Rovagnati presents Paolo’s Dream, a short film about the entrepreneur who changed the course of Italian culinary history

The short film was produced in collaboration with Connexia and Sun Light Advertising & Services, with which Rovagnati has long-established ties. It was broadcast on the main Italian television networks on 8 December and can be found on all of the company’s online channels.

Biassono (MB), 11 December 2023 – On 8 December, all of the main Italian networks broadcast Paolo’s Dream, an animated short film that celebrates the life and entrepreneurial legacy of Paolo Rovagnati. Eighty years after the entrepreneur was born, Rovagnati is telling the story behind an idea that changed Italian culinary traditions and transformed Cooked Ham from a product made from meat discarded when making Dry Cured Ham into a prestigious player in the world of Italian cuisine.

The video was made using the traditional technique of animation on threes and based on a concept developed by the Creative Team at Connexia, under the supervision of Executive Creative Director Riccardo Catagnano and in collaboration with the illustrator and Creative Director Margherita Premuroso. Harnessing feelings and memories, the video has a powerful emotional impact.

The short film sums up the story of Paolo Rovagnati. It opens in the 1950s, when he was still a young man starting to help his father in the family business. At the time, they made butter and sold cheese. Paolo had a brainwave and decided to make the enterprising move of creating a unique, unmistakable product that couldn’t be found in the market at the time: High Quality Cooked Ham.

Viewers can watch Paolo reaching adulthood and – after a number of attempts over the years – eventually achieving his goal of creating Gran Biscotto, which is now the number one product in the cooked ham market (data source: Circana). Another of Paolo’s dreams is to take his products all the way to markets such as the United States. Surrounding him in the film are his family and all the people at Rovagnati who’ve inherited his values and his powerful vision. In the moving final scene of the short, the young Paolo wakes up. However, his dreams about the Rovagnati business and the American market have now come true.

“We’re proud of this project, which honours the legacy left by Paolo not just for us, but for the whole country. The 80th anniversary of his birth presents an opportunity to tell the story of a man who was a visionary entrepreneur and also an incredible father and husband. With that in mind, we’re delighted that the short manages to show both his professional and his personal side, which are firmly bound together by the idea of his dream,” state the Rovagnati family.

“Paolo’s Dream is a tribute not only to an entrepreneur but also to the visionary outlook, passion and perseverance that can turn a bright idea into something truly great. Animation is perhaps the most simple and accessible way of telling stories like this and we chose it so it can inspire everyone, including children: the potential innovators of tomorrow,” adds Riccardo Catagnano, Executive Creative Director at Connexia, a Retex brand.

“Telling the story of Paolo Rovagnati’s Dream with images was an exciting challenge for me. I began by asking for family stories and anecdotes from those who knew him, so I could make the memories as palpable as possible in a character that resembles him in every way, not just physically. Through the pictures and the animation, I hope I’ve managed to convey the same combination of kindness and determination that I heard all about in the memories shared with me,” remarks illustrator Margherita Premuroso.