11 December 2023 – On 8 December, Paolo’s Dream, an animated short film celebrating the life and entrepreneurial legacy of Paolo Rovagnati was aired on the main national television networks. Eighty years after the birth of the entrepreneur, Rovagnati discusses the idea that changed the tradition of Italian gastronomy, transforming Prosciutto Cotto (cooked ham) from a product consisting of raw ham waste to a prestigious protagonist of Italian food culture.

Produced using the traditional step 3 animation technique, starting from the concept devised by the Creative Team of Connexia under the supervision of Executive Creative Director Riccardo Catagnano, and in collaboration with illustrator and Creative Director Margherita Premuroso, the video has a strong emotional charge, which appeals to emotion and memory.

The short film summarises the story of Paolo Rovagnati, starting in the 1950s when – still a boy – he tried his hand at helping his father in the family business, which at the time produced butter and marketed cheese. Following an intuition, Paolo decided to attempt a new feat: to create a unique and unmistakable product, at the time unknown on the market: a high-quality Cooked Ham. In the short film we see Paolo become a man and, over the course of a few years, attempt after attempt, realise his dream: that of giving life to Gran Biscotto, today the No. 1 product on the cooked ham market (data source: Circana). One of Paolo’s dreams is to take his products as far away as the United States. In the film, we meet the important people who surround him – his family and all the people of Rovagnati who inherited his values and the strength of his vision. In the short film’s moving finale, young Paolo wakes up from his dream – but the Rovagnati company and its success in America are now a reality.

“We are proud of the realisation of this project, which honours what Paolo bequeathed, not only to us, but to the whole country. The 80th anniversary of his birth is an opportunity to tell his story as a visionary entrepreneur, but also as an extraordinary father and husband. We particularly appreciate the fact that the short film succeeds in conveying both its professional and human dimensions, inseparably united by the idea of the dream”, explains the Rovagnati family.

“Paolo’s Dream is a tribute not only to an entrepreneur, but also to the vision, passion and perseverance that turn intuition into something great. We have chosen to tell this story through the language of animation, which is perhaps the simplest and most accessible form of communication, so that it can inspire even the youngest children, who may become the innovators of tomorrow”, adds Riccardo Catagnano, Executive Creative Director of Connexia, a brand of Retex.

“Graphically recounting Paolo’s Dream Rovagnati was an exciting challenge for me. I started by researching anecdotes and stories among his family and those who had known him in life, to make his memory as tangible as possible through a character who resembled him beyond his visual appearance. I hope I was able to convey, through the plot and animation, the same combination of determination and kindness that these memories conveyed to me”, comments illustrator Margherita Premuroso.