Pietro Barilla: “Everything is done for the future, forge ahead with courage.” The biography of an extraordinary italian entrepreneur

In the year of his birth centenary, the life story of one of Italy’s most important industrialists, including over 100 images from the Barilla Historical Archives. Francesco Alberoni has captured the thoughts and words of Pietro Barilla, a versatile entrepreneur credited with having made a fundamental contribution to Italy’s international image thanks to his innovative vision and conviction that pasta is the “crown jewel” of Italian cuisine. Joining the family company in 1947 while still a young man, Pietro managed to transform Barilla from just another small Italian pasta company into the world’s leader. A trip to the United States after the Second World War opened Pietro’s eyes to the importance of communication, leading him to develop the first packaging for pasta in the 1950s, and to create pioneering advertisements featuring Italian singer Mina and world famous filmmaker Federico Fellini. From the hardships of the postwar period, to the economic boom of the 1950s and 1960s and a courageous buyback of the company at the end of the 1970s, Pietro Barilla has connected the company name with values like tenacity, generosity, human and artistic sensibility and a love of the homeland, to the point where today he is considered an ideal example of the Italian family business entrepreneur.