Article by Matteo Donelli
The ancient way of salt and the way of love.
Romantic story from over a hundred years ago. From Turin to Parma following the passion.
Luigi Rizzoli (the founder of the first company) was the great-grandfather of the current president of Rizzoli Emanuelli, Dr. Antonio Rizzoli. Luigi Rizzoli had a brother, Emilio Zeffirino who mainly dealt with the sale of the finished product, wandered around Italy in search of customers to place the two products: anchovies in spicy sauce and anchovies in extra virgin oil. Thus it was during his business trips that Emilio Zeffirino met Antonietta Emanuelli in Fiorenzuola d'Arda, who was part of a family with excellent economic possibilities. The two married and together with their brothers decided to open a new factory in Parma in 1906 and to call it Rizzoli Emanuelli & C.
The anchovy filleting and packaging activity was carried out in Turin where there was a centuries-old tradition due to the particular position of the city on one of the branches of the ancient salt road.
Moving to Parma would have allowed to obtain a good knowledge in the production of canned food (the tomato canning industries are very developed) and consequently, also in manual skills and labor.
Generations after generations have succeeded at the helm of the company. Many different and strong personalities that have allowed Rizzoli Emanuelli to grow nationally and then in international markets.
The famous aunt Clelia, born in 1893 at the age of 13, will join the company to lead it. A person remembered for her generosity and simplicity, she had started her apprenticeship as a worker in charge of cleaning fish.
From the factory in the center of Parma, 50 women came out on foot and by bicycle singing a nursery rhyme "if you want to eat well and have beautiful children, eat Rizzoli Emanuelli anchovies". There was a cheerful and happy atmosphere in the company. It is the true DNA of the company that is handed down in the company management which will always be totally family-friendly.
Anchovies in Rizzoli spicy sauce are the true symbol of the company. Preserved in the now historic golden tin packaging, they are immersed in a sauce so precious that its recipe is secret and is handed down over the years only by voice from father to son.
There is a romantic story behind this world famous product.
Even the way of weighing the ingredients is very original In fact, to dose aromas and spices without anyone being able to steal the family secret, special weights were placed on the scales, metal objects that acted as units of measurement, which only the eldest son of the family he knew. Cooking times are also a closely guarded secret. The sauce is left to mature for 6 months in wooden barrels used for aging the marsala. Each step continues to be handcrafted respecting the ancient tradition. The smells and flavors have remained the ones that have made this product one of the symbols of Italian cuisine.
The sauce is made up of many ingredients. Its peculiarity is given both by the proportions of these ingredients and by the way of transformation .. Everything as it was 115 years ago.
The suppliers of the ingredients have been the same for over 100 years. There was a period during the Second World War during which one of the suppliers was forced to stop production as the spices came from distant countries. Not being able to use the usual raw materials, Rizzoli also interrupted the production of the sauce. The rooms where the sauce is made are kept secret. Only the two generations still present in the company know the production process.
It is a company that keeps the two on the great cornerstones unchanged: the constant search for quality and innovation. The symbol of the three gnomes smiling on the cans must always have been the symbol of good luck. Symbols that will be of great comfort to the Italian army during the Great War. The company decided to send free special cans specially made for the boys at the front.
Many evolutions over the decades in the increasingly international company structure but also in the product and packaging, also following the needs of the market, have brought tuna in glass to the shelves, in order to show hand-cut fillets or single-dose anchovies. .
Another step towards consolidating the relationship of respect and trust with the consumer is the online traceability of the product, with information on the species to which it belongs, area, date and method of fishing, but also the name of the fishing vessel, the date of arrival. fish in the establishment and all information on controls.
Today the company has a turnover of over thirty million euros with double-digit growth also in 2020. For 2021 the words of Massimo Rizzoli General Manager “It will be a more intimate year, but one of hope. It will be yet another proof that nothing can stop Italian invective and excellence, not even the roughest seas. And I can say that we at seas understand each other. "
That intertwining between the ancient salt road and the love road, with which it all began at the end of the nineteenth century, is still handed down daily on tables all over the world.
