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Costa Diadema supports local Italian produce with Pecorino Romano cheese initiative

Costa Diadema
Special events on Costa Diadema will be organised to promote Italian cheese, Pecorino Romano
For a whole month, on board Costa Diadema, during stopovers in Civitavecchia on April 5, 12, 19 and 26, special events will be organised to promote Italian cheese, Pecorino Romano.

In the ship's main restaurants, guests can sample a taste before dinner. Dishes on the Lazio regional menu served on all Costa ships arriving in Civitavecchia will be pepped up with the flavour of Pecorino Romano including mozzarella in carrozza (fried cheese sandwiches) on a pecorino romano fondue, amatriciana-style rigatoni with shavings of pecorino romano and redfish filet in a potato and pecorino romano crust.

The history, production and use of the cheese is being documented through corporate videos, brochures and recipe books supplied by the Pecorino Romano D.O.P. Consortium.

Costa Cruises is working with the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Forestry and Tourism and the Italian Alliance of Agri-Food Cooperatives to present the initiative.

Every year, ships in the Costa fleet use around 10,000kg of Pecorino Romano produced by five different Sardinian cooperatives belonging to the Italian Alliance of Agri-Food Cooperatives. Despite its name suggesting that the cheese is originally from Lazio, not everyone knows that 97% of this cheese is actually produced in Sardinia.

Supporting local Italian produce

‘We are again extremely proud to be supporting a great Italian product like Pecorino Romano’, says Neil Palomba, President of Costa Cruises. ‘We buy our food and wine from around 200 local producers across Italy’.

‘To support the sheep and goat farming supply chain, we needed to take concrete steps. Promoting Pecorino Romano on the Costa Cruises flagship Costa Diadema is very significant as it brings tourism and agriculture together’, says the Italian Minister for Agriculture, Food, Forestry and Tourism, Sen. Gian Marco Centinaio.

‘Promoting excellent Italian products and taking them around the world is the best way of introducing our country. Pecorino Romano needs new markets in order to emerge from the crisis and become as widely known as possible. Initiatives like this can only be positive for the sector and for the Italian agri-food business as a whole.’

‘Cooperatives produce over 60% of all Pecorino Romano - says Giorgio Mercuri, President of the Italian Alliance of Agri-Food Cooperatives - and we are very glad that Costa Cruises has decided to involve our member companies as suppliers because it means they will always be at the forefront of promoting the product on its cruise ships,’ Centinaio continued.

Gourmet mozzarella bar

This follows as part of Costa's ongoing effort to present the best in Italian cuisine. Previously Costa Cruises produced authentic mozzarella di bufala on board, to be served in its new Mozzarella Gourmet Bar on ships across its fleet.