Grani Futuri: human-centered bread economics

May 30, 2023

VIVACE recently had the opportunity to attend Grani Futuri, the annual gathering held in the evocative landscape of Stignano, in the heart of the Gargano. What distinguishes this event from a conventional food festival is its intellectual gravity: it convenes bakers, agronomists, gastronomes, students and thinkers — including a contingent of Bocconi University scholars — to explore bread as culture, economy and future potential rather than mere cuisine. In the rugged beauty of the collina, bread became a medium for dialogue about heritage, sustainability and regeneration.

There is a moment when flour and water begin to exceed their individual roles. The dough starts to expand, animate, respond. In that gradual transformation lies a story that stretches across fields, hands, meals and generations. This alchemy sits at the centre of Grani Futuri, a cultural movement that treats bread not as a product but as a framework — one through which food, work and social life are reconsidered with coherence and care.

Founded by Italian baker and cultural thinker Antonio Cera, Grani Futuri emerged from a refusal to separate nourishment from responsibility. Cera is often described as a fornaio-economista — a baker trained in economics — and this dual formation is not anecdotal. It is the intellectual architecture of the movement itself. Bread, in his view, is not simply the outcome of a production chain, but a concentrated expression of economic choices. To understand bread is therefore to understand the economy that produces it.

The figure of the fornaio-economista challenges a dominant assumption of modern economic thought: that efficiency, scale and standardisation are inherently synonymous with progress. Cera’s approach instead aligns with a more systemic and human-centred economic vision, one in which value is measured not only by output or price, but by resilience, distribution of knowledge and long-term social benefit. Bread, in this sense, becomes a diagnostic tool. When it is stripped of flavour, diversity and digestibility, it signals a broader erosion — of soil health, labour dignity and local autonomy.

Within this framework, Grani Futuri proposes an economy rooted in proximity and reciprocity. Grain grown locally, milled locally, baked locally creates a short and intelligible value chain. This is not romantic localisation, but economic rationality of a different order. Short supply chains reduce dependency, retain value within communities and make responsibility traceable. The baker knows the farmer; the eater knows the baker.

Cera often argues that industrial food systems externalise their true costs. Environmental degradation, public health consequences and cultural loss are absorbed elsewhere, rendered invisible by price alone. The fornaio-economista insists on reintegrating these costs into economic reasoning. Bread made slowly from diverse grains may appear more expensive at the point of sale, but it is economically efficient when viewed across time: it nourishes rather than depletes, sustains livelihoods rather than eroding them, and supports biodiversity rather than reducing it.

This economic vision is inseparable from time. Industrial systems compress time to maximise throughput; Grani Futuri restores time as a productive factor. Fermentation, crop rotation and seasonal cycles are not inefficiencies but forms of intelligence. They distribute labour, reduce inputs and increase stability. In this sense, the fornaio-economista operates with a temporal literacy that contemporary markets often lack — one that recognises that durability, not acceleration, is the true measure of a functioning system.

The manifesto of Grani Futuri articulates these principles with clarity rather than nostalgia. It calls for the protection of fertile land, the recovery of local and ancient grain varieties and production methods that preserve the vitality of raw materials. Stone milling, natural fermentation and restrained baking are not aesthetic preferences but structural commitments. They allow grain to retain its nutritional integrity and cultural specificity, anchoring food once again in place and season.

Cera often emphasises that bread is a cultural act before it is a dietary one. In his words, it is “a synthesis of agriculture, economy and human relationship.” This synthesis is what Grani Futuri seeks to restore. Bread becomes a vessel of knowledge — carrying the imprint of soil, climate and human skill — and in doing so, it reconnects consumption with consequence.

In everyday eating, this philosophy translates into discernment rather than dogma. To eat according to the logic of Grani Futuri is to recognise that bread can either flatten experience or deepen it. Industrial loaves, optimised for shelf life and uniformity, erase context. Breads made from diverse grains, fermented slowly, and baked with restraint preserve it. They demand engagement not through novelty, but through substance. Eating becomes a practice of awareness — with flavour, with digestion, with origin — rather than a purely functional routine.

The implications extend beyond the table and into the sphere of work. Grani Futuri proposes a revaluation of labour that prioritises competence, continuity, and accountability over speed. Farming, milling and baking are understood not as residual crafts but as forms of applied intelligence. They require an intimate knowledge of materials, an acceptance of uncertainty and a willingness to work in dialogue with natural processes rather than against them. In this sense, the movement aligns closely with broader reflections on regenerative systems, where productivity is measured not only by output but by what is sustained over time.

Social life, too, is reframed through bread. In the gatherings organised under the banner of Grani Futuri — particularly in Puglia — bread functions as a shared centre rather than an accessory. It is placed on the table to be broken by hand, passed freely and discussed openly. These moments are not orchestrated as performances but as spaces of exchange, where farmers, bakers, cooks and thinkers meet on common ground. Bread, here, becomes a mediator — enabling conversation, hospitality and mutual recognition.

Cera describes Grani Futuri as “a project born from bread and from the earth, where tradition meets economic thought and becomes vision.” This formulation captures the movement’s ambition precisely. It does not advocate a return to the past, nor does it propose innovation for its own sake. Instead, it seeks coherence — between what we eat and how we live, between economic systems and human scale.

To live in proximity to Grani Futuri does not require radical withdrawal or purism. It asks for care and consistency. To choose bread that reflects its environment. To support forms of work that preserve knowledge rather than extract value alone. To allow shared meals to reclaim their role as social infrastructure. These are modest gestures, but they accumulate. As VIVACE has explored in its reflections on agri-food systems, meaningful transformation unfolds through collaboration, often with industries and players that have quite different value-adds.

Grani Futuri ultimately suggests that the future is not constructed through abstraction, but through repetition — through daily actions refined over time. Like bread itself, it is shaped patiently, through skill, generosity and collective responsibility. What we choose to bake and to share becomes the substance of what comes next.

CPM