Most of the times, in Los Angeles, when you sit at a restaurant table they serve you a glass of water with ice and lemon. On the other hand, if you order an espresso at any coffee shop, it will not be accompanied by a glass of water. Even Italian ice cream will always be served without water. This also happens in Italian restaurants in the County. In clubs, and any place that sells alcohol, unless a specific brand is requested,
bar tenders and customers also call a sparkling wine “champagne”. If you ask for a white Martini they’ll bring you the Martini cocktail, and if you want vermouth you have to ask for a Cinzano. It is clear that even in the bar and restaurant field, Italian culture has arrived somewhat distorted. It might be a communication problem and, of course, translating a message for a foreign culture is not always easy.
In many wine shops in Los Angeles, you can find wines that are not available in supermarkets. Californian wines and imported wines, all presumably of better quality than the less expensive wines from the local market. The Italian wines are mostly imported from Northern Italy or Tuscany, sometimes from Sicily. These wines have nothing to do with the wines that we buy from the farmer who only produces a few bottles.
In short, since I moved in Los Angeles I have been drinking wine more rarely and I look forward going back to Napoli and enjoy a good glass of Greco di Tufo or even a Falanghina dei Campi Flegrei … Sugar free!
Why the wines produced in Campania are not found in Los Angeles?
Vincenzo Notaro, an expert in philosophy, art and communication, argues that the beautiful stories of life and passion that arise in Southern Italy do not arrive elsewhere, they are in fact unknown because in the South we miss the concept of communication.
For this reason, last Summer, Vincenzo’s creativity gave birth to a new initiative that spreads the excellence of the South starting from our land to reach the rest of the world. This initiative got just the best name it is Il SudPlus/The SudPlus. The experience in the field of publishing, as well as in the communication and digital communication began immediately after university, when, as a recent graduated, Vincenzo Notaro introduced the already established family publishing company into the world of the web. After directing important campaigns for multinationals in the pharmaceutical sector, and in the field of information protection and internationalization, he opened up to other sectors such as luxury food & wine and tourism, after which he founded Officina Mirabilis an ethical and communication advertising agency w operates in the Vesuvian area, and for which he works as creative director. Together with Valeria Nazzaro, content curator for Officina Mirabilis, Vincenzo follows the beautiful things from the territory by offering a series of services ranging from the creation of the logo to advertising strategies, consultancy and press office for events. (Discover the entire list of services here).
For more than 15 years Vincenzo Notaro has been collaborating with Pep Minichino, extraordinary Art Director, founder of Campanica and Kampanika, a local aggregator that features the county of Campania. Together they have conceived a glocal rebranding project aimed at relaunching the island of Ischia.
VN – I love Ischia. I have lived there all the Summers of my life and I am attached to it. Now everyone is selling cheap, Ischia is in neglect and in decay and this hurts me.
One day Pep called me and he proposed to do this thing together. And so we did it.
Currently, Iskiah’s proposal is without economic supporters, despite this it continues to be carried out by the two creatives and by Valeria Nazzaro who, with her sensitivity and her artistic-cultural background, takes care of the contents of the initiative.
Officina Mirabilis’ vision is clearly understandable from the name. Since its inception, Officina Mirabilis has been an ever-evolving laboratory. Teamwork and a sense of community animate every initiative. The collaborations are many and varied and all things proceed following an ethical vision, both in terms of the product as well as in the communication itself. Officina Mirabilis spent the lockdown in smart-working. During the absurd segregation these guys were not disheartened and they even increased the proposal of new initiatives. Valeria has launched two of her ethical micro-influencer projects on Instagram: NaturaMirabilis and CulturaMirabilis, interesting plans that we will hopefully explore in the next edition;
Vincenzo and Pep continue to move in favor of the future of the South, so that it can return being productive and finally independent.
VN – The possibility of the network is an additional networking opportunity in order to share and tocarry out participatory campaigns. Unity is strength and so we get everywhere.-
Pep Minichino has directed advertising campaigns for McCann Erickson, J. Walter Thompson, Longari & Loman. He is also known for his advertising campaigns for Amaro Montenegro, Dietor, Sofficini Findus, Antica Gelateria del Corso, Pepsi Sin Cafeina.
A very nice creative, a beautiful soul who join the spirit of the brilliant philosopher became his firend and his mentor. With its networking project Campanica Pep Minichino favors the birth of many important projects, including those shared with Officina Mirabilis and also TheSudPlus.
The team plays well and the results are already visible. The long friendship and creative understanding between Pep and Vincenzo opens the first official match launched by The SudPlus as a challenge to France. NA57 Vs FRENCH 75.
This game stems from an old dispute over the paternity of the name Champagne.
Very nicely, a Neapolitan would say: “Champagne is our wine with soda!”
VN – In our lands we have spectacular wines, but they are not advertised. The Falanghina of Campi Flegrei, for example, is so savory that it almost seems salty. This minerality is not found elsewhere. Although the mineral content of Champagne is quite high, it does not reach that of Falanghina of Campi Flegrei. We have it because we are the real Champagna.-
The SudPlus, the Hotel School I.S.I.S. “L. De ‘Medici” of Ottaviano and Slow Food Agro Nolano presented an event for the rebirth of the territory, an event that links Giordano Bruno’s philosophy to the reinterpretation of a classic dish of Neapolitan culinary tradition, precisely to the Minestra Eretica … relative to Menesta Mmaretata.The recipe sees the classic version of the Menesta Mmaretata with some innovative “heretical” elements, through the choice of ingredients from ethical production regimes, such as, for example, organic, biologic. This is another thing that Napulitanamente likes about The SudPlus, it is the young, dynamic and open way of communicating to create a balance of energies between the past and the present, between the tradition of the South and its evolution. The philosophical-culinary event was conceived by Vincenzo Notaro and it was shared with Vincenzo Falco and Gianluca Napolitano, with whom he already collaborates in the “Vesuvio Eretico” initiative, with the aim of spreading knowledge at all levels and with the goal of sharing, through events like this , the necessary values to face the loss of humanity that, especially in this time, it afflicts our territory and our heart. The direction goes toward the awareness of the importance of choosing the common good.
The SudPlus is the product & experience design network from South to Plus.Based in Nola, Napoli,The SudPlus is a B2C (business to consumer) network and it deals with the product design network and the product experience design network. The SudPlus does this by putting at the center the South of Italy and of the world.
It focuses on the effectiveness of the translation of a message directed to a foreign culture and it recreates identity, it invents disambiguations,it plans and promotes territorial connections, it conveys companies that follow the path of doing well, toward a good and ethical evolution of the whole community, making known products, initiatives and the excellences of Southern Italy.
The intention is to bring the idea of the South to a higher level than that is commonly considered, by re-emerging the indisputable creative plus of the South, a creative plus that has characterized our extraordinary production and our cultural history over the centuries.Currently there are a series of proposals, including Eco-Fashion renting, Miele del Vesuvio, Coaching for other communication, that are work in progress but that are proceding slowly due the pandemic.By visiting The SudPlus blog you will find the proposals that are open to sponsorship and partnership they are listed and described in total transparency. For each proposal on the blog you will also find the idea of the product or the experience, the content management and the media plan, and then the costs and the benefits.The first goodie launched by The SudPlus is a cocktail entirely Neapolitan.The name of the cocktail is NA57 and it is a challenge to the French cocktail FRENCH 75.The claim that SudPlus has created for the launch of the cocktail is #Nabomb and will be the all-Neapolitan trend for this Summer.
