Spot Campagna Brand - Corexitaly

The Campagna Story

CAMPAGNA…a story…

“For centuries Italian farming families have enjoyed cooking under blue Mediterranean skies. Gathered together in the fields and vineyards of their campagna they would enjoy the simple pleasures of fine food and good company.”

Campagna is one of Corex’s oldest and best loved brands. Although the brand name is relatively young, the traditions it represents are centuries-old.

“Campagna” in Italian means literally “countryside” and for Italians the countryside is the epitomy of goodness.

All the products under this range, from pasta, to tomatoes, to oil, to beans have one thing in common: they are produced with all-natural ingredients from the Italian countryside, using age-old methods passed down from generation to generation of Italian farming families.

Many clients have enquired as to the identity of the buxom housewife depicted in our Campagna label, and while we are not quite prepared to reveal all, we can say that she is the subject of a painting which dates back to 1624 and which today hangs in the main Corex office in Battipaglia. Affectionately known as “Maria” by Corex staff, this Italian “mamma” watches over us and reminds us daily of what Campagna is all about: the love of simple pleasures- fine food and good company.

CAMPAGNA PASTA

Campagna pasta is made with the finest durum wheat semolina, harvested from the golden wheat fields of Italy, and blended with cool clear water from the Italian hills, just as our forefathers did many years ago. An old Italian poem goes something like this:

“ When I die cry for me

for a quarter hour while you bury me

and at 11 o’clock say goodbye,

let bygones be bygones and at 2 o’clock

put the pasta on.”

Originally pasta in Italy was a conception of sheer genius. It began with growing the highest quality hard wheat, then finding the right miller to grind it to certain precise coarser, semi-milled product: “semolina”.

“Il pastaio” or pasta maker then had to use his skill in carefully mixing this corn-coloured ingredient with the freshest cold water from the Italian hills. After the mixing came the shaping and the pasta was forced through bronze dies. Next the product was dried in open-windowed lofts where either the mountain air or sea breezes - or both depending on the region- could circulate. This carefully-monitored drying process could take up to two days but produced a quality of pasta that captured within it all the nuttiness and flavour of the wheat grain but also a special texture. The tiny coarse semolina granules and the effect of the bronze dies produced a roughness at the edges which would provide, when cooked, the right kind of surface to which the sauce would adhere and cling and not slide off. So simple, so subtle and so wonderful.

Campagna pasta today is still made according to those same principles: natural goodness, traditional methods and much love.

CAMPAGNA TOMATOES

The Mediterranean tomato is naturally rich in lycopene- an antioxidant thought to ward off cancer- and in vitamin C, potassium, vitamin A and iron.

Campagna tomatoes have a particular taste due to the rich Italian soil in which they are planted and their excellent quality depends largely on the experience of our farmers, who regulate the amount of water used for the nutrition of the plant according to the season in hand. Only this experience tells us when is the right moment to harvest and Campagna tomatoes are hand-picked in order not to spoil the colour, texture and integrity of each individual fruit. Next we pack under a strict quality control regime so that the goodness picked is that enjoyed by the consumer.

CAMPAGNA OIL

Campagna oil is made from olives grown year after year in the ancient olive groves in the Campagna region in the heart of Southern Italy. This area is 200 mt above sea level and only 30 km from the Amalfi coast, opposite the island of Capri. It was first uncovered by the Ancient Greeks in 500 B.C. who lovingly developed and cared for this land. They realised that the terrain was ideal for olive cultivation because of the calcareous, stoney nature of the soil and the peculiar microclimate. Documents show that the oil produced here was a favourite with many Kings and Popes of the XVI and XVII centuries.

Nowadays the descendants of those first olive growers continue to uphold these age-old traditions and we are proud to produce Campagna olive oil in the same way as the first Greeks. Our olives are hand-picked then ground, before being cold-pressed. The result is a rich golden liquid with a ripe mellow taste.

CAMPAGNA- BRAND OF THE PAST AND EMBLEM OF THE FUTURE

Recent statistics show that Campagna was Corex’s leading brand in 2003 and 2004. It is currently sold in all 5 continents and does exceptionally well in Japan, Taiwan, UK, USA, South Africa, Phillippines, Djibouti, Mauritius, Malta, Cyprus, Singapore, Mauritius, China…

Product range has been widely expanded during 2005 to include over 75 references, with another 15 on the drawing board…