Carlo Petrini, Slow Food movement founder, dies aged 76

Italy’s president leads tributes to campaigner who spent four decades promoting sustainability and local cuisine Carlo Petrini, the journalist who founded the Slow Food movement in protest against the arrival of the first McDonald’s in Italy, has died aged 76. Petrini, who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in recent years, died in his home town of Bra in northern Italy’s Piedmont region. He had led Slow Food, which since 1986 has campaigned against fast-food culture by promoting sustainability and local cuisine, as president until 2022. A statement from the Slow Food press office said Petrini, who also set up the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, near Bra, was “a visionary leader and public intellectual with a profound commitment to the common good, human relationships and the natural world”. Through his initiatives, Petrini had “brought to life a global movement rooted in the values of good, clean and fair food for all, connecting communities, farmers, food artisans, cooks, activists, and young people across the world”, the statement added. Italy’s president, Sergio Mattarella, led the tributes on Friday. “The death of Carlo Petrini leaves a great void, not onl