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Abstract: Using data elaborated by the Institute for services to the agro-food industry (ISMEA), this study looks at the recent success of Italian traditional food products in the context of the country’s agricultural development through the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries and that of the troubled history of Italy’s food industry. The study also shows how the emergence of the principle traditional food products was frequently the result of relatively recent processes like the emigration of large numbers of Italians at the turn of the twentieth century, the period of autarchy during the interwar years, and the worldwide resurgence of interest in traditional rural cultures and the Mediterranean diet from the 1960s onwards. Those traditional food products which have some commercial relevance are the result of complex marketing strategies, large manufacturing investments, and sophisticated communication policies. For these reasons they should be seen as advanced agro-industrial products, and quite far removed from their perceived preindustrial image.

Keywords: Typical Food Products; Food Industry; Italian Agriculture; Made in Italy; Food Export