Racing hearts: Barilla’s pasta-fuelled feels

Launching its new brand platform ‘Tastes Like Family’, created by LePub, Barilla has released a charming spot directed by Stefano Sollima, (Gomorra and Sicario: Day of the Soldado) with sweetly sentimental original track from Nicola Piovani (Oscar-winning composer of Life Is Beautiful).

Recreating the atmosphere of the vintage F1 paddocks, the film references a real-life character, Luigi Montanini, also known as Pasticcino ('Cupcake'): an Italian cook who, starting with his first Grand Prix in 1979, spent more than a decade travelling the world of Formula 1. 

Throughout the 1980s, he became an unofficial institution in the paddocks, creating a space for togetherness in a high-pressure space via plates of pasta shared between races. 

As well as being a glimpse into the past, the campaign comments on the way we live now – a hyper-connected yet emotionally distant world, where 63 per cent of people eat alone during the week. It’s a call to slow down, come together, and rediscover the small rituals that create emotional connections, even the most unlikely contexts. 

“At first glance, it’s just a plate of pasta,” Sollima says, “but behind it there’s an authentic story, a memory, friendship, and that everyday intimacy we all recognise. Especially in Italy, where food and togetherness are part of who we are. We slow down, we sit close, we share something real."