Taken from "Il secolo XIX" daily newspaper, January 2nd, 2001

The Pesto sauce cannot be prepared, it’s too cold. This is an early Lean for Genoa’s people, who cannot pay 6000 Ls for one tuft of basil: this was its price at the largest Genoa’s market, the Eastern Market, yesterday.

People have started bickering because of this increase in prices, two of them are Antonella Balduzzi, a teacher, and Mimmo Rovatti, a greengrocer.

Balduzzi: "what’s this? I was out of town last week and basil’s prices have increased by 1000 Ls?"

Rovatti: "I’m sorry, Ms., lack of basil."

Balduzzi: "How come?"

Rovati: "We have to buy the basil grown on the Riviera"

Balduzzi: "Why?"

Rovati: "Doesn’t grown here these days… too cold"

Genoa’s farmers have carefully analysed their situation at the end of December: they discovered that the wholesale prices of basil would skyrocket because of the cold weather and the prices of fuel needed to heat up all greenhouses. Thus, they decided to turn the heating off and clean their greenhouses.

Pino Sacco, one of the main basil farmers on the Genoa’s market says: "We couldn’t help it. If we had allowed greengrocers to have a minimum return out of the sale of basil, we would have had to give up our returns. That’s why we decided not to sow basil this month: we gave up January’s crop. We will be back early March".

Genoa will not enjoy its Pesto sauce for a full month then, unless Riviera’s farmers decrease the prices of their basil. In any case the weather was very old even in these areas (the Albenga plain and the Sarzana area: two areas of production where Genoa’s farmers often buy basil) and it is unlikely for one tuft of basil to cost less than 5000 Ls. Andrea Verardo, he works as a greengrocer at the

Eastern Market too: "There’s no basil, we have to give in". This is not going to be easy.

This situation has been taken into consideration by the "Knights of the Pesto Confraternity", an association which has been working as a mediator between the producers’ and consumers’ needs related to the quality and quantity of the Pesto sauce and its ingredients for years now. Among their battles are: preventing the use of cashew-tree fruits instead of pine seeds and the rebellion against the industrial production of Pesto because basil leaves were substituted with parsley.

Pino Sacco says: "We are sorry too and we are aware Genoa’s people are suffering from the lack of basil… we do apologise, but the quality of the next basil crop will be simply the best". This is a comforting piece of news to be heard in a difficult period such as this… this is a miracle happening in the ruthless food market… and we will believe in it, in the name of the Trenette pasta.