Barilla has opened a school just outside Parma. This is not a university lecture hall named after the company thanks to a donation, or a conference room in a corporate HQ, but a real academy devoted to the study of one subject: basil. It’s easy to laugh at, until you hear the numbers: +17%.

That’s how much pesto sales grew between 2023 and 2024. People all over the world can’t seem to get enough of the stuff — that vivid green, the oil, the pine nuts, the comfort in a jar. Pesto isn’t just a sauce anymore. It’s nostalgia with shelf life. It’s Italy in a spoonful. So, instead of doubling down on factories and automation, Barilla turned back to the fields.