Interview to Olga Urbani
Humanity and technological innovation. Family and responsibility but most of all, nature, perfumes and tastes of an underground deeply inebriating fruit. We met Olga Urbani, just back from New York, and she told us the story of an Italian company known all over the world as the leading company of truffle. A position conquered also thanks to a 170 years long family history that keeps people’s wellbeing and unity alive. A story that lives on the solid basis of a vivid memory and on the experience of those able to pass on the authentic value of truffle.
Truffle is an undisputed Italian symbol, so, Olga, we are asking you hat are the Italian values known all over the world? And which of these are Urbani Tartufi’s values as well?
Surely, family comes first. In New York Urbani has been a great success since 1911, when my grandfather sent his brother to introduce truffle there. This popularity was determined by our commercial value that has always been a symbol of authenticity in our market: the real taste of truffle made by nature’s times and hard work. Why am I starting from the immense value of family? Because our company –even though it is a multinational hiring managers in its many international offices- stays a family company that just turned 170. Unlike many Italian companies splitting up, we received the duty of preserving our unity. I believe that Urbani’s talent stands in this ability of keeping the bar straight on the family, regardless of the differences typical of every group, and defending it as a value passed on to all of our children and collaborators.
It is no coincidence that when we hire someone in New York we usually look for Italian-American people: it’s important that our collaborators know the American market but also that they understand the Italian values of unity and cohesion expressed by the family, and the same goes for the Asian or European market. The fact that the world sees Urbani as a group of people gives me enormous satisfaction. My mother taught me that in our company we only own the wellbeing of those working with us: if you manage them positively and value the human aspect of the relationships, something good will always come back at you. However, the value of family and being Italian are not only expressed abroad, they also appear in the Museum we created in Scheggino, one of the our Country’s corporate museums. It might be the smallest, but it embodies these 170 years of history and not only material legacy, of those creating and starting this company, along with truffle culture.
You mentioned Urbani Tartufi’s 170th anniversary. What makes such an historic brand still relevant and able to operate cross-markets?
Technological innovation and – getting back on business humanization- the innovation of managers, their training, which is not just technical but includes emotional intelligence. In my opinion, Urbani was able to preserve itself because it never stopped. A fine example is Truffleland. Our new truffle farming project representing today the perfect finalization of a supply chain that allows us to cultivate raw materials. A successful bet due to the will of my son Francesco and technological innovation: Urbani has always been a truffle processing company, and now it is also a producer. A difficult and long process because the spore mycorrhization in the plants’ roots involves something very complex and creating a natural symbiosis inside a lab has sometimes given us results that were not in line with our expectations. Especially in the beginning, we went from enthusiasm to wanting to quit, but it never happened.
It doesn’t matter how many difficulties we had and how many we will have: just last month I signed the act of authorization of a 4.200 square meters extension in Urbani Tartufi’s production, i.e. the double of the land presently reserved to research and technological innovation. This is because at Urbani we constantly feel a great responsibility towards our customers, our children, grandchildren and the ones of our collaborators: of the future, basically. And the secret to respect all this stands in the constant technical innovation and in investing also, and most of all, during the periods of international financial crisis, like the one we are living in, because crisis pushes us towards change, questioning ourselves and creating new paths. Doing well is not enough for us: we want to go beyond our possibilities, and while perfection does not exist and might be difficult to imitate, quality can be unconfutable.
What does truffle mean to Olga Urbani: a luxury good or a customary ingredient?
I guess that on an international level truffle is perceived as a luxury good and, after all, given its commercial positioning, it is. But if you’re asking me what does truffle means to me, I have to tell you that I perceive its true essence and live it like a miracle of nature and earth. Truffle to me is a miracle in black and white, a miracle connected to magic and emotions embracing the whole process of hunting and quarrying.
An experience deeply connected to nature, to the mystery around underground truffle and to the special connection of gratitude between the hunter and the dog when they bring it to light. Then, if I think about truffle, I perceive its scent, that you can really smell everywhere and that I adore, as well as its flavor, its taste.
What is the acknowledgement you are most proud of as a representative of Urbani Tartufi?
Receiving the call from the President of the Republic communicating me I had been appointed Cavaliere del Lavoro was an indescribable emotion, not only for the importance of the title and the moment itself, but for a reason connected with my father, who was also appointed the same title in 1996. I remember how much he wished for such a prestigious and worthy recognition. I remember when he came home, his emotion, his pride and the conversation we had. I congratulated with him, adding that someday I would have also liked to receive the same title. He told me this would never happen, because it was a title reserved to men only.
I took it as a challenge and worked hard for years and years to reach that seemingly impossible goal, also in my father’s eyes. And here I am today, Cavaliere del Lavoro, committed -together with the other appointed women- to raise the number of female entrepreneurs to be invested with this title. At the moment we are less than 3%, but I’m proud to say that this year, for the first time, also thanks to this all female effort, there were six women appointed Cavaliere del Lavoro, instead of the usual three: a step forward that, even in this case, feeds on perseverance and determination.
