Carlo Petrini, AKA "Carlìn", (born 22 June 1949) is an Italian activist, author, and founder of the International Slow Food Movement, and Terra Madre festivals.

He was formerly a political activist in the communist Proletarian Unity Party (Partito di Unità Proletaria; PdUP).

In 1977, he began contributing culinary articles to the communist daily newspapers il manifesto and l'Unità.

[1] He first came to prominence in the 1980s for taking part in a campaign against the fast food chain McDonald's opening near the Spanish Steps in Rome.

Carlo Petrini has received numerous awards and acknowledgements including: Communicator of the Year at the International Wine and Spirit Competition in London; Sicco Mansholt Prize in the Netherlands; honorary degree in cultural anthropology from the University of New Hampshire; and Eckart Witzigmann Science and Media Prize from Germany.