'A programme born from the heart'. This is how the councillor in charge of the Roots Tourism project at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Giovanni Maria de Vita, described the Italea programme for promoting Roots Tourism.
He did so during a networking event organised in Buenos Aires by the Consulate General ahead of the start of the International Tourism Fair, the sector's biggest event in South America where Italy will once again be a protagonist.
"It is a programme born from the heart, from the desire to recover ties with the communities of Italians abroad and allow them, through a specially dedicated programme, to reach those places of origin that are not included in the traditional tourist circuits," explained De Vita.
"It is about allowing them to re-establish a direct link with tradition, memory, culture, and we have called it Italea in reference to cuttings, the practice that allows a plant to reproduce itself in the same way as Italian communities around the world," the councillor added.
For his part, Consul General Carmelo Barbera thanked Councillor de Vita, "who arrived from Italy with his team to explain the Italea Roots Tourism promotion programme", and Ambassador Fabrizio Lucentini, "whose presence demonstrates the systemic effort that Italy makes here in Argentina".
"The Roots Tourism programme seems to have been designed especially for Argentina, the largest community of descendants in the world lives here, and it is a community that comes from exactly those towns and villages that Italea aims to promote," the consul added.
The event took place in the beautiful setting of Casa Paradiso, a gastronomic space created by Italian chef Donato De Santis on the rooftop of the Alcorta mall.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
