Food is about to become the largest budget item in the world.summer 2022 with the rediscovery of small villages where, according to the Coldiretti and Symbola survey, 92% of the typical national products, a sustainable and zero km food and wine heritage preserved over time by the 279 agricultural enterprises present in small towns with a daily commitment to enhance the biodiversity farmer, despite a thousand logistical difficulties, the protection of the territory affected by climate change and the maintenance of food traditions.
It won't be the revenge of the campaign against the big cities, but it will certainly be there pandemic has strongly affected the habits of the Italians. The social model based on globalization had focused attention on large urban centres, putting small municipalities in a corner. On the other hand, in the wake of the health emergency, that Italy outside the usual chaotic itineraries raises its head. The Italy of agricultural production, the Italy of hills and mountains, of farmhouses in the plains and mountain huts, the Italy of green pastures with flowered terraces.
Summer 2022 comes to terms with the consequences of a pandemic that has not yet completely overcome and with international fears for the evolution of the war in Ukraine but which marks the overbearing return of conviviality. A "new" tourism that is ever more attentive not only to the natural, scenic and artistic beauties of our territory but also to a clean and healthy environment and to the rediscovery of typical products, the quality of food and eating well.
Small Italian villages: tourism changes face
Real treasure chests of history, flavors and culture. In Italy, centers with fewer than 5 inhabitants host 16,5% of the national population but represent 54% of the entire Italian surface area, according to a Coldiretti analysis on Istat data, with wide margins of residential reception in a landscape strongly marked by agricultural. Above all, hospitality in small towns is guaranteed by a network made up of 24 agritourism facilities with 253 beds and almost 442 seats at the table.
For this summer 2022 more than 7 out of 10 Italians will go to agritourism, to spend your holidays or simply to eat well. At the head of the motivations is the desire for contact with nature, while in second place is food and wine, driven by the phenomenon of peasant cooks, the farmers chefs who cook the products grown on the farm often recovering ancient recipes of the countryside tradition , which have become a real added value. In third place is the desire to relax but also to find security in the countryside and the practice of sport. According to the survey, this love for agritourism on the part of Italian holidaymakers is also demonstrated by the fact that as many as 20,5 million compatriots would like to open one.
Furthermore, the tendency to move in less crowded periods pushes towards another important aspect for the economy of the entire sector: the seasonal adjustment and lengthening of average stays. Summer 2022 is an important appointment for the sector after two years of the pandemic which cost a significant drop in attendance and turnover but which did not affect the structure of the sector which has shown its solidity and ability to adapt, responding to new market stimuli and trends.
Seals of Campagna Amica 2022: a sea of specialties
The "Seals", surveyed by the Observatory on biodiversity set up by the scientific committee of Campagna Amica, are unique products that the peasant world has kept against homologation. 418 typical products and animal breeds to discover during the summer.
Some examples: the Apulian barattiere, a sort of cucumber to be eaten unripe in salads or to be matured to become similar to a melon; The Roman tanned in Campania, the oldest cheese in the world celebrated by the Romans and still aged in amphorae today; there Cicerchia dei Sibillini, a typical Marche legume; The Sicilian Bronte pistachio to Ligurian rose juice produced from fresh and untreated petals; The yellow stubble bean consumed by farmers in Lazio; there Bream red onion, which in Lombardy is used for particular pairings such as desserts and ice creams; The Monteleone di Spoleto spelled protagonist in Umbria also of a religious and secular ritual; there Solina wheat flour, an ancient variety of wheat from Abruzzo; the Nduja of black pig from Calabria; the Mora Romagnola salami, a nearly extinct native pig breed; The Molise cheese, Bitto made exclusively with milk produced in the mountain pastures of Lombardy and the Crotonese pecorino.
Among the "Seals" of biodiversity there are also the Lari cherry which can be found in Tuscany, where theAglione of the Valdichianawith a delicate flavour. In Friuli it is grown white courgette, with a very thin and cream-colored skin indicated for those who have digestive difficulties, while in Piedmont the Capriglio pepper which is characterized by the fleshy thickness of the berry which makes it particularly suitable for conservation.
And among the desserts there are Sa' pompia jam, a very rare native citrus fruit that was recovered in Sardinia, where it is also produced the Abbamele, a decoction of honey. Equally rare are the Sicilian black bee honey and sandra born in the Venice lagoon. Among the wines there is the Tintilia Molisana.
