Agritourism in Italy

Italy today is one of the leaders of the European agritourism. Every year to the Italian villages and farms come more than two million people. Italy can be proud of its success in the development of rural recreation. A country that has long ago became synonymous with the word «tourism», except the traditional cliches such as tours to Rome, Venice, Florence and Naples, managed to open a new trend in travel.

The birth of the Italian agritourism could be considered in 1985. Then the Italian government passed a law on agritourism ensuring support to that public sector tourism industry. In the ten years since the adoption of the law, the number of people who wanted to rest in the rural Italy rose by 3 times. Agritourism among the other things helped to create many new jobs. A number of agricultural (and therefore often the poorest) regions of Italy received an additional impulse for development. Today, among the most popular areas of rural tourism in Italy are: the provinces of Calabria, Sardinia, Sicily, Marche, Veneto.

The most popular destinations for the agritourists in Italy is Tuscany. The rural landscapes of this region of Italy can be seen on the Italian mail postcards, calendars, and world cinema. One of the most recent bright appearances of Tuscany was in the film «Under the Tuscan Sun», shot on the hills of the province in 2006. Today, Tuscany holds a quarter of all rural recreation in Italy.

Agritourism in Italy today - is more than 10 thousand farms, villas and mansions ready to host tourists throughout the year. Many farms in Italy have their own specialty. Tourists have an opportunity to choose between rural recreational and getting familiar with the secrets of Italian gastronomy, combine rural and active relaxation, including horse farms, as well as leisure and work. Relaxation and work - a combination that at first glance seems ridiculous. But in Italy actually managed to engage tourists to the agricultural work and at the same time take money from them. One of the bright examples of such "shameless exploitation" can be considered the harvesting of oranges in Sicily or vintage in the same Tuscany.

In Agritourism in Italy column, we are going to publish information about the Italian rural estates, developments relating to rural tourism in Italy as well as numerous festivals, fairs and events taking place in the Italian interior relevant to the topic of agritourism.