Consortium of Prosecco COD

By Andrea Zanfi

The pages of this magazine aim at spotting and rejoicing in how certain companies and individuals firmly steer their’s work towards beauty. In our present day of cultural obscurantism, when intellectual values seem to have been forgotten by so many, it can be quite useful and relieving to notice that there are others who, on the contrary, adopt them with great determination.

In our present day of cultural obscurantism, when cultural values seem to have been forgotten by so many, it can be quite relieving to notice that there are others who, on the contrary, adopt them with great determination. It is the case of the Protection Consortium of Prosecco COD, whose wide-ranging patronage embraces a whole series of high-level activities, be them in the arts, culture, sport or leisure.

It is not that fundamental to know whether their allegedly honest patronage is moved by merely commercial goals. What really counts is the added value they manage to inject into the social system we all live in through this greatly appreciated economic and cultural effort. All this reminds me of the Gardens of Maecenas on the Esquiline Hill and their beauty sung by Horace, where Roman patrician Gaius Cilnius Maecenas created a safe harbour for Latin poets and intellectuals (being he himself a poet and a refined connoisseur of arts). Such was the support he gave to young artists that his name even became the eponym for “patron of arts”. Similarly, the Protection Consortium of Prosecco COD is to be praised for the energy spent throughout the years into arts, literature and sports and for the support given to those who love or practice these activities.

A light that most people would wrongly see as off, darkened by the extrinsic value of a product like wine, which on the contrary proves to be the ideal means to do beautiful things, being it in itself an artistic expression of human ability. My opinion is that whoever operates in this direction needs – for intellectual honesty – to be praised and encouraged.

Beauty is a rare value and therefore priceless.

So we must thank and praise those who work for it.

Mine is heartfel gratitude, coming from someone who has been working in the cultural field for almost thirty years now, and based on the observation of the extremely wide range of high-level initiatives (be them intended as sport or leisure) related to the arts, culture or sports supported by the Protection Consortium of Prosecco COD. Like the collaboration between the Consortium and the emblematic cultural institution of the ADI Design Museum of Milan, a huge entity which sees the Consortium’s partnership as Official Sparkling Wine.

It is not commonly known that the museum traditionally houses the historic collection of the winners of the “Compasso d’Oro”, the most prestigious design award in the world created by Giò Ponti in 1954 – initially sponsored by La Rinascente and then entrusted to ADI (Association for Industrial Design), it is now managed by the ADI Compasso d’Oro Collection Foundation.

Another example of patronage is also unfolded by the Consortium with Teatro Stabile of Veneto, the city of Venice and Apritimoda, contributing to the work of many fashion houses and their quest for gifted designers and artisans.

Eternal Beauty is the one expressed by those who have words to describe and immortalise it in time

Sole Luna Film Festival; “Cinema in cantina”, a summer travelling initiative hosted by some wine producers who provide the guests with an evening visit to their canteen, followed by a tasting and a movie on a chosen theme; the Venice International Film Festival since 2016 – a traditional appointment for the Consortium within the regional space at the Hotel Excelsior, whose branded bar sees the passage of all the stars before they step on the Red Carpet.

The Consortium has also been involved in the realisation of the super short film Lightness that Inspires produced by Anam Cara, of Red Canzian’s show Casanova Opera Pop, and – about sculptor Antonio Canova – in the art exhibition Canova gloria trevigiana in Treviso as well as the short film Genius moves the world: tributo ad Antonio Canova.

But what does wine have to do with Canova? It is in the answer to this question that lies the pursuit of beauty and the “wine patronage” I am referring to. So much as the acknowledgement towards a genius who, as Stendhal put it, “found the courage not to copy the Greeks but to invent his own beauty, like the Greeks did, creating one hundred statues, thirty of them being masterpieces”.

A genius depicted with art and mastery in a short film I invite all the readers of Bubble’s to watch, enjoying its value and the pursuit of that beauty Canova spread through his works. It goes without saying how all this should make reflect those involved in the wine system who, despite having huge economic resources, do not have such a strategic and cultural generosity.

Shame on them.

Eternal beauty is the one expressed by those who have words to describe and immortalise it in time.

To you all, enjoy beauty.

By Andrea Zanfi