Itineraries / The reasons behind a choice
Why the GAL Pesca Trapanese chose to build five self-guided itineraries around the area’s food heritage: the reasons, the data and the philosophy behind this project.
The ability to enhance local typical products is a decisive element for the endogenous development of territorial systems, because of the important economic, social and tourism benefits it can bring. By enhancing typical products, the productive function of these activities is combined with new functions: protecting the marine environment and the land, preserving rural and fishing culture and traditions, and creating spaces open to new economic and social dynamics.
In recent years there has been a proliferation of initiatives aimed at adding services — tourism, leisure, education, social — to farming and fishing, also to reach new segments of consumers who want to experience the area’s fresh produce as an opportunity for cultural enrichment, not just as consumption.
The simultaneous rise of a non-mass model of production and consumption has strengthened interest in traditional and typical agri-food products, giving rise to what some scholars call “rural restructuring”: a new multifunctionality of farming and fishing activities, no longer only productive but also cultural and experiential.
Typical products are the result of small-scale activities, with particular characteristics that come from combining local raw materials with traditional production and processing techniques handed down over time. For businesses, often small or located in marginal areas, they offer a space of competitiveness different from price-driven markets; for public administrations, a way to strengthen the identity and cohesion of the local community.
Interest in food and wine specialities is supported by citizens’ growing attention to food quality, by the desire to hand down local traditions, and by wider adherence to a simple and natural lifestyle. Typical products, as an expression of an area’s culture, influence its social and economic development through concrete benefits: higher incomes for small businesses, qualified employment, greater social vitality, regeneration of traditional activities, and the development of food and wine tourism able to improve the economic sustainability of the area.
In recent years food and wine has also taken a central role in travel motivations, to the point of imagining a genuine process of “heritagisation” of local foods and specialities — tourist attractions able to move a target of travellers that international literature calls foodies. Gastronomy, from a pleasant sensory activity, thus also becomes an attraction factor and a tourism marketing tool for a destination.
the place of food among the specific factors of attractiveness of a destination, after climate, accommodation and landscape
local restaurateurs already certified with the Mare Nostro mark
taste itineraries, each a key to reading the area
The food product thus becomes a point of union between the authenticity of an area and the tourist, who is increasingly looking for genuine, participatory offers tied to the specifics of the place they visit. Typical products, perceived as more natural and respectful of the ecosystem, allow consumers to step out of the homogenising consumption models of contemporary society.
The typical product is tied to precise historical and cultural traits rooted in its area of origin: a package of tangible elements — agri-food products, crafts — and intangible ones — information, culture, knowledge, traditions — that the visitor perceives as a single identity. This is why a delimited and recognisable space, such as the twelve towns of the GAL Pesca Trapanese, is essential to build a route that truly enhances a typical product.
To qualify the area’s fishing production, the “Torri e Tonnare del Litorale Trapanese” Foundation has invested in creating a quality mark, already awarded to 15 local restaurateurs: the Mare Nostro mark, a guarantee of catch coming from the area’s fishing fleets.
Within this framework, the Itinerari del Gusto aim to bring together the rich food heritage of the areas involved: a heritage that can be the strong point and the biggest draw for non-local visitors, and one of the reasons able to influence the modern tourist’s choice of destination.
The modern traveller is always looking for new emotions and new ways of experiencing places: the demand for local typical products turns into demand for new consumption occasions, new experiences, new cultural events. It is through these components that visitors, even on a short stay, combine in their own way the experiential elements the area can offer — becoming the actors and directors of their own visit.
The taste itinerary promoted by the GAL Pesca Trapanese aims to involve local players in creating and coordinating a set of small local experiences, available through a local network of certified restaurants, where the table becomes a set of offers that enhance the sensory side of gastronomy and the experiential dimension of preparing and tasting it.
All this forms the backbone of a travel experience aimed at discovering the artistic, monumental, cultural, landscape and environmental beauty of this area.
“Attention! There is a lot to do, and to do it the area needs the help of all people of good will, leaving aside supposed supremacies and records of every kind. What is certain is that, in setting the scene of this film, for better or worse we all play a part: by how we act, by the choices we make every day, by what we say and write, by what we build or help to tear down. One thing is certain: in the meantime our guests are watching us, giving everything they see, hear or read a personal interpretation that will help shape their own experience.”