Tag Archives: L’Aquila

Economic Development, International, Scholarship, Tourism

Italy 3.0

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I just returned from a few days in L’Aquila, Italy. It was my third visit to this earthquake-ravaged Italian town in the last ten months. I’d been there in September 2017 and, more recently, in May 2018. On both my previous visits I’d given talks about beer to students in the Regional Science and Urban Studies Program at the Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI). On this occasion, I was in L’Aquila as co-organizer of a two-day workshop on “The Geography of Craft Beer and Consumption: Local Entrepreneurialism and Tourism Development”. My co-organizers were Alessandra Faggian, Professor of Applied Economics, Director of Social Sciences, and Vice Provost for Research at the Gran Sasso Science Institute, and Giulia Pezzi, Post Doctoral Research Fellow at GSSI. The workshop was designed to provide an opportunity for doctoral students and early career Professors to present their research. Alessandra, Giulia, and myself had also lined up two excellent keynote speakers – Martin Stack of Rockhurst University in the United States and Christian Garavaglia of The University of Milano-Bicocca. Both gave fascinating keynote lectures – Martin on the history of craft beer in the United States and how to assess its impact, while Christian gave an overview of the growth of craft beer at the international level.

Beautiful L’Aquila
Christian Garavaglia talking about historical trends in the global brewing industry
Martin Stack talking about the history of craft beer in the United States

Following Martin and Christian’s lectures, Giulia Pezzi and myself presented plenary lectures on craft beer and tourism. I focused my lecture on trying to understand the motivations of the craft beer tourist and their desire to drink unique beer in unique spaces. Giulia’s lectures examined the contribution that craft beer can make to tourism in rural and remote regions.

The opening day of the workshop concluded with a presentation by Luca Marcotullio, owner of L’Aquila’s only craft brewery, Anbra. I had visited Anbra’s taproom on my last visit to L’Aquila and had been impressed with both the ambience and the beer. The brewery is a post-earthquake phenomenon. Following the earthquake, Luca decided to open the brewery, realizing that a taproom in the center of the city would provide a space where people could come, relax, and socialize with each other. In many respects, the taproom was Luca’s contribution to the rebuilding of post-earthquake L’Aquila. Following, Luca’s talk, he took questions from those us in the audience, which proved to be particularly fascinating.

The entrance to Anbra’s taproom

That evening, Luca retold Anbra’s story to interested citizens of L’Aquila, in one of GSSI’s auditoriums. Following that talk everyone retired to the beautiful outdoor terrace of the GSSI, where Luca and one of his staff members, served a selection of four Anbra beers. Following that event, myself and a couple of other conference attendees decided to head into the center of L’Aquila and enjoy a few beers at the Anbra taproom. A few beers into our visit, Luca appeared. He recognized us from earlier in the evening, and provided us each with a complimentary beer. The same hospitality was offered to us the following evening when we visited Anbra.

 

Luca Marcotullio (left) serving up some Anbra beer on the outdoor terrace of GSSI

The second day of the workshop, there were presentations from eleven young researchers. The came from five countries – Argentina, Bulgaria, Canada, Italy, and the United States. The topics were varied and included:

  • The role of tourism in creating Greater Central Florida’s Craft beer scene
  • The emerging relationship between the craft beer and recreational cannabis industries
  • Product innovation hotspots in craft brewing as indicated by trademarks
  • Local entrepreneurs and the transformation of the beer industry towards sustainability
  • Craft breweries at the US/Canadian cross border region
  • Neolocalism and Quebec craft breweries
  • Fostering craft brewing tourism in the Piedmont region of Italy
  • Tourism, authenticity, and craft beer in West Virginia
  • The growing craft beer culture in Plovdiv, Bulgaria
  • Craft beer and consumer preferences in Mar del Plata, Argentina
  • Beer labels and religious symbols in Quebec
Andrea Belmartino talks about craft beer in Mar del Plata, Argentina

As someone who would be considered a “senior” scholar, it was wonderful to hear these presentations by younger scholars. Craft beer research, like craft beer itself, is experiencing something of a boom. And those conducting the research come from a variety of academic backgrounds – Geography, Economics, Anthropology, Sociology, etc. This diversity of perspectives adds to the richness of the research and leads to insights that might not otherwise be possible. It was a great few days in L’Aquila. The next conference dedicated exclusively to beer will be the biennial Beeronomics Conference which will be held in Pilsen in the Czech Republic in June 2019. I am already looking forward to that.

Craft Beer, Festivals, International

A Pint of Science

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Earlier this week, I spent a couple of days in L’Aquila, Italy. I was there as a guest of the Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI), who had invited me to give a couple of talks. This was my second visit to L’Aquila. I had been there in September 2017, also as a guest of GSSI. To get to L’Aquila, you fly into Rome, and then travel by bus for two hours. L’Aquila has a population of approximately seventy thousand people. It is an interesting town for a number of reasons, one of which is the fact that it is earthquake prone. The most recent earthquake, on April 6, 2009, registered a 6.3 on the Richter scale and killed 308 people. Its impact is still visible throughout this picturesque Italian town. Since my last visit in September, however, I noticed visible signs of progress – buildings that had been empty were now inhabited and in use, while others were closer to being so.

The damage caused by the 2009 earthquake is still visible in L’Aquila

The purpose of my visit this time was to give two lectures – one to this year’s cohort of GSSI doctoral students in Regional Science and Urban Studies, and one to members of the general public as part of the Pint of Science Festival that was taking place in town.

My presentation to the GSSI students focused on the theme of consolidation and fragmentation in the global brewing industry. Both processes are impacting the industry simultaneously. For example, the October 2016, $106 billion acquisition of SABMiller by AB InBev resulted in an industry that is considerably more consolidated at the global scale. At the same time, at the local scale, the industry becomes more fragmented every time a new craft brewery opens it doors.

My presentation at GSSI was in the afternoon. In the evening, I was back at the podium again. This time the audience took on a very different composition – it was the good citizens of L’Aquila. The town had been chosen as one of the venues for the three-day Pint of Science Festival; a festival at which that scientists present their research to members of the general public in the informal setting of a bar/pub.

Pint of Science was started in 2012 by Dr. Praveen Paul and Dr. Michael Motskin, two research scientists at Imperial College in London, UK. At the time, Paul and Motskin were post doctoral researchers working on motor neuron and Parkinson’s disease respectively. While working in London, Paul and Motskin organized a “Meet the Researchers” event, in which they invited individuals impacted by the disease (both those with the disease and their families) to their laboratories to see, first hand, the research in which they were engaged. It was a huge success, and very quickly the idea of taking scientific research to the people emerged – hence, a Pint of Science was born.

According to the Pint of Science website:

“The Pint of Science festival aims to deliver interesting and relevant talks on the latest science research in an accessible format to the public – mainly across bars and pubs. We want to provide a platform which allows people to discuss research with the people who carry it out and no prior knowledge of the subject is required.”

In 2018, Pint of Science Festivals were held in over 260 cities, across twenty-one countries. In Italy, twenty cities hosted Pint of Science events. All Pint of Science events across the world were held on the same three days – May 14-16.  Three venues hosted the events in L’Aquila. Over the three days, in L’Aquila, a total of sixteen lectures were presented. The topics were wide ranging, and included Chasing Gravitational Waves, Who’s Afraid of Social Media, and Living Together: From Municipalities to Cohousing and Beyond. My own lecture was titled Making Your Beer Great Again.

The Pint of Science Festival in L’Aquila covered a wide range of topics

The venue for my lecture was Fratelli Il Bacaro, which describes itself as:

”a Venetian tavern with a wide selection of wines by the glass and small snacks, a few seats and . . .  a place where dishes from the local and Italian culinary tradition are also served . . . a place to make culture, where young singers and musicians, who want to express themselves and grow through music, alternate with great artists.”

My lecture started at 9:30pm. The venue was cozy, and comfortably full with somewhere between thirty-five and forty people. Recognizing that the audience’s knowledge of English was probably highly variable, my colleague Giulia Pezzi had translated my entire Power Point presentation into Italian. I covered five themes in my lecture:

  • The rise of large breweries and the homogenization of beer
  • The emergence of home brewing and the rise of craft breweries
  • The craft beer drinker and what attracts him/her to craft beer
  • The craft brewery as a unique drinking space
  • The geography of craft breweries

While most of my material came from the United States, I did incorporate some examples from Europe. The talk seemed to go well, and the audience appeared engaged. After I had finished, audience members were invited to ask questions. There were six or seven questions, and I was really impressed with their overall thoughtfulness and insightfulness.

My participation in L’Aquila’s Pint of Science Festival did garner some attention in the Italian press, including a mention in La Repubblica, one of the country’s most influential daily newspapers. The local L’Aquila website, NewsTown, also covered my visit.  I was also interviewed by Fabio Iuliano, who runs the website virtuquotidiane.it.  Fabio’s interview touched on a number of interesting issues, including the reasons behind the success of craft brewing in the United States, and status of craft beer in Italy. He also noted that Bob Dylan was a recent co-investor in a craft whiskey distiller, Heaven’s Door. Fabio was interested in the similarities behind craft distilling and craft brewing industries. Fabio’s final question had to do with the President of the United States, Donald Trump. He wanted to know if the title of my lecture, “Making Your Beer Great Again” had been inspired by President Trump”s slogan “Make America Great Again”. I explained that while my presentation’s title was a clear nod to the President’s slogan, it was not intended as a political statement; I was simply having a little fun with my title. As I reflected on my interview with Fabio, I must admit that I had not anticipated being asked about Bob Dylan and President Trump in an interview about craft beer.

So that was my trip to L’Aquila. I had a wonderful visit and was, yet again, overwhelmed by the generosity of my Italian hosts. Fortunately, it will not be long before I am back in L’Aquila. I will be there in early July to participate in a workshop on “The Geography of Craft Beer Brewing and Consumption: Local Entrepreneurialism and Tourism Development”, an event that I am co-organizing with my Italian colleagues, Alessandra Faggian and Giulia Pezzi.

Until then, Saluti!

My colleague, Giulia Pezzi, introducing my lecture at A Pint of Science
There was a nice sized crowd at my Pint of Science lecture

Further Reading:

Paul, Praveen and Michael Motskin. Engaging the Public with Your Research. Trends In Immunology, Volume 37, Number 4, pp. 268-271.

Craft Beer, International

Craft Beer in Italy

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I was in Italy a few weeks ago. As with many of my trips these days, I went there to talk about beer. My first talk was to doctoral students in the Urban Studies and Regional Science program at the Gran Sasso Science Institute in L’Aquila. The seminar I taught provided a broad overview of the growth of craft beer in the United States, Continue reading Craft Beer in Italy →