Meet The Italian Entrepreneurs Giving New Life To Italy's Economy

[Music] we all know Italy is a special place the beautiful streets the history the romance they really do know how to live the good life here lately the country's been doing a tough especially young people youth unemployment here sits at a whopping 35 percent but ever so slowly something is changing [Music] tonight we're taking you on an Italian road trip and it's an absolute cracker to meet some incredible young people fighting to keep the dream alive it's a crazy dream because one life it's not it's the dream of an Italy that makes stuff the best stuff the world has to offer [Music] Nashawn okay my foots a good seller for a time or if you've been lucky you're just sued oh no don't you join us constant and if they can do it well I really believe this cheese can have like a good success they might just turn their country around some of the girls the big challenge for these young Italians is to marry the old with the new the tradition with innovation but can they really rebuild their country here and wine and cheese and shoes [Music] [Music] forget Texan Cowboys this is a Tuscan cowboy well sorta this is Guido a few years ago he was riding the markets as a banker in London [Music] today he's back home on the family farm herding Buffalo and trying to build a business we had a very humble origin my family has been here more than two centuries we started off as shepherds in the area around Sienna I'm following on a family tradition four years ago his father in his 80s finally began thinking about retirement it meant a big decision for Guido I [Music] would like to stay on in banking but this is the time you know it's time for for me to do this this adventure and so I came back it was not like something I did without any thought because for a 30-year old or like 26 year old at that time leaving London for a provincial little town in Tuscany millions of people for like 60,000 people here was not easy so I picked up the farm for my father and I kind of transformed it into something which I thought would be more sustainable in in the future [Music] I'm coming to meet Guido at the family farm outside Grosseto in Tuscany [Music] for decades young people have been deserting these learners but Guido is bucking that trend in the past four years the number of under 35s working on the land in Italy has actually started to grow twice a day see that's the bull and he knows he kind of has to not go into the movie Yeah right we actually have 650 at the moment we make cheese with their milk and we also make renewable energy with all the waste and byproducts of the farm now you're about to meet a bloke in a turbid Indian saïx came to Italy back in the 80s and 90s they're now firmly established in the Italian cheese making community they're quite territorial as you can see and these are the don't I know who's in charge here you know they can discuss yeah they're not used to seeing all these people around yeah okay this is mozzarella in the making when Guido took over he introduced cheese making his father had focused on producing buffalo milk to ship to cheese makers in the south where mozzarella is traditionally made now it all happens on site from teat to table this is where the magic happens this is where the magic happens yes most of our process is handmade because like in industrial firms this stretching is done by machine this is what defines the matzo let's call the stretched paste cheese and so he's mixing 90 degree 100 degree water with the curd he's making the curd drink water that's why when you cut mozzarella it's gonna be full of liquid this is like just paste there is no salt to it it's quite done yeah chewing gum yeah and it's like a milk chewing amazingly yeah but then like it will take the salt from the water give it 24 hours to get softer and to get salty go to the zone today they're producing 400 kilos of this stuff and it's been a huge mission just to get to this point as well as making mozzarella Guido is experimenting making classic cow's milk cheeses with his buffalo milk turning this business around isn't just about embracing tradition it's about adapting it and innovating and his latest creation is about to be put to the test at the world's biggest artisanal cheese festival so the new cheese we will be presenting this year is this one you see in various batches okay this cheese is inspired by relish French live revolution revolution is a washed-rind quite strong cheese we are I know we are the only Buffalo cheese producer to do this kind of cheese so this is an example of where you're kind of screwing with the tradition yes exactly this is an example we borrowed the French recipe we are applying it to buffalo milk he wants to take his cheese to the world but it's a competitive market and he's a new player you're very excited about these cheese's though why I'm very excited because it's no one has it like it's the first time it's been done plus I think that it's always good you know when you go to this trade show to bring something new [Music] this is a family business so it's time to meet la familia and to try some of the good stuff so what we have here is our series of buffalo cheeses I think the most distinctive is clearly mozzarella because when you think about buffalo cheese its mozzarella di bufala then we have ricotta which is actually where we're going to start our tasting because if there is a rule for cheese is that you have to go from the less tasty to the more tasty because if you start the other way around you're not gonna bring up exactly exactly this is Guido sister material an architect based in Paris and this is his mother and business partner Deanna you've been here for 40 years 32 but you weren't always making cheese no is idea when we'd come in the farm he spoke to us about opening a firm cheese and we decided to his new adventure yeah I kind of like the fact that now I'm making concrete products before I was selling like contracts and ideas and like a lot of hot air actually selling mozzarella which is something people can enjoy and like you see this matter in their faces when they buy it it's an it's a big it's a better thing Guido isn't the only one to spot the opportunity at the start of last year the number of young farmers rose almost 10% on the previous year and the number of farming businesses now run by young people in Italy it stands at 50,000 I think more you go abroad and more you think about what you have and what you have left I see also my friends the most like that went away and went to live in London after 10 years they they're all coming back I think it's important for them to have done experience come back apply it to Italy and you know let's hope we can make it a better country because like we really we deserve it even though like it's it's not going in that direction yet was there a lot of pressure from you and your husband no decision no I just had one day talk retail and told him Widow it's the bank is your life go you think for two months and decide and how did you feel I was very action do you get stuck into him if you think he's doing the wrong thing yes I'm not so so if they don't like something I'm very so there's been some bastards sometimes not very often oh I don't think like bus stop is a bit like even excited I think there's been discussions constructive discussions and you know sometimes she's turned out to be right about things sometimes it's me but it's part of the game [Music] after all the hard work Guido's moment of truth has arrived he's heading north to the cheese Festival in broth [Music] I think you know if we already can find a few important clients for our size company it's gonna be more than fine [Music] we'll find out later if Guido's gamble will pay off but first we're off to meet a woman on the move taking big risks to create her own future [Music] cuando cuando so Coby Lisa Scarpelli Santos and salon lady mrs. Katherine Pirkei avos foster Aviva [Music] this is Karolina corner at 39 she is a passionate woman and more passionate about shoes than anything else so predicament a toda vs capcom anata historiosophy same una persona it's the seguro tradición banana soup [Music] this is her own collection she doesn't just wear them though she makes them from scratch Co no Gentileschi para ESO tanto Lago LeZion a is Siva what you saw Quillin burn a lady only what the virtual County Caroline who is part of a generation of young Italians rediscovering the grand tradition of made in Italy a workshop is in Syriana about an hour from naples close to some of the big factories that once drove Italy's economy many of them are now in [Music] Queenie no no Nandi signor Gremio Marconi's a novella clientes on a city star Caleb or a suti kiss Tycho Micha Vedado tipo de la compra de vikke Karolina shoes are expensive they started about 700 Aussie dollars but a handcrafted shoe is something very special welcome in Indiana sure you owe me 12 chin throw them in your business it claimed surely the keys to the claim to show a client a baton no you know Scarpa particularly keen on trova Nageotte so for salami but key Bullock with colour a party or our will stock we lost its identity everything I meant a assembler totally kissed diva so client any grown project [Music] Karolina is a single mother she manages the home and the thriving new business [Music] things have changed a lot further she trained as a psychologist but like so many of her generation she couldn't find a stable job Lavinia did talk a speedometer Chameli Scott Berkun improve Archie Laska papa yankee una historia when you introduce a more famous in el mundo Valeska opposite radicchio nee belan summary boobarella what's been the most difficult moment in this whole process you're with Raja torrential Alex marito the Sham okay personally my you Tata molto nil nil organizaciones Elora elder Lumia date oh no no II oh oh my Avanti de sola yeoman llevado Oh por esto pero to QD with West's ano perky my casa grande EDT non troppo dream fre yo forces todo el momento para toda la mia vita Burke in Louisville diamante and Olivia [Music] yo in question need ot elaborate on contrada ostrog Rhonda passione que tengo a per km below ET permettre Ladoga mentally dis karikari energy a the business of being a small business in Italy today is a complicated dance the same chronically weakened system that Karolina is trying to move around doesn't seem to wanna dance in step with her plans see de Vougeot moon quail you Tarija Destry competitive assume Mercado mondiale avec le chemin de moda see Nadia Maria [Music] it's lucky the shoes just like the tango are all about passion for all the rules complications and bureaucracy the skill of Carolina's footwork goes a long way [Music] at times it's hard to see why anyone here would have much to complain about or why they'd ever want to leave in the hills of Mon Cala airy just outside of Turin are two brothers with a big and possibly crazy dream [Music] I'm the business brain and he's the hippie and you say I hand the hard worker no boat [Music] meet Nicola and Filippo Lugosi this is their office a few years ago they decided to throw everything in and become farmers farming in this place in where where there are my roots [Music] these young blokes with the help of their mates who mind you they don't pay but adjusters committed to this idea will try their hand at just about anything they're growing their own organic veggies making artisanal beer from homegrown hops the list goes on [Music] ya know we have to maintain be careful that about the temperature there the temperature is going getting a degree in Italy takes a really long time and even with one there's no guarantee of a job with a decent salary just last year a hundred and twenty-five thousand Italians left the country altogether nearly half of those were young people Nico abandoned his law studies because he couldn't even see a future in it if you want to became a lawyer it's more or less impossible there are so many lawyer and if you don't have a father or a mother that's dude the lawyer it's more or less impossible you will do photocopy for a lawyer you face death it's really depressing a little bit for young people it's for that that a lot of people move and decide to go away [Music] it's Nicko's job to turn this dream into a reality me and my brother we are like a yin-yang like and why we love Nate Orton but he has a more hippy idea of the business [Music] [Applause] so are you making any money out of this yet and no no but slowly slowly step by step working half everyday yeah we start to have some results [Music] [Applause] now there are some signs of recovery in Italy but the truth is the economy is only growing at around 1% even so the young entrepreneurs we've met feel very strongly that their future is here they want to adapt traditional ways of doing things and create products that all Italians can be proud of [Music] Karolina Cuomo is at a crossroads with her business should she scale up or stay small despite all the bureaucratic obstacles she is still optimistic abbiamo Lavazza builder veramente di creare volcko Cedeno a TiVo D D alternate even so far Chris Sri Lim presen questa manera seguramente average G al inventive [Music] as for Guido at the bra cheese festival amazing the feedback is good and it looks like he might just have cracked the American market if this big distributor has anything to do with it he's very on the cutting edge then people want what's new they want to you know they've had a lot of cheeses and they want something different they want something exciting and then there's a whole story behind it the sustainability of the animals of that style of farm there's so many things that people want to hear about so this'll sell this sells yeah given how much you're sinking into this you know personally how much energy to get that kind of endorsement though what does that mean personally it's a big satisfaction you know when you have person give you compliments for like the product of your work there's no like there's nobody thing you know I think after four years having changed so much in my life it could have all gone wrong basically I'm lucky to be at this point we also say you know you deserve like luck helps you when you're when you deserve it so it is a big satisfaction and makes me like it gives me an extra energy to like put into the feeling optimistic and tonight it's our final Italian meal the Lugosi Brothers Filippo and Nicola have invited us to come up the hill for dinner nearly everything on the table is a tribute to their hard work and commitment it might take a while before they turn a profit right now they're barely breaking even but success for them is measured in more than just the bottom line you guys have both talked about this as being a big dream is it a crazy dream does it feel like a crazy dream yes it's our dream and it's paid off maybe we are a bit crazy but we are we are not afraid we have all these wonderful people that and we work with love so love I think it's a crazy thing and yes our dream it's crazy [Laughter] [Music]

Channel: Journeyman Pictures

Views: 277,263

Keywords: Journeyman, Journeyman Pictures, Italy, Italian economy, Italian business, Italian entrepreneur, Business, craft, Cratfs, Artisans, Mozarella

Id: G9LPkAAF2DY

Length: 25min 34sec (1534 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 22 2018