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Between Germany and Italy, between family and job, between olive oil and wine: Raffaella Usai has been travelling between worlds, wines and cultures for many years, both professionally and privately. Since January 2020, she has strengthened the Italian press and communications work and works closely with Katrin Walter. Raffaella writes, translates and edits texts, writes articles in German for the magazine and in Italian for Wein-Plus.it. Moreover, the two of them are working together to put more focus on Italy's wines and to address the vintners in the right way. In times like these, this requires a lot of tact. But this is exactly what she feels comfortable with: Above all, the close, regular contact with Italian wine producers is very important to her.

Raffaella Usai

Raffaella grew up in the north Hessian half-timbered town Frankenberg an der Eder. It is quiet there - the inhabitants themselves like to call their region "Hessian Siberia". Her father, on the other hand, comes from Sardinia and spoke only Italian with her. Speaking, thinking and feeling in two languages laid the foundation for her profession and her life:

Raffaella studied political science and Italian at the University of Marburg, worked in PR and switched to the other side - journalism. She moved to Weimar and spent three years as editor-in-chief of the magazine "buongiorno italia" for Italian gastronomy. She didn't have much experience. But when you grow up between worlds like Raffaella did, it's not hard for you to chart your own course.

Soon, she turned into another direction: to the south: At the ProWein 2007, she met Andreas März, editor-in-chief of the Merum wine magazine. A friendship developed out of the cooperation of both magazines, in 2008 she moved to Tuscany and worked for the editorial office. It was the right place for Raffaella's passion for wine and olive oil. And for love: Until 2016, she lived and worked in Lamporecchio, the editorial office of Merum, as author, head of service and publishing director. There, she also met her current partner, who works as Merum editor and taster. In 2013, her daughter was born in Tuscany. Three years later, the family moved back to Germany, and since then, she has been commuting between Munich and Tuscany. In 2018, her son was born in Munich, and one year later Raffaella reduced her work for Merum.

The new connection to Wein-Plus, however, is one that has been familiar for a long time: she met her now new colleague Katrin Walter back in 2006 at an event in Berlin. She first met Utz Graafmann and Sam Hofschuster in 2008 at the party of Wein-Plus at ProWein. Wein-Plus and Merum have always been connected by a friendly cooperation. And now Raffaella is on course with Wein-Plus. It won't be the last frontier Raffaella casually crosses.

You entered culinary publishing without much experience. Can you remember your first professional tasting?

It was as part of a press trip to Piedmont, at the time I was still working as editor-in-chief in Weimar. It was about Moscato d'Asti, which I had never tasted before. I was particularly fascinated by a wine from Romano Dogliotti, La Caudrina. It was so fresh, aromatic, delicate, even cloudy! I had never tasted such a wonderful, light sweet wine before. At the beginning, the tastings were very exhausting for me, because from the second, at the latest third flight, all wines tasted the same! So for me, it was first about training my own taste to find out what I like and what I don't like. Slowly, I developed a sense of which grape varieties and styles I appreciated. My preferences have changed over time: The more wines I get to know, the more uncompromising I become.

You have spent your life in and with two very different cultures. Which aspect of Italy do you miss most in Germany - and which German aspects in Italy?

Well, that's not so easy. When I lived in Germany, I wanted to move to Italy. I was longing for the country of my father. I only knew it from my holidays and that's why I glorified a lot of things. When I arrived there with all the trimmings, the bureaucracy in particular got on my nerves. Everything is much more complicated than in Germany! Here an application, there a form, and first the tax return - it's a horror. In Italy I often missed the German reliability. But what I love most there, and what I miss here, is the warmth of the people in their dealings with each other, the chat in the bar or on the street, the affectionate way of approaching children. It was a big change for me when in Munich my daughter was no longer addressed as "Ciao bellissima" in every shop. We both found that very irritating at first. The Italians have a greater warmth of heart, and I often miss that here in Germany.

You have been writing about wine and olive oil at the same time for many years. Which is closer to you personally - and why?

Both topics are equally important to me, both for my work and in my private everyday life. Wine and olive oil are daily accompaniments to meals at our house. I would not even like to imagine a life without them. Olive oil, however, is so close to my heart because here - in contrast to wine - a lot of educational work still needs to be done. There is an extremely large amount of half-knowledge circulating: Even the supposedly demanding consumers have no idea what quality means. They are satisfied with inferior supermarket goods. Top-quality oils still have a niche existence, and their producers therefore need support in marketing them. These are mostly small farms, not industrial bottlers. I am committed to them.

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