive Oil Is the Soul of These Classic Italian Winter Dishes A famous Apulian chef shares how to make the best use of fresh extra virgin olive oil in sweet and savory dishes From 16 to 18 November in Pomezia the congress of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy (FCEI) analysis and interviews to provide an overview of the issues that characterize FCEI’s  work and  testimony Discover what’s new at SACE: the world of exports the trends in Italian industry and the most interesting success stories Go to Press Releases and News Thanks to the insurance-financial support of UniCredit and SACE, which with SIMEST forms the export and internationalization hub of the CDP Group Clax Italia will export two methacrylate cylinders to Tbilisi for building a large aquarium worth € 2 million intended for one of the most important hotels in the Georgian capital Demonstrating growing economic dynamism and attention to exploiting the value of its landscape the Caucasian country offers interesting opportunities in the tourism sector from hotels to restaurants the government has promoted a new investment plan The country has also intensified relations of commercial cooperation with Europe guaranteeing proper execution of the order by Clax Italia Collaboration between SACE and the Lazio-based SME has existed for years and has enabled the company to export its products to all the continents Clax Italia has also used SIMEST's “Program for entering non-EU markets" to access low-interest loans for internationalization.  The SACE SIMEST instruments often are essential in order to find the right guarantees for operating in the more complex foreign markets Clax Italia is specialized in the production of standard blocks and sheets and large acrylic blocks for aquariums The company has supplied its products to prestigious structures such as the Science Museum of Miami seminars and workshops related to the world of SACE Check out all the events Videos and photos to keep up-to-date with the latest news from SACE: interviews Social networks represent a privileged communication channel for SACE to maintain a constant contact with all stakeholders We are present on all major social platforms: X: is our leading communication channel out there where we talk about all of our initiatives operations with our customers and where we live our events live Facebook: On the page we find in depth the stories of Italian companies we support all over the world and our insights on countries and sectors by our economists Linkedin: In this platform we publish all our economic studies and job ads Youtube: All our interviews to our customers and success stories find room in our YouTube channel [email protected]