Food and wine tourism: “Patto di Spello” for wine tourism and oil tourism

The agreement signed between the four most important Italian organizations dealing with food and wine tourism, Città del Vino, Città dell’Olio, Movimento Turismo del Vino e dell’Olio, and the Italian Federation of Wine, Oil and Flavors Roads was strongly desired following the recent enactment of the law on wine tourism and oil tourism, with the aim of contributing strategies, projects, and ideas for the future of Italy’s wine and oil tourism and of identifying common grounds among the various bodies and fostering a constructive dialogue with the institutional supply chain (national government, regions, and local authorities).

Capturing the current state of food and wine tourism in Italy is the author of the Report on Italian Food and Wine Tourism and Tourism management professor Roberta Garibaldi (ndr who wrote the foreword for the book Digital Food by Anna Bruno, director of VerdeGusto) who stated: “I believe that today is a key moment for the development of Italian food and wine tourism. Over the last decade, the importance of food, wine, and oil in tourism has grown: today almost all travelers engage in themed experiences during their vacation, with 45% of Italians and 53% of foreigners visiting a destination primarily motivated by food and wine. Despite the severe crisis that hit our country’s tourism, with an estimated drop in overnight stays of -49%, food and wine tourism has managed to maintain and increase its appeal, and prospects for the coming years point to further strengthening. Food and wine tourism can and must be a driving asset for the development of Italy’s tourism during and after COVID-19. The synergistic actions emerging from this working table will certainly mark a turning point; many topics need to be addressed for the sector’s development: strengthening analysis and communication activities, developing the system’s offer by facilitating it both through regulation and through targeted incentives, stimulating innovation, digitization, and sustainability”.

“The protagonists of this pact are not simply representative associations of institutions and companies – said Paolo Morbidoni, President of the Strada dell’Olio e.v.o. Dop Umbria and of theNational Federation of Wine, Oil and Flavors Roads –but they bring together the parties who, starting from scratch in the last twenty years, have built Italian wine and oil tourism from the bottom up, that is, those who believed in it before it was trendy and those who believe in it now, putting in their face and experience. The Spello pact, named after a small jewel of medieval Umbria, rich in history but also in agri-food excellences, and which wants to be the symbol of a polycentric, beautiful and industrious Italy, was born with these objectives: to identify common grounds among the various bodies, to foster a constructive dialogue with the national government and the regions, to design a medium- and long-term sector strategy, with the shared awareness that we are living an important phase in which we are playing a piece of the future that has to do with the beauty and goodness of our country.”

Also speaking were: Michele Sonnessa – President of the National Association Città dell’Olio who reiterated that it has been several years now that the “Città dell’Olio have chosen to focus on oil tourism by promoting important initiatives like the Walk Among the Olive Trees and the First National Oil Tourism Competition with the idea of giving new impetus to an ever greater qualification of the tourist offer in Italy linked to the world of oil. Oil tourism can represent a new strategic asset for local and marginal economies, based on keywords such as sustainability, ethics, innovation, uniqueness of territories and vocations. To achieve these goals, a concrete commitment is needed through the development of a National Strategic Plan on oil, wine and flavors tourism, with clear objectives and resources. Today is an opportunity to urge Minister Teresa Bellanova on the approval of the implementing decrees of the Oil Tourism Law and on the definition of a national plan for the recovery of abandoned olive groves to ensure that the recovery of the territory and landscape leads to a revival of national olive production, enhancing our great biodiversity – unique in the world – from a sustainable perspective”.

Floriano Zambon – President of the National AssociationCittà del Vino which, founded in 1987, brings together about 450 Italian municipalities and territorial entities and works for the promotion and enhancement of wine territories through territorial marketing projects, assisting member municipalities in developing projects aimed at sustainable development, landscape protection, creating job opportunities, growing wine tourism, and encouraging the exchange of good practices among territories through the involvement of local public administrations and businesses.”The Association is the owner of the Wine Tourism Observatory which for over twenty years has annually offered monitoring of the sector, to provide public administrations and companies with knowledge tools useful for the development of food and wine tourism”. 

Nicola D’Auria – National President Wine and Oil Tourism Movement who reiterated the importance of a “close and essential collaboration and a real synergy of application between the Institutions and the wine, oil, food, and tourism sectors to guarantee our Country a leading role at the international level. I hope that thanks to the support and endorsement of the Ministry and the participation of all our involved Associations, it will be possible to give space to new proposals so as to make Italy the first choice for tourists seeking memorable food and wine experiences while promoting the beauties of Italy in the main target markets, both national and international“.