A tourist itinerary constitutes an experience of the discovery and knowledge of the identity of places, of lifestyles, of landscapes, of the past and present, and of future prospects. This occurs through the identification of panoramic views and of places of particular historical and cultural interest. Wine and gastronomy, and land use and sustainability, are the characterizing elements through which food and wine tourism, and its implications for the economic development of the Mediterranean, especially Sicily, emerges. Such an itinerary provides tourists with an overview of a region and its cultural values. Wine and gastronomy tourism permits the tourist to perceive an all-encompassing vision of the visited region and its cultural values. This tool for territorial promotion and redevelopment can be defined as a process of knowledge which is prepared for the tourist and which is guided not only by professional services but also by the tour operator who has a particular interest in the place visited. The identity of a place is not passive and static, but rather it is a continuous recreation of the genius loci of the community. This implies an approach to territorial development that values heritage, considered both in the sense of an exceptional value to humanity, as attributed to UNESCO, as well as in the sense of an historical persistence that has influenced the decisions of a community in critical moments of its history. From the point of view of the production of knowledge, the specific abilities of local inhabitants, especially in the countryside, are welded with skills of a technical and scientific nature, along with a vision of the world that is inspired by the place itself. A rigorous and positivist analysis of the phenomenon, with reference to a full redevelopment of the diverse and considerable wine, agro-alimentary and environmental heritage, conceived in the broadest sense, embraces an approach that is based upon the quality of supply, upon local knowledge of authentic products and cultures, and upon the involvement of all actors upon whom depend the success or lack of success of a process for developing sustainable and competitive wine and gastronomy tourism. Denominations of origin for the protection of typical local products; wine roads and gustatory paths that are capable of revealing the values of an area, and therefore of putting them in the framework of rural tourism; special publishing events and products; new communication technologies; and new industrial associations and initiatives are all tools to be used with the scope of transforming the productive culture of places and culinary traditions into tourist products that are capable of constructing a territorial brand, to win an economic and cultural gamble that is of extraordinary importance for an island like Sicily which sees in tourism a strategic sector that can trigger mechanisms for enduring and sustainable development.

Mediterranean culture e agriculture: instruments of territorial redevelopment. Wine-gastronomy tours in Sicily.

NICOSIA, ENRICO DOMENICO GIOVANNI;PORTO, CARMELO MARIA
2009-01-01

Abstract

A tourist itinerary constitutes an experience of the discovery and knowledge of the identity of places, of lifestyles, of landscapes, of the past and present, and of future prospects. This occurs through the identification of panoramic views and of places of particular historical and cultural interest. Wine and gastronomy, and land use and sustainability, are the characterizing elements through which food and wine tourism, and its implications for the economic development of the Mediterranean, especially Sicily, emerges. Such an itinerary provides tourists with an overview of a region and its cultural values. Wine and gastronomy tourism permits the tourist to perceive an all-encompassing vision of the visited region and its cultural values. This tool for territorial promotion and redevelopment can be defined as a process of knowledge which is prepared for the tourist and which is guided not only by professional services but also by the tour operator who has a particular interest in the place visited. The identity of a place is not passive and static, but rather it is a continuous recreation of the genius loci of the community. This implies an approach to territorial development that values heritage, considered both in the sense of an exceptional value to humanity, as attributed to UNESCO, as well as in the sense of an historical persistence that has influenced the decisions of a community in critical moments of its history. From the point of view of the production of knowledge, the specific abilities of local inhabitants, especially in the countryside, are welded with skills of a technical and scientific nature, along with a vision of the world that is inspired by the place itself. A rigorous and positivist analysis of the phenomenon, with reference to a full redevelopment of the diverse and considerable wine, agro-alimentary and environmental heritage, conceived in the broadest sense, embraces an approach that is based upon the quality of supply, upon local knowledge of authentic products and cultures, and upon the involvement of all actors upon whom depend the success or lack of success of a process for developing sustainable and competitive wine and gastronomy tourism. Denominations of origin for the protection of typical local products; wine roads and gustatory paths that are capable of revealing the values of an area, and therefore of putting them in the framework of rural tourism; special publishing events and products; new communication technologies; and new industrial associations and initiatives are all tools to be used with the scope of transforming the productive culture of places and culinary traditions into tourist products that are capable of constructing a territorial brand, to win an economic and cultural gamble that is of extraordinary importance for an island like Sicily which sees in tourism a strategic sector that can trigger mechanisms for enduring and sustainable development.
2009
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11393/93627
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