The testimony from the Casalasco Tomato Consortium at the presentation of the study “Piacenza, people, community and values”

In Piacenza, the economic recovery is slower than in the rest of Emilia-Romagna. But the light at the end of the tunnel is visible, bearing the "mark" of large manufacturing and metalworking industries, and especially logistics. The sector employs 15 percent of the workforce, and it hosts the goods handling centers for international players like Amazon and Ikea. This is a "natural" location, considering Piacenza has always been a strategic hub between the North and South of the Mediterranean, and it's no coincidence that it boasts seven highway exits. This vocation is complemented by the agri-food sector: the Piacenza area is home to Grana Padano cheese and typical PDO-certified cured meats, and it is the only European administrative district to boast three specialties: coppa, pancetta, and salame. Agri-industry, manufacturing, and services are gradually increasing employment and GDP. And while growth rates remain more modest compared to the rest of the region, the real challenge is to bring all these identities together and assert them to make them true drivers of growth.

This is the focus of the survey conducted by the research institute Aaster, commissioned by Conad to conduct a study on the community of the area to analyze and understand the phenomena it is experiencing during this phase of profound social changes, cultural, and economic changes.

The work will be presented today, October 26, at 5 PM, during the debate Piacenza, people, community, and values which will take place in the Sala dei Teatini, an event that is part of the Conad initiative The Great Journey Together.

The event will open with greetings from Mayor Patrizia Barbieri. On stage, with the director of the Aaster Consortium Aldo Bonomi and the CEO of Conad Francesco Pugliese, coordinated by Oggi journalist Marianna Aprile will share their testimony: Monsignor Gianni Ambrosio, Bishop of the Diocese of Piacenza – Bobbio, Massimo Castelli, Mayor of the Municipality of Cerignale and national coordinator of ANCI's Small Municipalities Council, Isa Mazzocchi, Michelin-starred chef of La Palta restaurant, Giangiacomo Schiavi, journalist for Corriere della Sera and author, and Costantino Vaia, General Manager of the Casalasco Tomato Consortium. Two students from the “Lorenzo Respighi” Scientific High School, will also participate, sharing their impressions and reflections on their studies.

The event will conclude with a concert by “I Solisti del Sesto Armonico”, directed by maestro Peppe Vessicchio.

At the heart of the discussion was the socio-economic morphology of the Piacenza community, as depicted in the analysis by Aaster, which compared and cross-referenced the socio-economic data from recent years and supplemented the quantitative analysis with a series of interviews with local representatives. Demographic dynamics, level of education, wealth and distribution of income among citizens, and the vitality of the productive sectors are some of the data examined and compared with regional and national parameters to identify and highlight the specific characteristics of the area. From this, some figures emerged that, more than others, define the city's profile. Such as 2022, the year in which the city's GDP will return to pre-crisis levels. This year, the increase in provincial GDP is expected to be around 1.3 percent, while 3.7 percent is the employment growth generated by businesses in the province between June 2017 and June 2018, just above the national average. The recovery is being driven by the logisticssector, which grew by approximately 7 percent.

15 percent is the share of employees in the municipality of Piacenza working in logistics, the highest among the 40 cities with over 50,000 inhabitants located in the Piedmont-Lombardy-Emilia-Romagna-Veneto area. Wealth is distributed uniformly across the territory: if 25,000 euros is the average income per taxpayer, a value placing it in the middle of the ranking of the 40 municipalities, over a third of Piacenza residents declare less than 15,000 euros, and for every 100 low-income earners, there are 20 who declare over 75,000 euros.