On a bright morning in Parma, Marta Grandi stands in the central Piazza Garibaldi clutching a banner that reads “Change Food, Save the Planet”. Clustered around the 16-year-old are about 50 mostly school-age teenagers.
They decided to skip school that day, Ms Grandi says, to take part in FridaysForFuture, the global climate protest movement started by the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. “Business is destroying our future,” she says.
The recent noisy scene, some 10 minutes walk across honey-coloured piazzas from the world’s biggest pasta maker, Barilla, brings home the immediate challenge facing Paolo Barilla, and his siblings Guido and Luca, who together run the closely-held family business in its fourth generation.