The taste of the Island: new opportunities from food and wine

The project to enhance the food and wine heritage linked to the Il Golfo dell'Isola district begins with the aim of attracting new tourists, increasing their stay in the area and deseasonalizing tourism

In 2023 they were over 9 million Italian tourists who have made at least one trip with the main motivation linked tofood and wine. A figure that corresponds to 58% of tourists, with a growth of 37 percentage points compared to 2016, according to what was surveyed by the Report on Italian food and wine tourism. A growing trend, which allows you to deseasonalize the offer, but also promote yourself with more attractions towards Italian tourists - an ideal audience for short stays - as well as among a high-spending international audience well disposed to combine well-being, outdoor activities and good food in the same holiday.

Il Gulf of the Island (Bergeggi, Noli, Spotorno and Vezzi Portio) can boast great potential from this point of view, which has so far only been partially exploited. The project The Taste of the Island was created precisely to bring this potential to light and at the same time promote it as best as possible. The fundamental activities will in fact be two: the product census, gastronomic traditions and most significant recipes of the area andidentification of a dish, of a product o an identifying menu around which to create a shared storytelling, to be used locally or in national and international promotional activities.

The project which will take shape in the next few days is divided into five main phases: first of all the research and census of the local food and wine heritage through bibliographic research, on-site interviews and the sending of a questionnaire to the various interested parties. Once the material has been collected and analysed, it will be possible to have a series of initial ideas to use as a basis for discussion with the operators in order to define which dishes and products are the most interesting and most easily fit into the different activities. This study and analysis work will therefore flow into a dedicated publication and a web, social and press promotion campaign.

They will follow the project Fabio Molinari e Alessandro Ricci, journalists with collaborations with the main media (IlGolosario, IlGusto.it, Bargiornale) and exhibitions in the food and wine sector in addition to social teams need video production already in force in the Gulf of the Island (Matthew Paulillo and and the team of Mochi Design) with the coordination of Marco Olcese, DMO of the Gulf of the Island.