“With his award-winning culinary art and his far-sighted and ethical vision of catering as a green enterprise, he has promoted Italian food and wine culture and sustainable business culture on all continents, contributing to the growth of Italy's soft power in the world.”
With this motivation, the Department of Educational, Psychological and Communication Sciences of the Suor Orsola Benincasa University of Naples has decided to award the honorary master's degree in Adult Education and Continuing Education Sciences to Alfonso Iaccarino.
He is the founder of the Relais Don Alfonso 1890 in Sant'Agata sui due Golfi in the province of Naples, which today boasts highly prestigious locations around the world, from Canada to the United States, from China to New Zealand.
“In a city like Naples, a center of attraction and impressive tourist flows also and above all by virtue of its being considered the capital of intangible culture throughout the world, the honorary degree to Alfonso Iaccarino,” underlines the Rector of Suor Orsola, Lucio d'Alessandro, “is intended to be a tribute to a truly exemplary figure in the diffusion of our intangible culture throughout the world:
Its importance in the world of Italian and international gastronomy derives from its unique ability to combine Mediterranean gastronomic tradition with culinary research and innovation.
A long path of continuous growth during which Iaccarino has introduced modern and creative techniques into the kitchen while always remaining faithful to the ingredients and flavors of local cuisine and has been a pioneer in the use of local, sustainable, organic ingredients, intuiting, among the first, the importance of educating the public on the techniques and values of Mediterranean cuisine through books, television programs, communication events".
The awarding ceremony of the honorary degree to Alfonso Iaccarino will take place on Monday 24 June at 17 pm in the Sala degli Angeli of the Suor Orsola Benincasa University (with entrance by invitation) also with live streaming on www.facebook.com/unisob (complete programme on www.unisob.na.it/eventi).
After the introductory speech by the Rector Lucio d'Alessandro, the laudatio of the graduate will be entrusted to two great masters of the anthropology of the Mediterranean Diet, Elisabetta Moro and Marino Niola, co-directors of the Mediterranean Diet Virtual Museum, the first virtual museum in the world entirely dedicated to the Mediterranean Diet and promoters, together with the pedagogist Margherita Musello, within the Department of Educational, Psychological and Communication Sciences of Suor Orsola, of the proposal for an honorary degree to Alfonso Iaccarino, later ratified, as per practice, by the Ministry of University and Research.
From Edgar Morin to Alberto Angela: Alfonso Iaccarino enters the restricted register of honorary graduates of Suor Orsola
Furthermore, the Suor Orsola Benincasa University can boast a 'roll of honor' of its honorary graduates of great prestige but decidedly 'limited', having always selected with great rigor the existence of the conditions for the awarding of one of the highest academic recognitions.
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And so Alfonso Iaccarino, after his lectio magistralis dedicated to the theme “The cuisine of the heart between earth, food and soul” and the proclamation by the degree commission chaired by the rector Lucio d'Alessandro, will be added to a list of Unisob honorary graduates which includes Carlo Petrini, Joaquin Navarro-Vals, Edgard Morin, Paolo Grossi and Alberto Angela, to name just a few.
"At a university that invests heavily in the future employment of its graduates," emphasizes Elisabetta Moro, "among the many praiseworthy achievements of a 'Mediterranean Diet professor' like Alfonso Iaccarino, we'd also like to highlight his commitment to helping many young Italian chefs embark on brilliant careers, both in Italy and abroad. This commitment is also thanks to his original approach to introducing Italian products, recipes, culinary style, traditions, and expertise into haute cuisine, traditionally of French origin."
With the founding in 1973 of the Don Alfonso 1890 Restaurant in Sant'Agata sui due Golfi, Alfonso Iaccarino distinguished himself by promoting Italian cuisine and the Mediterranean Diet at an international level, recognized in 2010 by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
“Lastly,” Marino Niola points out, “Alfonso Iaccarino’s major investment in an organic farm like Le Peracciole, a case of heroic agriculture on the promontory of the Sorrento Peninsula, has served as an example for many entrepreneurs in the sector who have embraced his eco-culinary philosophy.
For over half a century, Alfonso has played the role of ambassador of Mediterranean cuisine in the world, representing at the highest levels that set of knowledge, practices and traditions that go from the landscape to the table, passed down from generation to generation, based on respect for the territory, environmental sustainability, the empowerment of human resources, the valorization and protection of biodiversity, as well as the rediscovery of the creativity of many women and men who over the centuries have contributed to the stratification of a food and wine culture of recognized international value”.
A phrase by his mentor, the gastronome Luigi Veronelli, constantly echoes in the mind and work of Alfonso Iaccarino: “earth and soul coincide”. He will tell it in his lectio magistralis that will be the manifesto of his philosophy of 'cuisine of the heart' (collected in 2010 by Mondadori in a volume with the same name).
"I am happy," Iaccarino wrote in "La cucina del cuore," "when my food, through its flavor, becomes an ambassador for my concept of life, which is balance, peace, and harmony. Cooking, like music, is a universal language." A philosophy translated into business and enterprises around the world. Enterprises that have even earned him an honorary degree today.
The Silver Inkwell to Livia Iaccarino
At the end of the honorary degree award ceremony, there will also be a special recognition for Livia Iaccarino, co-founder, together with her husband Alfonso, of the Relais Don Alfonso 1890 in Sant'Agata sui due Golfi. It is the Silver Inkwell, one of the highest academic honors, a symbol of the ability to spread prestige and culture throughout the world.
An award that will be presented by Margherita Musello, president of the Master's Degree Course in Educational Consultancy, to Livia Iaccarino "for her innovative entrepreneurial vision capable of spreading throughout the world a restaurant model with a positive impact on the Planet, on the health of human beings and on local economies, combining taste and sustainability, being and well-being".
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