There is controversy over online calls to boycott Rummo pasta following Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini’s institutional visit to the pasta factory’s headquarters in Benevento last weekend. Fiorello also discussed the case on his ‘Viva Rai2 – Mattin’ show: “After this visit, Salvini even changed the League’s slogan to ‘We have al dente’”, joked the showman who then added, seriously: “I remind all those who say ‘let’s boycott’ that behind this invitation there is always a company made up of workers».
What triggered reactions on social media was the video published by the leader of the Northern League on TikTok. The owner of the company, Cosimo Rummo, the target of insults, said he was “speechless” at the invitations not to buy his pasta anymore: “I don’t ask anyone for a party card when they come into my house. The Minister of Infrastructure comes to make investments in Benevento, asks to come and visit the plant, I don’t understand what they want. Should I have closed the door in his face?”, he stated in an interview with Corriere del Mezzogiorno, “I don’t understand.” The Campanian businessman recalled that he opened the doors to politicians of all colors out of respect for institutions, including the then Prime Minister, Paolo Gentiloni, and Andrea Orlando when he was Minister of Labor, both members of the Democratic Party. However, Rummo said he was confident that there would be no boycott: “Healthy people understand very well and continue to buy our pasta.”
The mayor of Benevento, former minister Clemente Mastella, also entered the field: «Despite not having political contiguity with Salvini», he wrote in a note, «I find the social campaign deeply unfair» and «the reckless incitements to the commercial boycott: The mass Rummo, a national excellence made in Sannio, must be preserved and defended from extremist partisanship that would harm workers first and foremost.” «It is absurd to play with the sacrifices of those who generate work and give shine to the economy, in the midst of a thousand difficulties and in a complicated international context», he thundered. The pasta factory founded in 1846 by Antonio Rummo employs 220 people, including 170 employees and 50 employees. In addition to the historic factory in Campania, there is the one in Sozzago, in the Novara area, where gluten-free pasta is produced. In 2022 the company had revenues of 172 million.
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
