Slow Food Founder Carlo Petrini Dies at 76 in Italy

Carlo Petrini, the journalist who founded the Slow Food movement in protest against the arrival of the first McDonald’s in Italy, has died aged 76. Petrini died on Thursday in Bra, a town in Italy’s north-western Piedmont region. He had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in recent years, according to Reuters.

Petrini established the group with friends after protests against the opening of Italy’s first McDonald’s near Rome’s Spanish Steps in 1986. The activists handed out plates of pasta while shouting against fast food. The movement began as Arcigola and spread across Italy before expanding to more than 160 countries.

Petrini served as president until 2022. In 1989, more than 20 delegations signed the Slow Food Manifesto in Paris, pledging to defend traditional food practices.

Petrini founded the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, which has trained about 4,000 food professionals from 100 countries. He also established the Terra Madre network in 2004 to connect farmers, fishers, chefs and academics. In 2017, he helped create Laudato Si’ Communities with the bishop of Verona to apply principles from Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical.

Italy’s president Sergio Mattarella said the death leaves a great void in the world of food and wine science and in society as a whole. A statement from the Slow Food press office described Petrini as a visionary leader with a profound commitment to the common good and the natural world.

“The death of Carlo Petrini leaves a great void, not only in the world of food and wine science, but also in society as a whole, not just in Italy.”

Petrini became friends with King Charles through their shared interest in sustainable food. In February last year, Charles and Queen Camilla hosted an event at Highgrove celebrating Italian slow food.