M3_0010.frontespizio.indd 1 03/04/13 15:37 M3_0010.frontespizio.indd 2 03/04/13 15:37 M3_0010.frontespizio.indd 3 03/04/13 15:37 © 2013 RCS Libri S.p.A., Milan All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior consent of the publisher. Special Edition printed for Barilla G. e R. Fratelli S.p.A. Translation by Aaron Maines Images courtesy © Barilla Historical Archives The publisher has made every effort to locate and contact all the holders of copyright to material reproduced in this book. The publisher remains available to address any rights that have not been fully identified. M3_0020.copy_PS.indd 4 03/04/13 15:37 M3_0030.occhiello.indd 5 03/04/13 15:38 M3_0030.occhiello.indd 6 03/04/13 15:38 For my friend Pietro. Francesco Alberoni M3_0040.dedica.indd 7 03/04/13 15:38 M3_0040.dedica.indd 8 03/04/13 15:38 INTRODUction I first met Pietro Barilla in the 1970s, worked as his consultant throughout his life, and was with him during his final days. When his children Guido, Luca, Paolo and Emanuela asked me to write their father’s biography, I thought it over for a long time. A biog- raphy is usually the work of a historian, someone who tells the sto- ry of a famous person’s life by rebuilding it as precisely as possi- ble, making the subject seem as close as possible, present in such a way that whoever reads the biography feels like a participant in his or her life. I tried to do exactly this, but I felt like I was pushing Pietro further away, tying him down to the past and, in certain points, too far in the past. I could feel something wasn’t right. Visiting the Barilla company I saw, right by the entrance, the sculpture created by Giuliano Vangi to represent a man and wom- an in love, running towards life: and every time I passed that statue I had the impression that Pietro had it put there in order to remind us not to look towards the past, but into the future. Then, as soon as I went inside, the first thing I would see was his smiling photograph, followed by Francesco Messina’s Grande danzatrice, visible as soon as you turned to the right. You could feel M3_0050.intro.indd 9 03/04/13 15:38 10 Pietro barilla he put that here too: it seems like it was just yesterday. Upstairs in his office – modern, intact and filled with his furniture, his Picas- so, Umberto Boccioni’s Il romanzo di una cucitrice – I always had the impression that he’d only just stepped out and could come back any moment... Every time I visited, walking around the factory, stopping by the cafeteria, talking with managers, technicians, laborers, I got the sense that he was still there for them as well. There was always someone willing to talk about him with me, to share a few anec- dotes, to tell me how he accomplished this or that, to repeat things he’d said. It seemed like he’d only just left... Pietro had put so much of himself into his company that it seemed like he was always there. Realizing this, I knew what I had to do. I needed to let him talk. Since his presence could be felt ev- erywhere, I need to let Pietro Barilla talk about his life, the things he’d accomplished, his personal values. This way, anyone who reads this book would be able to see him the same way everyone who had ever met him did: elegant and smiling while asking questions, in- forming others and making suggestions. It occurred to me that per- haps I could bring him alive in a biography the way I would have liked to have done in a movie. Instead of film, I would use sheets of paper; and there would be no actor playing his part, just Piet- ro talking about Pietro. It would bring him even closer, make him even more real. I knew it would be extremely difficult, but I believed the goal was worth it. There is an entire historical archive dedicated to Ba- rilla and Pietro, but while plenty of fragments made it out of the archive, what I wanted was to create a concrete image of the man, as if he were still alive, present among us; as if he could feel the af- fection we still feel for him. And so, for three years I continued to “speak” with Pietro. Only in my imagination, you might say, and that’s true. But with M3_0050.intro.indd 10 03/04/13 15:38 introduction 11 surprising solidity, because almost all the words published in this book are really his. I heard them directly from his mouth, or from his children and his wife; I heard them in interviews he gave, in the many films he participated in over the years; and in the stories I was told by his closest collaborators and friends. Along the way, I discovered that everyone remembered clear- ly and perfectly the things he’d said, right down to the most strik- ing details. Pietro Barilla had a gift for making an impression; his words, thoughts and values stuck in the hearts and minds of his interloc- utors. And where his voice couldn’t reach, he sent letters. Pietro wrote constantly and profusely: to family members, friends, col- laborators and artists. The letters are extraordinary from a literary point of view as well, full of careful prose and feelings. They are in- tense letters, words that instill courage and which each of us who have received them hold dear as precious talismans. And so I’ve worked to make sure that all this would continue to live on... Francesco Alberoni M3_0050.intro.indd 11 03/04/13 15:38 M3_0050.intro.indd 12 03/04/13 15:38 1 liftoff I’m happy the kids asked you to write my biography. You were really young when you joined us. That was back in 1957, and you worked more closely with Gianni then than you did with me. Gianni was talented, not just an entrepreneur, but also an excellent technician and inventor. Did you know he was the one, together with engineer Manfredi—1, who designed the world’s first continuous production line for long pasta, and had it built by Braibanti—2 in 1953? Back then I basically took care of sales and marketing. We split up the work in a natural, spontaneous way. – Yes, but if I remember correctly, in 1953 you went to Stutt- gart yourself, together with Manfredi, in order to finish the machines. That’s right, I did. But only because those were machines for packaging. The time had come to abandon fresh pasta, the stuff shopkeepers kept in the big drawers under the kneading trough, and move on to pasta placed in elegant boxes that displayed a clear brand name. That’s what I was creating. We went by train, arriving at night, then we dropped our suitcases off at the ho- M3_0060.testo.indd 13 03/04/13 15:38 14 Pietro barilla tel and went out to see the city. We were stunned! The city was empty, with no one out on the streets. It seemed dead! At the time, we didn’t know what was going on. Then the doorman ex- plained everything to us. During the bombings the city’s civilian population had all moved out into the countryside. When peace- time came, the government and entrepreneurs had decided to re- build factories first, then homes. It was a really courageous de- cision to make, both for the government and for the population. But people had stayed put in the places they’d fled to. There was destruction all around us – ruined houses, enormous holes in the ground and deserted streets, save for a few wandering drunk- ards. The only thing you could see in the sky was an illuminated Mercedes Benz insignia. That image made a deep impression on me. In it, I saw Germany’s desire to return to its rightful place in global industry, in the modern world. Through that illuminat- ed sign, Mercedes was expressing pride, faith and the conviction that it would go back to being number one. I’ve always believed that if you have to make a choice, you can’t go wrong choosing the very best, the number one. With that in mind, I was more certain than ever before that we had to purchase our equipment in Germany, from Hesser, because it had been and would sure- ly go back to being the best in the world. We were supposed to buy three machines, but when I visited the factory in Stuttgart, I realized that Europe’s economic development was already un- derway, and that it would soon extend to Italy as well. If I wait- ed, we ran the risk of coming in behind our competitors, of losing the opportunity we now had. I asked myself: why just three ma- chines? If people start buying packaged pasta the way they were in other countries, we would have to produce a heck of a lot of pasta. So instead of three machines, I commissioned seven. Man- fredi’s eyes were popping out of his head, but when I explained my thinking to him he agreed.