It was October/November 1993, we were in the middle of working on what was in fact, the first ever world restaurant guide to appear, all over the Internet. So you can call it the first one to be born, becoming the official one on the web as soon as it was published. This is thanks to the intuition of making agreements with the major guides of the international publishing scene, with which we have grown and learned in detail the sector: Michelin Guide, Espresso Guide, Gambero Rosso Guide, Relais Châteaux Guide, Slow Food Guide, Italian Academy of Cuisine Guide.
For the writing of the contents of the section dedicated to pizza, (conceived by us) we thought it was necessary at least to have, a collaboration with an important association of the sector because, unlike restaurants, there were not at that time in the editorial market authoritative guides, to give a serious orientation with their criticism, (as it has been happening for years in the world of art) that's why, without experience in the sector, we accepted the opportunity with the A.P.E.S. - Pizzaioli e Similari Association (former Supporters).
The creators and promoters of the contact were Carolin Juker, a dear friend and my fiancée, and her chef friend, Milly.
A.P.E.S. president Antonio Primiceri, also published a newspaper Pizza Press. It was the first association of pizza makers born in Italy, its headquarter was in Via Bertini 25 in Milan when I went to visit them I saw a corner building surrounded by walls, they also had a restaurant called Pourpurrie. The offices were located in the back of the restaurant there were the classic tables that made up the small classina editorial staff, and other offices with a small meeting room. Everything seemed normal to me. I, who came from large advertising agencies and worked for large multinational companies, was not expecting much, given the subject matter. It was the first time I had ever been in the headquarters of an industry association so I tried to understand what this world was all about, picked up a few copies of their magazine and went back to my office.
I leafed through the magazines and read carefully the different articles, I immediately realized that the graphic style of the magazine was very similar to the Bar Giornale, the most important newspaper of the sector at the time, I knew it because I had done for them the study of an advertising campaign, which unfortunately never came out, I remember that we paid the invoice of the reimbursement of expenses regularly, my friend Pippo Dilettoso has always been a serious and fair person. I read of the important initiatives that they organized for pizza in the world of catering, of the contests and of the acrobatic pizza makers, in short the A.P.E.S. seemed to me an association of all respect in grando therefore to be able to guarantee us a serious opinion in the sector, with the time then I had to decidedly change my mind as we will see more ahead.
In March of 1996 I fixed a meeting with Primiceri, it was very important, in studying the solution for them I realized that at stake was even the world promotion of artisanal pizza in general, and Internet was the perfect media, as if used properly, it could become both a case of a really phenomenal media and the most correct way of its insertion in the great international gastronomic publishing heritage (the initiative) could also represent a substantial differentiation in the sector itself, so it was necessary that it also had its own domain "in addition to ours of the Restaurant Guide".
What solution would have been better than the word "pizza" registered in Italy?
The idea had been in my head for at least a month, but to realize it I had to present it first and get it approved.
In a short meeting in March 1996 I proposed the idea to Primiceri, who approved it immediately.
A summary of the meeting could be written as follows:
Customer Antonio Primiceri: "the important thing in this initiative is that there is the word pizza".
The creative, me, Giovanni Zullo: "then the ideal solution is pizza.it", I can't think of anything stronger.
Work start date: "the day after the approval", I realized that it was also necessary to write a document about the agreements established during the meeting.
The reason why I decided to assign the domain http://www.pizza.it to the APES Association was dictated by the naive rules for the assignment of internet domains formulated by GARR (Italian official body) with its Naming rules (developed internally, with a lawyer friend) that required, the real follies of Italian bureaucratic type:
(1) the limitation, for each Italian citizen, or company to be able to be the holder of only one internet address.
(2) to have a direct competence with the subject matter, exercising directly the profession that would have meant for me, or be a pizza maker or at least, the owner of a pizzeria.
How could I do it since I already had a domain name: "www.adv-factory.it" and as a profession I was a creative advertising "art director" and I had already acquired international fame, thanks to the years of work spent abroad, fortunately for me.
It is essential to underline the fact that at the time this clause created great problems, not only for me but also for many Italian companies including Olivetti / Fiat / Armani and many others who owned one or more regularly registered trademarks. Corriere della Sera 1997.
There were many courts involved in these cases, so they were forced to issue sentences.
At that time, the disinformation on the internet was total, the chaos was really real.
Unfortunately still today 2021, even if something has been done in Italy, things are still not completely clear, concerning the difference of value between a regularly registered trademark and an internet domain that everybody in the world rents from year to year.
In any case I followed step, step after sending the fax, informing me by phone to the association on how they had followed the procedures of the registration of the domain, the secretaries always responded positively to my questions with: "all good - all in place".
I remember above all an answer of the accountant Nicoletta, surely one of the direct people in charge, who rather annoyed, answered me: "everything is fine! We've done everything we had to", surely they had paid the subscription for the Internet connection.
But, for the rest it was not at all true, as the facts reported later testify.
The official results of the registration of the domain to GARR, made by me via the Internet in the company of 4 other people, the boys of the server then, eyewitnesses in the month of April 1996, gave as a result in the www granted, PIZZA.IT to Ibe.Net S.p.a. (name of the provider we used at the time).
The company had started the thing, as per my instructions, and GARR, out of trust and daily professional relationship had granted it. But, in order to conclude the registration, both were waiting for the completion of the necessary documents, such as a simple copy of the registration to the Chamber of Commerce, which in truth were never sent by the Association A.P.E.S to Ibe.Net S.p.a.
Towards the end of June, in the course of further research, we discovered that the domain www.pizza.it had been, instead, granted to Malto & Co, of Umberto Bacchetti (an activity that owned both a pizzeria and the representation of some brands of beer) - which later became Pizza S.r.l (what to think if not the umpteenth Italian cunning?).
The reason why I decided to assign the domain http://www.pizza.it to the APES Association was dictated by the naive rules for the assignment of internet domains formulated by GARR (Italian official body) with its Naming rules (developed internally, with a lawyer friend) that required, the real follies of Italian bureaucratic type:
(1) the limitation, for each Italian citizen, or company to be able to be the holder of only one internet address.
(2) to have a direct competence with the subject matter, exercising directly the profession that would have meant for me, or be a pizza maker or at least, the owner of a pizzeria.
How could I do it since I already had a domain name: "www.adv-factory.it" and as a profession I was a creative advertising "art director" and I had already acquired international fame, thanks to the years of work spent abroad, fortunately for me.
It is essential to underline the fact that at the time this clause created great problems, not only for me but also for many Italian companies including Olivetti / Fiat / Armani and many others who owned one or more regularly registered trademarks. Corriere della Sera 1997.
There were many courts involved in these cases, so they were forced to issue sentences.
At that time, the disinformation on the internet was total, the chaos was really real.
Unfortunately still today 2021, even if something has been done in Italy, things are still not completely clear, concerning the difference of value between a regularly registered trademark and an internet domain that everybody in the world rents from year to year.
In any case I followed step, step after sending the fax, informing me by phone to the association on how they had followed the procedures of the registration of the domain, the secretaries always responded positively to my questions with: "all good - all in place".
I remember above all an answer of the accountant Nicoletta, surely one of the direct people in charge, who rather annoyed, answered me: "everything is fine! We've done everything we had to", surely they had paid the subscription for the Internet connection.
But, for the rest it was not at all true, as the facts reported later testify.
The official results of the registration of the domain to GARR, made by me via the Internet in the company of 4 other people, the boys of the server then, eyewitnesses in the month of April 1996, gave as a result in the www granted, PIZZA.IT to Ibe.Net S.p.a. (name of the provider we used at the time).
The company had started the thing, as per my instructions, and GARR, out of trust and daily professional relationship had granted it. But, in order to conclude the registration, both were waiting for the completion of the necessary documents, such as a simple copy of the registration to the Chamber of Commerce, which in truth were never sent by the Association A.P.E.S to Ibe.Net S.p.a.
Towards the end of June, in the course of further research, we discovered that the domain www.pizza.it had been, instead, granted to Malto & Co, of Umberto Bacchetti (an activity that owned both a pizzeria and the representation of some brands of beer) - which later became Pizza S.r.l (what to think if not the umpteenth Italian cunning?).
Relations with the A.P.E.S. Association have always been a bit difficult, apart from the early days, I think the main responsibility is to be assigned to the disarming mental slowness on the subject of communication in general, of Mrs. Anna Bandera, Primiceri's life and work companion, of the internet then (at the time it was certainly not easy, I admit) but the worst thing was not only not to understand its importance but not even trying to understand, unlike all the other professionals in the world of communication. In other words, a real dull bigot. Who knows, maybe it is necessary to be like that to take care of an association of pizza makers and of the editorial staff of a magazine such as Pizza Press, on the other hand it is known that to make pizza it is not necessary to have a great cultural preparation, at least that was the case at that time.
Often her behavior, like that of the women in their office, was very unfriendly: as soon as they mentioned the Internet they reacted with obstinacy and fear. I remember a scene of true hysteria made by a secretary of Ciao Pizza in 1996 (Expo Food): "I'll never learn to use the Internet," she said angrily with terror in her eyes.
During the releases of the advertising campaign (August-September-October 1996) some facts happened that immediately changed the strategic direction of the agreements made and the contract stipulated with them, which were not at all clear on the contents of the initiative:
(1) The possible risk of denunciation for false declaration on the part of the F.I.P.E. Federazione Italiana Pubblici Esercizi or Conf Commercio the "official Italian organs of the sector", the organizations had become aware of our Pizza.it initiative, for which we had even had several thousand brochures printed with the affirmation that the Associazione Pizzaioli e Similari (ex-Supporters) was the only organization officially recognized by the Italian Government, but this was not true at all. They had simply started the project for the application but in reality it was all unfinished.
In a meeting in Rome with the secretary of FIPE, Dr. Eddi Sommariva, after having paid me great compliments for the initiative, which I had put on the table with a copy of the newspapers, he said one sentence: "these are copies signed one by one", after which he expressly asked me to remove from internet search engines all the inserted links, it was a work of months, damn them.
(2) The A.P.E.S. Association had done another really big thing, it had granted its trademark as a guarantee of quality to FINDUS for the launch of its own Pizza Margherita Surgelata!
The choice to make was by now evident, I would say, or rather obligatory, to rescind the agreement made and forward a request for damages to those responsible.
How would it have been possible for us to become credible if the best restaurants in the world, the good ones, had been flanked by pizzerias that, for lack of professional love, made their pizza with frozen dough?
You can't even imagine how angry pizza makers and pizzeria owners were with APES over this decision.
With Umberto Bacchetti, the ordeal lasted 11 months, after which I told him over the phone that the board of directors of my company - Advertising Factory Inc. - had decided that, with him, no agreement would ever be made, on the domain pizza.it, since the value of an internet domain is not even comparable to that of a registered trademark.
But who is Mr. Umberto Bacchetti, a sales representative from Marche of those door to door sales, or more precisely from the foot in the door, owner of a brewery/pizzeria at the time that he sold later, stuffed by a local provider the Wall Net srl.
One of the many companies born with the new economy (in phase 1), one of those that gave the internet connection and thought they had the world in their hands, at the time all providers registered free internet domains, which they then billed because they made the sites for unsuspecting customers. Like many other companies at the time, it was definitely made up of people who knew, yes, computer science but who had jumped into the world of communication totally at the expense of others, without any previous professional experience in marketing, communication or graphics. Not to mention copyright, a real disaster in the field. They had convinced the naive Bacchetti, that a registered trademark or a domain, were the same thing.
It was the era in which many invented professionalism and specialization never heard before, the damage created by this type of professional practice, were really devastating for many companies, small entrepreneurs, individuals.
The new economy was a meteor in the world economy, tragically ended quickly for these reasons, too bad! I invite those who are skeptical to verify personally, it is sufficient to inquire with someone who was there at the time and who may have lost a lot of money.
The relationship with Antonio Primiceri was simply a succession of requests for money for every possible occasion of official promotion of Pizza.it starting from Ciaopizza in 1996 - where, in order to have a stand, put the computers, present the service and sell the pizzapuzzles, he asked me for 6 million liras, in short, no contribution or help from him or the organization. Not even a good word to make an internet site for a pizzeria associated with them. During our last phone call, in July of 1997, he asked me if he and his organization still had anything to do with Pizza.it, and when I firmly affirmed: "I would say no!" he asked me what he was gaining by keeping the address www.pizza.it on his Pizza Press. What can we say about such a professional? We'll leave the considerations to you.
This experience has been a sort of hard impact with the world of catering and especially the associative one, over time I have heard many times this comment about Antonio Primiceri: "his friends soon became his enemies". He also managed to make the industry dream, some of his enemies still say that he was the best in his field.
The A.P.E.S. association hasn't existed for a few years now, although I saw at the Oil Congress in 2014 in Milan that Ms. Bandera was giving a talk. I believe that the experience with Pizza.it was the last moment of celebrity in her enterprises, or almost.
The fact remains that many people have passed through A.P.E.S. and then left to found other pizza associations, some of which have done good work, such as the True Neapolitan Pizza Association, which, after a somewhat uncertain start, seems to remain one of the most valid.
A metropolitan myth: it has been rumored for some time in Italy that: an American company has proposed a billion liras to those who registered the domain http://www.pizza.it. I can assure as managing director of that company that it is not true at all. Maybe this is the umpteenth Italian trick to get the .eu domains or the registration of the international brand pizza.it. I can instead announce that we have another solution in the drawer that we will make known soon and that the brand pizza.it in Italy, obviously will be renewed out of respect for our work.
At this point some legal information for the story. The project of the first guide to the restaurants of the world on the internet was registered at the end of 1993; legally and legally "there is a copy in a sealed envelope naturally deposited in a bank" - since then the guide has been divided into the following types of cuisine: meat, fish, typical, pizza, exotic, vegetarian.
Our goal, that of valorizing the artisanal production of pizza in the world, has worked perfectly, in these years raising the value of traditional pizza, to gourmet pizza, with our provocation begun in 1996, a UNESCO recognition has also arrived, in which we obviously participated, things are not yet as we would like them to be, but you will soon have news from us.
Giovanni Zullo creator and owner of the initiative Pizza.it (brand renewed after 20 years) with a small variation in Pizza.it:), thus bringing back to be absolutely unique as at the beginning, if we had kept only the point as differentiation, the result would have been enormously weaker because of the countless copiers who will have to pay heavily for the image damage produced.
