Cross-border cultural itinerary of the olive tree
The cross-border
tourist and cultural itinerary
on the Olive tree
«CLUSTER SERVAGRI»
As part of the project “CLUSTER SERVAGRI – Cross-border CLUSTER serving the networking and qualification of the agricultural olive growing chains”, ref. n° IS_1.1_034, under implementation in the framework of the call for standard projects of the ENI CBC “Italy-Tunisia” 2014-2020 Programme, an Italian-Tunisian cross-border tourist and cultural itinerary has been created, focussed on the olive tree and recognised by the Council of Europe, being on-line from the beginning of May 2023 at the link https://olivetreeroute.gr/culturalroutes-en/poi-en/.
This route represents an enormous added value for this project and owes its creation to the strong commitment of the team of the OTRoutes Cultural Foundation “Olive Tree Routes”, to its Executive Director Mr. Georgios KARAMPATOS and, above all, to Mrs. Marinella KATSILIERI, who dedicated herself with great passion to this task.
The OTRoutes Cultural Foundation “Olive Tree Routes“ is a body certified by the Council of Europe for the creation of cultural itineraries on the theme of the olive tree and is an associated partner of the CLUSTER SERVAGRI project; it is present in 12 Mediterranean countries and to date has designated more than 300 points of interest; by “Point of Interest” we mean museums, archaeological sites, art and craft workshops, production units, local producers, etc., located in the olive growing regions.
The benefits of including a point of interest in the Olive Tree Routes of the Council of Europe
The structures included in the itinerary become reference points of the olive-growing heritage for the general public and are promoted in the means of communication available to the Foundation and, through them, on the website of the Council of Europe / European Institute of Cultural Routes / as structures labelled.
The linking of several points of interest allows the creation of a local cultural itinerary and a new “destination” which, as an integral part of the cultural itinerary of the Council of Europe, places the region on the map of European and international cultural itineraries of the Council of Europe internationally recognised: its profile has improved, implying an increase in the number of visitors.
In particular, the resulting benefits are:
- Strengthening of the region: thematic cultural itineraries allow tourists to visit unknown and unused sites; the list of available resources of a region is, therefore, enriched.
- Extension of the tourist season: proposals for itineraries and thematic activities outside the summer season (October-February).
- Increase in the length of stay in the area: possibility of combining thematic activities with other usual activities such as bathing, shopping, etc.
- Enhancement of small production units: the thematic itineraries make it possible to enhance all aspects of the cultural heritage, whatever their size and according to their authenticity, such as, for example, the discovery of a local product in its place of production.
What is a cross-border cultural route?
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It is an itinerary that brings together elements of cultural and tourist interest belonging to the same theme (which in our case is the olive tree) but coming from different neighbouring countries and with cultural heritage to share. By its nature, this type of itinerary reinforces the feeling of belonging to a common environment in which each country, each region has its place, which is complementary to the others, as this environment is the Mediterranean and the natural and cultural landscape is that one of the olive tree, one of the most superb pillars of its millenary agriculture.
It also favours dialogue and intercultural cooperation, promotes tourism and economic development, strengthens the image of every region of the world.
A cross-border cultural itinerary is not a simple task to accomplish. It requires cooperation between different actors, such as local authorities, museums, cultural organisations, businesses and other actors. In the case of the “Italy-Tunisia” CLUSTER SERVAGRI cross-border cultural itinerary, this difficulty was overcome thanks to the precious collaboration of the lead partner “GAL Eloro” (www.galeloro.org) and of all the partners of the project who were committed to its creation.
The research carried out made it possible to complete an initial list of 20 labelled Points of Interest, which were selected, and which met the established criteria.
In SICILY
- TELLARO ROMAN VILLA
- ARCHAEOLOGICAL AREA OF THE ANCIENT TOWN OF ELORO (HÉLOROS)
- BUSULMONA AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISE
- RUTA OIL-MILL
- VILLA ZOTTOPERA
- CUTRERA OIL-MILLS
- COOPERATIVE NOSTRA SIGNORA DI GULFI COOP. SOCIALE ONLUS
- MONUMENTAL OLIVE TREES OF ARABIAN ORIGIN
- OIL MUSEUM
- BERRETTA OIL-MILLS
- OLIVA AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISE
In TUNISIA
- ZITOUNET ACHRAF
- SITE & MUSEUM
- AZMOUR TOWN
- AL RAJHI-EL FERJANI
- BOURICHA OIL-MILLS
- DAR ABDEL HAK LASSOUED
- CHATT EZZOUHOUR OIL-MILL
- HABIB HELAL ORGANIC FARM
- HANNIBAL’S OLIVE TREES
All labelled points of interest are charted on an interactive map. Just choose the region, then click on each of them to get all the information (description, location, access, etc.).
The Programme of cultural itineraries of the Council of Europe
This programme aims to demonstrate that the heritage of different European countries and their culture contributes to the common cultural heritage, by offering travel through space and time, on themes shared by several countries.
These itineraries respond to the needs of heritage and cultural tourism: they offer different routes (pedestrian, cycle, etc.) which allow you to discover places of historical, tourist and cultural interest depending on the theme chosen (in the case of the Italy-Tunisia cross-border itinerary, it is a material and immaterial heritage, traditions, etc. related to the cultivation of the olive tree).
These itineraries encourage new forms of tourism (tourism of the senses, smart, sustainable or responsible tourism, relational tourism, etc.) and also aim to better distribute the flow of visitors to avoid excessive attendance at certain sites. They make it possible to (re)discover the tangible and intangible, cultural and natural heritage in the territories concerned and also make it possible to establish cooperation in many fields ranging from culture to heritage, via education or tourism and bring together different types of stakeholders: researchers, professionals (MSME-very small businesses), students, institutional, associative, tourist, economic actors, etc.
Conclusions
A cross-border cultural and tourist itinerary has just been created and reveals an unimaginable richness yet to be discovered. We hope to be able to multiply the points of interest on this map to make the discovery proposals even more attractive for visitors, perhaps on the occasion of the continuation of the CLUSTER SERVAGRI project.