Pride but not much profit in Melania Trump's hometown

By Marja Novak SEVNICA, Slovenia (Reuters) - When Donald Trump was elected president of the United States last month, the Pizzeria Rondo in Sevnica created a cake named after his wife Melania, who grew up in the Slovenian town. Mascarpone enriched with strawberry mousse with small candies of gold and silver on top. The pizzeria also offered a burger called Trump, notable for the spicy pepperoni it featured. Then came a phone call this week from a lawyer representing Melania Trump who said that using Melania's name and photo without her consent is not allowed. "We have to warn the public that the names Trump or Melania Trump are protected trademarks," lawyer Natasa Pirc Musar's office said in a statement. The burger has changed its name to the Presidential Burger. Jars of locally-made honey with Melania's picture have also disappeared from shop shelves in the past few days. The cakes are sticking with the label for now on the grounds that they only use her first name. The legal intervention may have dampened immediate hopes in this town of 4,500 people that it can benefit from its link to international celebrity and political power, although some are optimistic that it will in due course. Sevnica lies on the banks of the River Sava amid forest-covered hills. Local products include honey, wine, and fittingly, shoes and lingerie. Melania was born in a hospital in Novo Mesto in 1970, when Slovenia was part of the former Yugoslavia, to car dealer Viktor Knavs and his wife Amalija and she was raised in Sevnica. She started modeling at the age of 16, then pursued a career in Paris and Milan before moving to New York in 1996. She married Trump in a lavish wedding in Florida in 2005 and will become first lady of the United States on Jan. 20, 2017 -- only the second to have been born outside the country. At a roundabout leading into Sevnica, a local newspaper has put up a giant poster featuring Melania Trump's picture and the greeting: "Welcome to the hometown of the First Lady of the USA". But since the burger and honey flap, there's not a lot more evidence of its illustrious connections. EDIBLE GOLD Mojca Pernovsek, head of local tourism bureau KSTM, told Reuters the number of visitors may have gone up by about 5 to 10 percent this year but she expects more will come from next spring, when a new tourist season starts. "Sevnica gained recognition and I believe sooner or later this will show in economic growth, in higher number of guests in local restaurants, purchases of local products and souvenirs," Pernovsek said. However, the bureau has no plans to sell tours that would take visitors around Sevnica and show them Melania's former home. "We are offering tours of the city, which has a lot to show, starting with the castle, but we would not use Melania's name without her consent," Pernovsek said. The dedicated Melania fan is still able to track down some delights. The coffee shop Julija was selling a cake carrying Melania’s name, made of white chocolate and covered with edible gold. In a restaurant in Zavratec, about 13 km from Sevnica, tourists can also try a special menu with trout called Melania On a hill above Sevnica, a cottage was selling Melania pancakes which include vanilla cream, blueberries, and yet more edible golden dust. "I was told that it is not prohibited to use the name Melania since it does not come along with the name Trump," cottage manager Franc Krasovec told Reuters. "So far we did not get many tourists but we expect more when the weather improves," Krasovec said. (Reporting by Marja Novak in Sevnica, Editing by Angus MacSwan)