Casa Artusi announces the creation of the International Observatory on Italian Cuisine and Good Taste: “A tool to tell the world about the values that make our gastronomic tradition unique: taste, health, and sustainability.”
It is a historic day for Italy and its cuisine: Italian cuisine has been officially included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, with the element “Italian cooking, between sustainability and biocultural diversity.”
This recognition celebrates not only the dishes and ingredients, but also the Italian way of experiencing food, which is characterized by conviviality, artisanal knowledge, biodiversity, territory, and memory.
The decision was taken today during the 20th session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee meeting in New Delhi, crowning a long institutional process led by the Italian government – through the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry – and strongly supported by three proposing communities: Fondazione Casa Artusi, Accademia Italiana della Cucina and the magazine La Cucina Italiana.
“A heritage that originates in our homes and speaks to the world.”
“The UNESCO recognition of Italian cuisine,” says Andrea Segrè, President of Casa Artusi, “is well deserved.
From Pellegrino Artusi, the father of modern Italian cuisine, this heritage has continued to grow, intertwining regional traditions, cultural biodiversity, and an increasingly contemporary vision of sustainability.”
On the day of the UNESCO announcement, the Foundation officially launched the International Observatory on Italian Cuisine and Good Taste, a monitoring and research center dedicated to protecting and promoting the national gastronomic heritage.
“The Observatory,” continues Segrè, “will be a place of study, analysis, and dissemination: a concrete tool for communicating the identifying values of Italian cuisine—taste, healthiness, sustainability—at an international level and for addressing contemporary challenges related to food production and consumption.”
The key role of Casa Artusi
Recognized from the outset as one of the driving forces behind the nomination, Casa Artusi made a decisive contribution to the drafting of the dossier (edited by Massimo Montanari), the involvement of home cooking communities, and the promotion of experiences related to Italian home cooking: the place where knowledge, gestures, recipes, and identity have always been passed down.
What it means to be UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage
The UNESCO Convention of 2003 defines intangible heritage as the set of practices, knowledge, skills, and representations that a community recognizes as part of its identity.
Italian cuisine enters as a living system, made up of local products, artisanal supply chains, convivial rituals, local markets, family recipe books, and a unique way of transforming simple ingredients into culture.
The dossier: cuisine that tells the story of territories, people, and biodiversity
The application dossier describes Italian cuisine as a mosaic of traditions: a tapestry of gestures and knowledge that combines agricultural biodiversity, sustainable production, culinary techniques, conviviality, and oral heritage.
Cuisine that is not just food preparation, but an expression of identity, social relations, and collective memory.
A five-year journey
The formal process began in 2020 and required synergistic work between institutions, experts, and communities.
The application was officially submitted in March 2023; the UNESCO advisory body gave its approval on November 10, 2025, leading to the final decision adopted today by the Intergovernmental Committee.
Other cuisines already recognized
The inclusion of Italian cuisine joins other gastronomic traditions already listed, including:
- traditional Mexican cuisine (2010)
- French gastronomic meal (2010)
- Japanese Washoku (2013)
- Mediterranean Diet (2010)
With this recognition, Italian cuisine takes its rightful place among the world’s great food cultures.
Casa Artusi’s future commitment
For Casa Artusi, this recognition represents a responsibility and an incentive to strengthen its activities in food education, training, research, documentation, and international cooperation.
A commitment that looks to the future while remaining firmly rooted in the past: Italian cuisine as a living, everyday, shared heritage.
