Toscana Promozione Turistica and the National “City of Oil” Association have joined forces to promote olive oil tourism and relaunch a culture of mindful and conscious product consumption representing lifestyles and landscapes. Following a previous agreement between the “City of Oil” and the Tuscany Region for 2018, the agreement was signed this morning in the presence of Stefania Saccardi, Vice-President and Councillor for Agriculture, and Leonardo Marras, Councillor for Tourism, by Francesco Tapinassi, Director of Toscana Promozione Turistica, and Michele Sonnessa, President of the “City of Oil” Association, with the participation of Mario Agnelli, Regional Coordinator, Marcello Bonechi, Vice-President, and Antonio Balenzano, Regional Director.
The agreement launches a pilot project closely connected to Vetrina Toscana which, thanks to the collaboration between the regional Agriculture and Tourism departments and the Chamber of Commerce system, enables the development of a tourism offer linked to culinary traditions and regional production excellence. These actions also respond to landscape protection and sustainable development, particularly in rural areas, through tourism, focusing on revitalizing production and promoting a shared awareness of the quality of Tuscan extra virgin olive oil, its health benefits, and how to properly use it in the kitchen.
The framework agreement includes co-branding initiatives and measures to be carried out at restaurants, shops, production and processing companies, creating effective communication synergies and aiming to create an “olive oil tourism” model that can be replicated for the national and international markets.
“This is an important step, especially in a difficult year for olive oil,” said Vice President and Councillor for Agriculture, Stefania Saccardi. “Due to the climate conditions and the negative effect that has been generated by flies: both these factors have had a significant and negative impact. We hope things will improve before the end of the olive oil campaign. But since it is a difficult year, it is important to try to relaunch and promote the value of this product that is not only good and healthy but also fundamental for our hills and the beauty of our territory. So, making sure olive oil is part of tourism is a challenge Tuscany must pursue to make olive oil an attraction, as wine has been. Not by chance, we created the law on oil tourism, and the olive mills are increasingly becoming beautiful tourist destinations, just like our wineries. I believe that if we manage to convey how our olive oil is a quality product, we will get closer to the results that wine has achieved for our Region.”
“The evocative value of olive oil is not new,” said Councillor for Tourism Leonardo Marras. “It is a product and an icon of the landscape, of health and Tuscany. These are concepts that are also deeply rooted in the Tuscan association “City of Oil”, which was born here. They are the hallmarks of our Region. The agreement we have signed today is a further step for Vetrina Toscana to strengthen its new approach, linking all the agricultural production and food and wine sectors in Tuscany to travel. The fact that we have been able to reach such an agreement consolidates and strengthens the path that Vetrina Toscana has been following with great care since its inception.”
“This is the third agreement with Vetrina Toscana,” explained Francesco Tapinassi. “And we are very pleased. The agreement with the City of Oil Association is a decisive step because olive oil tourism is becoming a growing phenomenon nationally. Data from the Observatory confirm that the tourists of today are increasingly looking for new experiences that can be combined with other alternative motivations to travel. These tourists are aware of and looking for concrete elements of local identity, which in this case, olive oil, also has the advantage of being organised for tourism. So it’s not just about walking through olive groves, it’s about creating new narrative mechanisms that present an important food production and the symbolic landscape of Tuscany. Olive oil is a great product that we are happy to share, especially with the idea of contributing to the redistribution of tourist flows and, at the same time, preserving the main distinguishing element of this Region, the landscape, defined by a profound and intrinsic beauty that runs through human design.”
“We are very proud and happy about this valuable partnership that allows us to join forces to promote olive oil tourism in Tuscany. To date, Tuscany is the Region with the most members, with 58 Cities of Oil out of a total of 462. Tuscany is also one of the most active regions in terms of participation in major national events such as “Walking through the Olive Trees”, “A Snack in the Olive Grove”, “Oil in the Classroom” and the National Olive Oil Tourism Contest, which gathered hundreds of proposals for olive oil tourism, most of them from Tuscany. Thanks to this agreement, there is a solid basis for the promotion of the prestige of Tuscany, the link with the territories of Toscana Promozione Turistica, the participation of Vetrina Toscana, which combines agricultural and tourism expertise, and because this could be a model to follow and replicate in other regions, especially for the coordinating role that Tuscany plays in Italian food and wine tourism,” said Michele Sonnessa, President of the City of Oil Association.
There are currently 56 “City of Oil” Municipalities in Tuscany and 460 nationwide. The Association, which was founded almost thirty years ago in Larino (Molise) but has its headquarters at Villa Sansedoni in Siena, plans national events that are now being developed collectively throughout Tuscany. These include “Walking through the Olive Trees”, “A Snack in the Olive Grove”, and “Oil in the Classroom.”
In addition, a national olive oil tourism competition has already selected hundreds of proposals related to olive oil, most of them from Tuscany. A notable example is the recently created itinerary through the olive trees of the walls of Siena, the same ones depicted in The Allegory of Good and Bad Government fresco panels painted by Ambrogio Lorenzetti.
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