Italian Geographical Indications See Record Growth, Driven by Olive Oil and Wine

Summary

The value of Italy’s geo­graph­i­cal-indi­ca­tions food econ­omy rose 3.5 per­cent in 2024, with cer­ti­fied prod­ucts now account­ing for 19 per­cent of the coun­try’s agri-food turnover. Exports of GI-cer­ti­fied foods climbed 8.2 per­cent, sur­pass­ing €12.3 bil­lion, but the future of GIs depends heav­ily on global mar­ket con­di­tions as geopo­lit­i­cal uncer­tain­ties grow.

The value of Italy’s geo­graph­i­cal-indi­ca­tions food econ­omy rose 3.5 per­cent in 2024. Quality food, olive oil and wine PDOs, PGIs and STGs sur­passed €20.7 bil­lion in total value, up 25 per­cent from 2020.

The lat­est Ismea-Qualivita report shows that these cer­ti­fied prod­ucts now account for 19 per­cent of Italy’s agri-food turnover. Exports of GI-cer­ti­fied foods climbed 8.2 per­cent in 2024, sur­pass­ing €12.3 bil­lion.

Recognized and reg­is­tered by the European Union, PDOs (Protected Designation of Origin) and PGIs (Protected Geographical Indication) safe­guard prod­ucts tied to spe­cific pro­duc­tion areas, while STGs (Traditional Speciality Guaranteed) iden­tify goods made using tra­di­tional recipes.

The report found that 328 GI con­sor­tia now coor­di­nate more than 184,000 oper­a­tors nation­wide, sup­port­ing over 864,000 jobs.

Twenty-seven con­sor­tia are ded­i­cated exclu­sively to olive oil, over­see­ing 50 reg­is­tered denom­i­na­tions and rep­re­sent­ing more than 25,000 busi­nesses and 106,000 work­ers.

Italy now has 897 EU-reg­is­tered food GIs — more than any other European coun­try.

These cer­ti­fi­ca­tions allow pro­duc­ers to anchor their out­put to geo­graph­i­cal and cul­tural her­itage. GI pro­duc­tion areas now span over 2,100 Italian munic­i­pal­i­ties, many of them small rural borghi and inland vil­lages.

This strength­ened link between ter­roir, tra­di­tion and qual­ity con­tin­ues to increase the mar­ket value of cer­ti­fied foods.

“These are prod­ucts whose qual­ity stems from the inter­ac­tion between envi­ron­men­tal, cli­matic, social and cul­tural fac­tors,” the report’s authors wrote.

“These ele­ments are safe­guarded within spe­cific pro­duc­tion rules. Their unique rela­tion­ship with the ter­ri­tory makes them impos­si­ble to repro­duce else­where: they can­not be relo­cated, they are irre­place­able from a con­sumer per­spec­tive and they sup­port a strong nar­ra­tive that rein­forces rec­og­niz­abil­ity,” they added.

In 2024, the pro­duc­tion value of olive oil-related GIs grew 46.9 per­cent to €194 mil­lion. Consumption value rose 47.8 per­cent to €258 mil­lion.

Production value reflects income gen­er­ated at ori­gin, while con­sump­tion value cap­tures final mar­ket prices, includ­ing pro­cess­ing, dis­tri­b­u­tion and retail mar­gins. Together, they illus­trate how PDO and PGI labels enhance value across the sup­ply chain.

This record growth was dri­ven by a 31.1 per­cent increase in cer­ti­fied olive oil out­put, which sur­passed 16,190 tons, along with higher prices across all GI olive oils.

Two denom­i­na­tions con­tinue to dom­i­nate: Terra di Bari in Puglia and Toscano PGI in Tuscany.

“Despite the large num­ber of awards, the sec­tor remains highly con­cen­trated, with the top two prod­ucts account­ing for more than 56 per­cent of the value,” the report noted.

According to the authors, EU-rec­og­nized GIs strengthen prod­uct rep­u­ta­tion and sup­port export per­for­mance.

In 2024, exports of GI-cer­ti­fied olive oils rose 25.3 per­cent to €102 mil­lion.

On the domes­tic mar­ket, spend­ing on GIs in large-scale retail increased 1.1 per­cent year-on-year to €6.2 bil­lion.

Large retail­ers — already cen­tral to Italy’s olive oil sec­tor — reported a 9.1 per­cent increase in PDO and PGI extra vir­gin olive oil vol­umes.

The rise in GI spend­ing is pri­mar­ily linked to higher prices. The value of GI sales in large-scale retail grew 24.8 per­cent between 2023 and 2024.

Yet a sig­nif­i­cant por­tion of GIs still reaches con­sumers through other chan­nels, includ­ing wine and olive oil-focused tourism.

More than 9,000 Italian farm­houses now pro­duce PDO and PGI foods — over one-third of all active agri­t­ur­ismi. Sustainable olive oil tourism is also on the rise.

“Economic syn­er­gies with qual­ity din­ing, tourism and crafts­man­ship strengthen ter­ri­to­r­ial devel­op­ment and rein­force tra­di­tional her­itage,” the authors wrote.

New EU rules (Regulation 2024/1143) recently rein­forced the frame­work gov­ern­ing geo­graph­i­cal denom­i­na­tions. Still, the future of GIs depends heav­ily on global mar­ket con­di­tions, as exports con­tinue to expand.

According to Mauro Rosati, General Director of the Qualivita Foundation, geopo­lit­i­cal uncer­tain­ties are grow­ing.

He said 2025 has been marked by a wors­en­ing of the mul­ti­lat­eral cri­sis, with global insti­tu­tions strained by ongo­ing con­flicts and shift­ing U.S. poli­cies.

“Geographical indi­ca­tions were cre­ated in a mul­ti­lat­eral con­text, when states agreed to share rules, pro­mote trade and rec­og­nize each other’s prod­ucts,” Rosati wrote.

“If this frame­work weak­ens, the GIs we have known for more than twenty-five years will inevitably face chal­lenges,” he added.

Rosati warned that the fragility of the TRIPS agree­ments and WIPO’s man­age­ment of the Lisbon Agreement — amid U.S. pres­sure to leave cer­tain denom­i­na­tions generic — inten­si­fies the threat of ​‘Italian sound­ing’ prod­ucts that exploit the rep­u­ta­tion of authen­tic GIs.

“At the same time, the data show how Italian GIs derive a sig­nif­i­cant share of added value from inter­na­tional mar­kets. In a moment of cri­sis for mul­ti­lat­er­al­ism, the risk is a set­back with an ero­sion of the gains that have defined the Italian GI econ­omy,” he wrote.

Still, Rosati high­lighted encour­ag­ing prospects in the poten­tial EU – Mercosur trade agree­ment, which rec­og­nizes and pro­tects GIs.