**2.1 The role of local productions for the development of rural tourism**

Local productions are part of the culture of a rural territory; they are elements of the past, expression of the traditions of a place that contribute, as argued by Dallen and Boyd [29], to a dynamic conservation of the landscape. Local products,

#### **Figure 1.**

*The regional distribution of Italy's typical products. Source: our elaboration from www.politicheagricole.it.*

also expression of human actions, become a product of the territory and even more an element of attractiveness and of tourist interest (**Figure 1**).

In the twenty-first century, scientific innovation and globalization have intensified the interest in food, offering a wide variety of food products, encouraging the emergence of alternative food movements, supporting a new food culture that has also enhanced the success of a gastronomic tourism. In this historical moment, food is the subject of discourses and reflections of critical and interpretive positions and is an expression of values, problems, and priorities of today's society. It has already been underlined how the discourses around food concern food safety, health, the ethical treatment of animals, the industrial impact, food production, the development of alternative food strategies, the symbolic dimension of food practices, and the socioeconomic potential that they have for local communities. So, there are numerous discourses that can be built around food: it is normally the consumerist discourse that characterizes the reflections on food, because its consumption is fundamental for life, but in the global context, we are witnessing the affirmation of new tensions and comparisons that lead to new paradigms that enhance the ethical and social aspects of food choices and promote local foods. Portman [30] argues that the defense of local food triggers discourses and new interests that rest on the awareness that food choices today no longer respond exclusively to economic indications, but increasingly reflect precise political and moral choices oriented to the issues of quality and sustainability. In fact, a new model of development has been affirmed within which local food is associated with numerous benefits, among which the increase farm incomes, greater social vitality, territorial regeneration activities, the enhancement and protection of traditional activities, and also the development and promotion of a gastronomic tourism that enhances the link between food and territory and between local cuisine and culture from which it originates [31]. In recent years, scientific literature has shown that local food, also considered a cultural and social capital [32, 33], can contribute not only to socioeconomic well-being of rural areas [34, 35] but also to their tourism development [20, 36, 37].

The value of food not only goes well beyond being a simple means of livelihood but can also contribute to the improvement of the tourist experience. The consumption of local food offers in fact a number of sensorial tourism experiences that link the local gastronomy to the journey and the discovery of the places [38]. Promotion of typical products through the creation of territorial as well as collective brands, hinged on the memory of places and communities, is able to trigger endogenous, integrated, and sustainable rural development paths. Therefore, both the promotion of traditional products and the development of a gastronomic tourism may represent precious opportunities in contrasting the current economic crisis. Especially in the less favored and marginal rural areas, far from the modernization process, a self-centered rural development model can make a root, characterized by the use and reproduction of experiences and knowledge locally developed to convert local resources into quality agri-food products while able, at the same time, to preserve the local elements, which are its foundation.

Within the frame of this new model, typical products become a resource capable of adding value to the development of smaller areas because they are able to integrate and enhance different territorial resources [34, 35], therefore responding to changes in the style of consumption of postmodern tourists. How to promote different territorial resources depends on the actors involved and on the strategies they decide to pursue. Traditional products, therefore, represent a potential resource for the local community and around them revolve several inclusive dynamics as well as projects of collective development. Typicality does not exclusively rest on the features of the productive process, but also on relations among the actors of the territorial system, which provide the typical product with a collective dimension.

**151**

**Figure 3.**

*www.qualigeo.eu/statistiche-eu-dop-igp-stg/.*

**Figure 2.**

*statistiche-eu-dop-igp-stg/.*

*Rural Tourism and Territorial Development in Italy DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85774*

**2.2 Tasting of typical products: the food trail**

The collective nature of typical products, together with their ability to promote territorial identity, quality and culture, is bringing about the shaping of new social networks and able to steer the choices regarding local development in a direction more sensitive to issues such as the development sustainability, the communities'

Other than for art, Italy is worldwide identified as the country where you eat and drink well. Words as "pizza," "pasta," "espresso," and "cappuccino" have conferred to food a universal dimension, thus becoming brands of a gastronomic globalization. Italy is actually one among the countries where the food and wine offer is wider and more diversified. With its 863 appellations (**Figure 2**)—299 IG food (35%), 526 IG wine geographical indications (61%), and 38 IG spirits (4%)— Italy comes before France (764) and Spain (358). The most important years in the creation of geographical indications of origin go from 1996 to 2012. Distributed by regions, agri-food IGs predominate in Emilia Romagna (45), Veneto (38), and Lombardy (36), while wine appellations prevail in Piedmont (59) and Tuscany (58). Furthermore, in Italy, there are 172,688 restaurants of which are 586 of excellence, 11,632 farms with restaurants, 18,632 farms with accommodation, 170 wine routes

*Geographical indications of Italy's food (2019). Source: our elaboration from www.qualigeo.eu/*

*Trend geographical indications of Italy's wine and food (1974-2017). Source: our elaboration from* 

quality life, and the enhancement of the territorial identities [39].

*Rural Tourism and Territorial Development in Italy DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85774*

*Sustainability Assessment at the 21st Century*

also expression of human actions, become a product of the territory and even more

In the twenty-first century, scientific innovation and globalization have intensified the interest in food, offering a wide variety of food products, encouraging the emergence of alternative food movements, supporting a new food culture that has also enhanced the success of a gastronomic tourism. In this historical moment, food is the subject of discourses and reflections of critical and interpretive positions and is an expression of values, problems, and priorities of today's society. It has already been underlined how the discourses around food concern food safety, health, the ethical treatment of animals, the industrial impact, food production, the development of alternative food strategies, the symbolic dimension of food practices, and the socioeconomic potential that they have for local communities. So, there are numerous discourses that can be built around food: it is normally the consumerist discourse that characterizes the reflections on food, because its consumption is fundamental for life, but in the global context, we are witnessing the affirmation of new tensions and comparisons that lead to new paradigms that enhance the ethical and social aspects of food choices and promote local foods. Portman [30] argues that the defense of local food triggers discourses and new interests that rest on the awareness that food choices today no longer respond exclusively to economic indications, but increasingly reflect precise political and moral choices oriented to the issues of quality and sustainability. In fact, a new model of development has been affirmed within which local food is associated with numerous benefits, among which the increase farm incomes, greater social vitality, territorial regeneration activities, the enhancement and protection of traditional activities, and also the development and promotion of a gastronomic tourism that enhances the link between food and territory and between local cuisine and culture from which it originates [31]. In recent years, scientific literature has shown that local food, also considered a cultural and social capital [32, 33], can contribute not only to socioeconomic well-being of rural

an element of attractiveness and of tourist interest (**Figure 1**).

areas [34, 35] but also to their tourism development [20, 36, 37].

the local elements, which are its foundation.

The value of food not only goes well beyond being a simple means of livelihood but can also contribute to the improvement of the tourist experience. The consumption of local food offers in fact a number of sensorial tourism experiences that link the local gastronomy to the journey and the discovery of the places [38]. Promotion of typical products through the creation of territorial as well as collective brands, hinged on the memory of places and communities, is able to trigger endogenous, integrated, and sustainable rural development paths. Therefore, both the promotion of traditional products and the development of a gastronomic tourism may represent precious opportunities in contrasting the current economic crisis. Especially in the less favored and marginal rural areas, far from the modernization process, a self-centered rural development model can make a root, characterized by the use and reproduction of experiences and knowledge locally developed to convert local resources into quality agri-food products while able, at the same time, to preserve

Within the frame of this new model, typical products become a resource capable of adding value to the development of smaller areas because they are able to integrate and enhance different territorial resources [34, 35], therefore responding to changes in the style of consumption of postmodern tourists. How to promote different territorial resources depends on the actors involved and on the strategies they decide to pursue. Traditional products, therefore, represent a potential resource for the local community and around them revolve several inclusive dynamics as well as projects of collective development. Typicality does not exclusively rest on the features of the productive process, but also on relations among the actors of the territorial system, which provide the typical product with a collective dimension.

**150**

The collective nature of typical products, together with their ability to promote territorial identity, quality and culture, is bringing about the shaping of new social networks and able to steer the choices regarding local development in a direction more sensitive to issues such as the development sustainability, the communities' quality life, and the enhancement of the territorial identities [39].
