On a spring morning in Bergamo, the mayor takes her seat at the Food Policy Council. Around the table are farmers’ associations, social cooperatives, university professors, Chamber of Commerce etc., and city officials from departments as diverse as education, environment, and social services. For several hours they debate on a theme to understand how to make food more sustainable for everyone in the city. What could easily be a bureaucratic exercise feels instead like a shared project, one in which political leadership, technical expertise, and community voices carry equal weight.
For Nadia Tonoli, Food Policy Officer at European Projects Department of the City of Bergamo, this cross-departmental spirit is fundamental: “We don’t have a specific office, but a working group where colleagues from environment, education, social services and even the botanical garden collaborate together. That’s our strength: we all bring something different to the table.”
Bergamo’s Food Policy was approved in 2023 under the Food Trails project and formally adopted by the City Council to ensure it would survive political change. The Food Policy Council – about 40 entities, coordinated by the vice president of Slow Food Italia – meets monthly, and the mayor regularly takes part. This political signal is crucial: “If the mayor participates in an active role in food policy, other stakeholders are more interested. Her presence makes them want to be part of it,” says Tonoli.
If the mayor participates in an active role in food policy, other stakeholders are more interested.
An ecosystem of initiatives
The Food Policy Council is only one piece of a broader ecosystem Bergamo has carefully built. The Food District of Bergamo, Valli e Laghi, unites more than 40 actors to promote local food and wine production while cutting waste and environmental impacts. Alongside it, the Biodistrict of Social Agriculture supports the shift to organic cultivation and fosters social inclusion. Here, sustainable agriculture and community values grow side by side.
Schools have become a crucial testing ground. Under the programme known as La Buona Mensa, Bergamo has redesigned its school canteens so that tenders favour local and organic food. The cooperative Areté plays a key role in making this work. By employing people with disabilities, running an organic shop, and sourcing vegetables from local farms, it acts as a bridge between producers and schools. Together with the catering company SerCar, Areté agrees monthly quantities so that what is grown locally ends up on children’s plates.
The green menu, introduced weekly in schools, has since been extended to bars, restaurants, and collective canteens. Adherence means not only offering vegetarian options but also sourcing organic and local products, cutting plastic by avoiding bottled water, and taking part in awareness-raising activities. “It’s not just about vegan dishes,” explains Tonoli. “It’s also about provenance, cultivation methods, and small changes like serving water without bottles. These details make sustainability visible in daily life.”
Beyond the classroom, the Biodiversity Valley (Valle della Biodiversità) provides another layer of learning. School groups and residents visit to explore local ecosystems and understand the importance of biodiversity in building a resilient food system. “These are not isolated projects,” Tonoli stresses. “They are linked by the same goal: to promote healthy and sustainable diets and to support local cultivation.” This commitment even extends into urban planning: Bergamo has modified its land use plan to preserve space for local cultivation and works with neighbouring municipalities to promote regional agriculture.
That’s our strength: we all bring something different to the table.
Sharing knowledge: Porto and the Liège Food Belt learn from Bergamo
When delegations from the Liège Food Belt (Ceinture Aliment-Terre Liégeoise) and the City of Porto came to Bergamo as part of the Cleverfood study visit, they saw this ecosystem in action.
Porto was particularly interested in how Bergamo uses public procurement to strengthen ties between urban institutions and local producers such as Areté. “It was a pleasure to have an in-depth discussion on public procurement with such an advanced city, and to see a model so closely connected to the supply chain,” said Manuel Semedo, Project Manager at the City of Porto. Inspired by what they saw, Porto now plans to map its own local producers and make their inclusion in canteen tenders mandatory.
Liège’s Food Belt, meanwhile, took note of the strong stakeholder involvement and the mapping exercises Bergamo carried out under Food Trails. “It’s a way to reflect on our work,” remarked Virginie Bartholomé Coordinator of the Food Policy Council Project of Liege Metropole. Back home, Bartholomé intends to map Liege’s own food system actors and use the results to produce a diagnosis that will guide its Food Policy Council in setting future priorities.
For Bergamo, these exchanges are just as valuable: “The participants’ questions gave me ideas on how to modify our activities,” says Tonoli.
From canteens to climate neutrality
Much of Bergamo’s transformation can be traced back to a single decision: rewriting the school catering contract in 2021. Supported by the Food Trails project, the city made it mandatory for providers to collaborate with the municipality’s cross-departmental working group on food policy. From that point, change gathered speed.
All our food policy activities are organised to support this change.
A weekly green menu was introduced in schools, backed by a programme of workshops for students, recipe training for chefs, and information sessions for parents. The city went further, involving biologists, nutritionists, vegan chefs, and educators from the botanical garden to run activities aimed at reducing meat consumption and promoting legumes and vegetables. “The chefs are not our employees,” notes Tonoli, “but we trained them to change their recipes, to cook with legumes, to see plant-based food differently. And we involved parents too, so change happens at home as well as at school.”
This change was never only about canteens. As one of the 100 EU Mission Cities committed to climate neutrality by 2030, Bergamo sees food as a lever for wider transformation. “All our food policy activities are organised to support this change,” says Tonoli. “Promoting local and organic agriculture, reducing food waste, and changing eating habits.”
Challenges and the European dimension
Despite the progress, challenges remain. Measuring impact is particularly difficult. Schools can provide data on the share of organic and local food they serve, but tracking changes in citizens’ diets or household food waste is far more elusive. “For school canteens it’s simple, the providers report the percentage of local or organic food. But we don’t know how many citizens change their diet. We don’t have the tools,” admits Tonoli.
EU projects are the main toolset. They allow us to test innovative actions, and sometimes even after the project ends, providers or schools keep them going.
Previous experiments, such as the Zero Waste for Food app launched in 2021, struggled to take off. Designed as a gamified exchange platform where citizens could share surplus food and compete on savings, it launched during the Covid pandemic, when people were wary of accepting food from strangers. Only a handful of users joined, and the project was shelved. “It was the wrong period,” Tonoli reflects. “People were afraid during Covid. But the idea was good, and maybe we can relaunch it with better timing.”
Funding also presents a hurdle. While national and regional programmes in Italy provide support mainly to farmers, municipalities often receive little for food policy itself. “Last year for organic school canteens, we received €40,000 from the national government,” says Tonoli. “It is not enough to promote organic school canteens.” Regional funds in Lombardy tend to focus on food waste, local gastronomy, and farmer subsidies rather than municipal food policy strategies. By contrast, European projects provide both funding and innovation space. “For us, EU projects are the main toolset,” Tonoli explains. “They allow us to test innovative actions, and sometimes even after the project ends, providers or schools keep them going.”
At the same time, not all of Bergamo’s practices are easily transferable abroad. Food Districts, for example, are a specific judicial entity in Italy. And national legislation, such as the Minimum Environmental Criteria in public catering, shapes what can be done with tenders. For other cities, adapting Bergamo’s model may require working through different legal frameworks.
A model to follow
Bergamo shows how a mid-sized European city can transform its food system when political leadership, technical expertise, and local actors work together. What began with school menus has expanded into a citywide policy supported by farmers, cooperatives, and citizens, all contributing to climate and social goals. By formally anchoring its food strategy in a City Council decision, Bergamo has also ensured that these priorities can withstand political change.
Our food policy will remain in place, regardless of any political changes.
“We approved a formal document at the City Council. Although the document is just three pages, it ensures that our food policy will remain in place, regardless of any political changes,” explains Tonoli.
For her, sharing Bergamo’s story is also part of the work: “It’s important for our reflection to exchange experiences with others. Every time we meet peers, we learn something, but we also realise that what we do in Bergamo can inspire new activities elsewhere.”
