Masterclass by Maria Lucia Piana: Italian honey between quality, value, and territory

February 2026

The nectar of the gods revealed all its magic at SANA Food 2026. On Monday, February 23, the National Honey Observatory, in collaboration with Ambasciatori dei Mieli, organized a masterclass dedicated to Italian honey, covering its history, territory, and taste.

The meeting, entitled Italian honey: quality, value and recognition, offered Italian and international buyers a unique journey through aromas, sensory profiles and stories of the territory. Each honey tells the story of the biodiversity of flowers and bees, the unique identity of Italian landscapes and the extraordinary richness of the micro-territories from which it originates. Behind every jar there is an entire ecosystem. The masterclass highlighted how this complexity can be translated into concrete value: through the hands of beekeepers, each honey becomes not only a product to be tasted, but a sensory narrative of the territory, a testimony to its history, its seasons, and the care of the beekeepers. Through conscious promotion strategies, each product is transformed into something distinctive, recognizable on the market, and capable of communicating authenticity, sustainability, and biodiversity.

The session was led by Maria Lucia Piana, an expert in sensory analysis of honey, who guided participants through a professional tasting of the main Italian honeys. Through tastings and technical explanations, it became clear that honey is not just a food, but a heritage of biodiversity, culture, and territorial identity. Participants received personalized tasting kits and technical materials, valuable tools for translating this experience into concrete operational strategies capable of communicating the authentic value of each honey and supporting the promotion of Italian territories.

This masterclass confirmed that Italian honey is an expression of biodiversity, tradition, and quality, and that today's market demands products capable of authentically representing the territory from which they originate, creating real value for those who choose them.