ROME – Across from Via di Campo Marzio’s Davide Cenci, a family-owned tailor shop since 1926, last week, Roman shopowners joined Forza Italia members to promote a proposed measure intended to publicize and protect historic businesses.

 To qualify for membership in Rome’s Association of Historic Stores a shop must have been run by at least three generations of the same family over the course of at least 70 years. Davide Cenci and Babington's Tea Room are among the 27 Roman establishments to make the cut. Stefano Pizzolato, president of the Association, owns Tebro Biancheria dal 1867.

 Pizzolato spoke at the conference, which was co-sponsored by his association, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Palazzo Chigi, and Lazio. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani, viceminister of industries and Made in Italy Valentino Valentini, Senate Forza Italia Leader Maurizio Gasparri, production chain advisor to Vice President Tajani Maria Spena, and former Roman Councillor Francesco de Micheli also gave remarks.

 They advocated together for the general terms of the proposed amendment to 2023's Annual Law for Competition: greater priority given to historic and artisan shops on tourism routes, a centralized online presence for qualifying businesses, and government support of nationwide training programmes for young people interested in learning trades at the risk of dying out.

 The politicians described that project as crucial in the fight to preserve Italian tradition. “To defend these shops is to defend a common heritage,” said Spena. “There is no future without respect for tradition and the past,” said Tajani.

 And they underscored the stores’ importance in stark, David and Goliath terms. Senate Leader Gasparri called the protection of family-owned shops because of “a world where internet giants destroy traditional shops without paying taxes, in a world where even on our streets low-level and dubiously legal activity occupy spaces once reserved for traditional, high-quality activity.”

 Throughout the conference – most notably during Minister Valentino Valentini’s speech, beamed in on video – the politicians linked the initiative to support historic businesses with the principles of Made in Italy.

 Pizzolato, of Tebro Biancheria, pushed back. He thanked the Forza Italia members in attendance for their “adequate attention” at last to his cause. But, he said, “there is too much talk about defending Made in Italy and not enough about supporting Italian production, craftsmanship, and creativity.”

 Attendees of the conference also celebrated a new bilingual volume out from the Association of Historic Stores, which includes histories and archival photographs of each of the businesses for which it lobbies.

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