Pillole Culinarie · Creative studio for the agri-food chain

dish-er, up close

The dish-er homepage: Discover the Importance and Sustainability of Hermetia in Emilia-Romagna

A platform born within the PNRR project Ecosister to raise awareness of, and measure, the bioconversion of organic waste by the black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens. The journey starts from agricultural and agro-industrial waste, goes through larvae rearing and ends in new products: feed, proteins, oil, biofertilisers.

It connects those who produce waste in Emilia-Romagna with those who rear the larvae, and speaks to companies, farmers and researchers who want to understand whether, and how much, it pays off.

What we did

Visual identitylogo, palette and illustrations of the fly's life cycle
Website and contenthome, news, literature and glossary, updatable independently
The calculatorthe web app, from the calculation model to the interface

Telling a cycle few people know

Before running the numbers you need to understand what you are talking about. The site explains the insect's life cycle, from egg to adult, and what can be obtained from it: live and dried larvae, proteins, lipids, chitin, frass.

The life cycle of Hermetia illucens: eggs, larva, prepupa, pupa, adult

Black soldier fly products: live larvae, dried larvae, proteins

The calculator

It is the heart of the project. You choose the waste (vegetables, fruit, whey, brewing by-products, soy curd residues…) and enter the quantity: the calculator tells you how many larvae you need, in how many days, and how much of each product you get. It also works the other way round: you start from the product you want and work back to the waste you need.

Every result cites the scientific literature it comes from and can be downloaded as PDF or Excel.

The calculator: you choose the substrate among vegetables, fruit, whey, brewing by-products

The calculation result: larval age, product and quantity, with the reference literature

Literature and glossary

All the studies behind the calculator are collected and searchable, with a link to the source. The glossary explains technical and regulatory terms in plain words, from “waste and by-product” to the regional framework.

The reference literature page, with search

The glossary: waste and by-product under the regulations

Built to last

A single addresswebsite, calculator and services all live on dish-er.it
Content, independentlynews, studies and glossary are updated from a private area, without touching the code
Ready to growif traffic increases, the parts can be split across several servers

What stays

A public calculator to estimate how much waste can be turned into value, and what you get from it
A collection of scientific literature, cited in every result
A glossary for people outside the field
A platform the research group updates on its own

Made with the entomology department of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore.

Try the calculator Visit dish-er.it

The Pinocchio menu, up close

The Pinocchio restaurant opened on 2 November 1962. The new menu had to bring together a family's history and today's cooking, and carry it to every table.

Two hands hold the red menu on a laid table

“The future of tradition: ancient ingredients, creativity, modern knowledge and the passion of a family.”From the new menu

Scroll behind the scenes

The story
We started from the words of Piero, cook and founder since 1962, and from the family photos. The first page is his dedication to those who are here, those who were and those who will be.
The illustrations
Pinocchio and the Cricket become a kitchen brigade: they knead, serve, make coffee. Ink and watercolour, hand-drawn page by page.
Paper and materials
A board cover wrapped in washable plastic material with a fabric effect. Inside, held by an elastic binding: a sheet of transparent Spectral paper printed in red and one or more sheets of white paper with illustrations and menu items.
The suppliers
Two Milan workshops. Menu Milano, artisan paper workshop since 1969, for the cover and the elastic binding. Paper&People, showroom of fine papers for graphic design, for the choice of papers, from the transparent Spectral to the white sheets.
Production
From the main menu to the aperitivo bookmark, every piece is designed to sit together on the table. With the elastic binding, the sheets change when the menu changes, without remaking the cover.

Illustration: Pinocchio with donkey ears next to a little donkey

Illustration: the Cricket pours coffee from the moka while Pinocchio throws the beans

What staysA menu that tells the restaurant's story at every table, and a family of illustrations Pinocchio can use on paper, social media and events.

Frosch, the small world

A restaurant in Val di Fiemme, among the larches and the Dolomites. For its social media we imagined a place that isn't on any map: a small world where the scent of bread meets the wind from the woods, and every dish has an origin, a legend, a peasant memory.

The crowned frog watches someone fill the ravioli with a piping bag

The crowned frog helps push the rolling pin over the pasta sheet

The symbol is the frog, balanced between water and land. A small frog with a crown, drawn by hand, steps into the kitchen photos and joins the work: it watches someone fill the ravioli, pushes the rolling pin over the pasta sheet.

The legends of the valley

Le Viveneswater spirits
Il Salvanèlguardian of the woods, symbol of patience
The sleeping Dolomitesherbs, mushrooms, produce of the land
The frogsthe balance of the small world

“They say the Salvanèl walks slowly, so as not to frighten the moss. In the kitchen, we too learn slowness.”

The series

The guardians of the land: producers, beekeepers, herb gatherers and farmers of the valley
Guests of the small world: wineries, artists and other local restaurateurs
Echo of legend: short lines inspired by the legends, among water, leaves and shadows
The frogs' diary: behind the scenes, with a touch of irony
The time of the dish: the story of an ingredient and of the gesture that transforms it
Small rituals: wild herbs and kitchen gestures, also in animated videos
Invitations from the woods: themed events and dinners, without losing the poetry

Small rituals, on video

Fresh pasta

Ravioli

The seed wafer

And every month a newsletter, “Letter from the woods”: a reflection, a dish, a look behind the scenes.

The menu

The small world of social media also gave birth to the menu, illustrated by hand: the frogs fish, pour wine, pick vegetables from the garden and accompany every page. It opens with a statement of intent: “Slowly, respecting nature's timing”.

Watercolour illustration: frogs having a picnic, fishing in a pond and resting in the woods

Three tasting menus, three landscapes

The Sea & the Garden
The Woods & the Farm
The Courtyard & the Hills

With chefs Fabrizio Molteni and Sara Bertocchi, Gin Tonic pairings, wines described by taste (“For those who prefer to stay local…”) and a page all for coffee and grappa.

What staysA narrative universe the restaurant uses everywhere, from social media to the menu on the table: characters, legends and a recognisable tone of voice.

Indiniò, up close

In the Carnic Alps, Gloria Clama's cooking changes when what the land offers changes: almost all ingredients come from Friuli and Carnia. For Indiniò we handle the press office and the social media channels.

Press office and PR
Social media management

From the social channels

The manifesto

Cooking in the woods

Gathering herbs

Some coverage

Le Guide de L'Espresso
Le Guide de L'Espresso
Gambero Rosso
Food Lifestyle
Reporter Gourmet

“I change the dishes when I have the produce.”Gloria Clama, to Le Guide de L'Espresso

What staysPress coverage that tells the story of the restaurant and its chef, and social channels that keep it alive between one article and the next.

You don't choose. You just know.

Milan launches restaurants like events: teasers, countdowns, the rush to book in the first weeks, then the chase to stay relevant. For Trattoria Tina we chose to step out of that race: from the very first post, Tina behaves like a habit already part of the viewer's life.

The rule: assume, don't announce

~~Opening very soon!~~Tuesdays, from 7:30 pm.
~~Today we suggest…~~The tagliatelle, as every evening.
~~Let us introduce the place!~~The table at the back.

Four formats

As every evening: the dish as a regular presence, never as news
The table at the back: a fixed spot in the dining room, followed over time
Between courses: a spontaneous scene from the service
The hands of those who are always there: a human detail, never a face

From Tina's profile

The people

The dishes, as every evening

The first ninety days, organic only

429.937: views
+10.493: new followers, from zero to over ten thousand
8.207: interactions

Instagram data, July to October 2026, no paid advertising.

Trattoria Tina's Instagram insights at 90 days: 429,937 views and 10,493 net followers

The two round Trattoria Tina badges, black and sage

What staysA writing rule and four formats anyone on the staff can apply: communication keeps working even when we're not there.

T Spin, up close

Since 2014 the Università Cattolica research group has studied agrivoltaics, and with T Spin it turned that research into services: soil analysis, agronomic design and monitoring of systems that combine energy production and farming. For this spin-off we designed the graphic identity.

How we built it

Brand analysisValues, mission, audience, competitors and market.
Creative conceptThe common thread, from which two or three proposals and two rounds of revision are born.
Logo, typefaces and paletteThe logo and the main and supporting typefaces, with the colours that make it recognisable.
Graphic elements and variantsSupporting marks and versions for print and digital, monochrome, vertical and horizontal.
Tests on media and channelsLegibility and rendering wherever the identity needs to live.
Graphic kitA practical document to use it easily and consistently.

A fragment of the creative process, from sketches to logo.

What stays IdentityA graphic kit that lets T Spin use its own identity on its own, today and as it grows. Visit tspin.it

Innopom, up close

Innopom is an operational group funded by the European agricultural funds, coordinated by ASIPO: from 2024 to 2027 it brings together twelve farms, two processing companies, Università Cattolica, Citimap and a training centre to reduce Alternaria and its mycotoxins in processing tomatoes. Drones, varieties, irrigation, treatments and weather stations are tested, leading to guidelines for the whole chain. For the project we designed the graphic identity.

The logo

The name reads in two beats, “Inno” and “pom”, and three tomatoes with small four-pointed stars become the “o”s of the logo. It works in black, white and red, on light and green backgrounds and on field photos.

The palette

486757
5B8E69
AFBCAC
E7252D
FC372A
F9644B
8B9A96
E6E6E6
000000

DM Serif Display for headings, Inter for body text.

What stays IdentityA brand guide with clear space, versions, palette, typefaces and suggested shapes: anyone in the partnership can communicate Innopom consistently.

Futura, three editions

The annual event of the Associazione Italiana Ambasciatori del Gusto to promote the excellence of Italian cuisine and food and wine, with meetings, debates and institutional moments. Every year in a different city: we take care of it from start to finish.

Three days of event, about four hundred guests, three months of preparation.

Event organisation
Production
Logistics
VIP management
Visual identity
Communication
Social
Web
Press office
Video
Photo

The team on stage at Futura 2025, in front of the screen with the event title — On stage and in the control room, Futura 2025.

The Futura control room, with the event graphics on the monitors — On stage and in the control room, Futura 2025.

The ten-year poster with the entries Roots and Visions and rust-coloured branches

Trieste, 23–25 March 2026

Roots, Borders and Visions

The Association's ten years, hosted by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region with the City of Trieste, between the Generali Convention Center and the Stazione Marittima. At the international congress: the Region's president Massimiliano Fedriga, Maurizio Martina, Stanley Tucci, named Honorary Ambasciatore del Gusto, and chefs Antonia Klugmann, Carlo Cracco, Cesare Battisti and president Alessandro Gilmozzi. Then the gala dinner for the founders, with 250 seated guests, and a day dedicated to coffee culture.

10years of the Association

28new members and 7 partners

150+hospitality school students

The event

The taste of the territory

Discovering Trieste

The founders' gala dinner

The dinner's dishes

The coffee day

The coffee lesson

The idea

Futura as a space of passage: not an event to watch but a path to walk through. Trieste is a border city, and the border becomes the theme: geographical, cultural, linguistic. Like words, dishes are born in a place, travel and mix. Language and cooking live only if they are crossed.

You enter through who we are, you leave through what we imagine.

Three words, three stations

Roots, Borders and Visions became dictionary entries, each with etymology, definition and a quote. Along the way, three stations with roll-ups and a small table where members and partners stop for short interviews on the theme.

The Roots roll-up: the dictionary entry, the quote and the rust-coloured branches

The Borders roll-up: the dictionary entry, the quote and the vertical lines

The Visions roll-up: the dictionary entry and the quote

The welcome desk, in the same visual language as the roll-ups and the poster.

The story, before, during and after

Press officeteaser release, on-site presence and closing: “When food becomes cultural language”
The conference“Frontier cuisine”, with graphics for each speaker and a single template for all talks
Socialspeakers and programme before the event, live coverage over the three days, reels and carousels afterwards
Photo and videoportraits paired with a single word, and interviews with the founders on how the association has changed in ten years

The story on the Association's website

What staysThree editions with a different face, told in photos and videos, and the relationships built in each territory: the memory of the association's first ten years, one edition at a time.

Grown in our garden

Perenne², up close

Together for sustainable innovation

An idea born in the Pillole house, which we turned into a project by bringing Università Cattolica (Piacenza campus) and Desam Ingegneria e Ambiente around the table. It is funded by the CoPSR Emilia-Romagna 2023-2027 and runs for eighteen months, from June 2026 to November 2027.

It speaks to the olive oil and wine chains of the Emilia-Romagna hills, from the Colli Piacentini to Romagna: small but precious productions for the landscape, biodiversity and the resilience of the land, tested by the 2023 floods and by drought.

From the animated video

The changing climate

Olive oil, from field to mill

Wine, in the cellar

The problem we start from

Awareness of sustainability is there, practice much less so. Companies, almost all small and family-run, struggle to understand which practices they already adopt, or could easily adopt, and how these link to the eco-schemes of the new CAP. Perenne² is there to close this gap, with simple tools and science explained well.

In progress · June 2026 – November 2027. The figures are the project's targets.

18months of activity, just started

1.000+people to involve in person

250+farms to reach

10.000+expected online contacts

Three partners, three roles

Università Cattolicascientific direction and validation of the content
Desam Ingegneria e Ambientetechnical content and operational coordination
Pillole Culinarievisual identity, web platform, video, communication, event logistics and secretariat

The platform, online

The perenne2.it homepage: an information project for the olive oil and wine chains, with the next appointment highlighted

The perenne2.it Events page: three ways to take part

Bilingual, with events and registrations, webinars and archive, and a countdown to the next appointment. Designed and developed by us: perenne2.it

Five actions, one story

Identity and platformLogo, corporate identity and a platform in Italian and English with technical factsheets, short videos, infographics, case studies and the webinar archive. One section is dedicated to workplace safety and the fight against illegal labour exploitation.
A webinar seriesSix to eight sessions on sustainability, value chain, digital tools, safety and legality in farm work. Recorded, subtitled in English and always available.
Sensory labsAt the University's SensoryLab, the only one of its kind in Italy: how choices in the field, from irrigation to harvest, change the measurable quality of extra virgin olive oil. Some sessions take place at dawn or at sunset.
Field daysGrape and olive harvests at the testimonial farms, all the way to the mill and the cellar, with techniques compared and safety always at the centre. Each day is told with a video before and one after.
Art installationsWorkshops with temporary installations among vineyards and olive groves to tell climate, biodiversity, water and soil to citizens, schools and visitors.

The farms opening their doors to us

Podere La Torre, on the Rubicone
Cooperativa Terre di Brisighella
Mossi Aziende Agricole
Cantina Settecani
Cantina Vico Barone

Who it's for

First of all farmers, olive mills and wineries. Then the whole chain: consortia, banks that assess sustainability for lending, schools, citizens and consumers who ask for correct information and no greenwashing.

The legacy is written into the project: recorded webinars, videos, practical factsheets, infographics and mini-guides will stay online for at least five years after the activities end.

Engage.app, up close

A project to engage consumers in learning about the fruit and vegetable chain.

We designed the logo and made a traditional animated video, frame by frame: from the pencil storyboard to colour.

From the video

From Europe to Emilia-Romagna

In the field

From the counter to the producer

The same frame, in three stages

1 · Pencil
2 · Colour
3 · Final frame

What stays

The video, to explain the food chain to anyone
The logo and its studies

The partners

Rinovaagriculture, environment, food
Università Cattolica del Sacro CuoreCRAST, Research Centre for Geospatial Analysis and Remote Sensing
Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna
Citimap

The companies

O.P. Granfrutta Zani
Agribologna
iFarming

Visit engageapp.it

Grown in our garden

Behind every service there's a world the guest doesn't see

People, choices, timing, silent understandings between dining room and kitchen. COMANDE was born to tell it: not only the result that reaches the table, but everything that makes it possible. The idea was ours; then we brought Ambasciatori del Gusto and TheFork Manager around the table.

Scroll the episode reels

Leadership
Teamwork
Hospitality
Organisation
Sustainability
Technology

Through the voices of the Ambasciatori del Gusto, the podcast gathers different experiences of today's food service, also exploring the relationship between hospitality, organisation and innovation, with a look at TheFork Manager and its role in the daily running of a restaurant.

Because innovating doesn't mean losing the human touch, but finding new ways to support it.

The first season, July to September 2026

5: episodes, released on time every Monday
400.000+: views of the episode reels on Instagram
18,5%: of the audience coming back every week
28-34: years old, the strongest listening group: the people who actually run restaurants

Behind the scenes

Each episode is recorded in the kitchen or restaurant of the person telling the story: lights, microphones and cameras move in among pots and hoods, and the set goes up and comes down in a day.

The recording seen from the corridor, between the kitchen and the dining room

The crew at work in the kitchen: lights, microphones and headphones

The camera frames the interview with Alessandro Negrini

An Ambasciatore del Gusto chef and the host in front of the TheFork Manager microphones

What we took care of

Naming
Concept
Strategy
Graphic identity
Script
Involving the professionals
Logistics
Video
Photography
Post-production

Made by three hands

Associazione Italiana Ambasciatori del Gusto
TheFork Manager
Pillole Culinarie

What staysFive conversations to listen to again and an experience that, thanks to the results achieved, is already shaping the second season.

More front-of-house voices, more regions, more settings. To keep telling the story of food service beyond the kitchen.

Episodes of 20 to 30 minutes, in audio and video, on Spotify and YouTube.

Watch the episodes on Spotify

Agrivolt-er, up close

Sustainable agrivoltaic systems to decarbonise the agri-food chain in Emilia-Romagna.

We took care of the project's full identity, from the logo to the usage guide, and the motion design video that explains agrivoltaics.

From the motion design video

The panel above the field

What grows underneath

Who makes it possible

From sketch to logo

The logo starts in pencil: a square holding the sun, rays that become crop rows and panels resting on the field. Agriculture and energy in the same mark.

The usage guide

We delivered a guide to use the logo independently: palette, typeface and spacing rules.

Sun#FCD300
Field#50B47E
Light panel#478EF1
Panel#2E80F3
Dark panel#0066F3

Raleway Bold and Regular, with fixed proportions between heading, subheading and text.

Clear space: around the logo there is always free space equal to a quarter of the mark.

What stays

A recognisable identity, with the guide to use it without us
A video that explains agrivoltaics even to people outside the field

The partners

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuorealso with CRAST, Research Centre for Geospatial Analysis and Remote Sensing
Canale Emiliano Romagnolo
AESSEnergy and Sustainable Development Agency

The companies