Italy is famous for food culture. Starting in ancient Rome and expanding outward, the Italians have always lived off the land and used the Mediterranean waters as fishing grounds. Agriculture and fishing was a way several hundred years ago to sustain one’s family and barter and trade with others.
In many areas of Italy such as Sicily or Sardinia, fishing is still common practice. Farming and raising animals is also common in many areas of Italy, such as in the regions of Abruzzo or Molise.
During the industrial boom in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, factories invaded many Italian towns, especially in the north of Italy. Unfortunately, factory farms started to spring up here in the 1960’s. In Italian it is called allevamento intensivo.
However, the world is changing and little by little veganism is becoming more widespread.
Not only are we finding that it is no longer sustainable and causes extreme animal suffering, but we are also finding that the contaminated waters and effects of eating contaminated foods are hazardous to our health. In Italy, many animal rights and environmental groups are standing up to make a change. In fact in many ways, Italy and the European Union is making changes much faster than the USA. In 1999, Italy had banned the use of all hormones. Of course, next steps would include the promotion of Veganism in all of the world.
Ads like this have been seen throughout Italy:
Read, it says: “Who will you eat today?” “Animals are not things. When you eat them or exploit them, you eat someone. Not something. Become Vegan”
For those looking to get involved with groups based out of Italy, there are several websites and information available. Some of them include:
- Agire Ora. (Animal rights and veganism)
- A.D.D.A: Associazione per la difesa dei diritti degli animali. (Animal rights and factory farms)
- LAV: Lega Antivivisezione (against animal experimentation, for animal rights, vegan)
- CambiaMenu.it (vegan website from LAV)
- VeganItalia.it (promoting Veganism)
- CampagneperGliAnimali.org (to promote Specism)
You can even find stickers and flyers around like this one:
Reads: “Against every factory farms, against every slavery”
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