ITALEA’s marathon in New York continues with a second event hosted by ENIT. The Italian National Tourism Agency has made available the space of Piazza Italia, at the corner of Madison Avenue and 44th Street, to facilitate dialogue between Italian tour operators and American tour agents so that “root trips” are best organized. “We had to participate in the celebrations of the Year of Italian Roots,” said Caterina Orlando, ENIT manager of the U.S. and Mexico markets.
The program, desired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and co-financed by the European Union, promotes travel to the twenty regions of the Peninsula to discover their roots. The term “ITALEA” comes from “grafting,” a practice that allows a plant to regenerate itself in a different place from a single cut branch. This happens with migration: an individual moves from one place to another and settles in, creating a network, a family, from the beginning. The project aims to reunite the fruits, that is, the new generations of Italian descendants, with the “mother plant,” that is, the history of the ancestors who left Italy in search of fortune.
“What if there is a specialized program to guide you to rediscover your roots? Embark on it,” said ITALEA head Giovanni Maria De Vita, commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “It is important, for anyone but especially for those who need to reconnect with their past, to go and visit a place in person. This is the kind of experience that ITALEA offers: travel to Italy, discover small villages thanks to the guidance of specialized tour operators, and open up to one’s origins. In the last two years, we have been working on this so that the 20 Italian regions could connect in a single platform that gathers the services available depending on the area you are visiting.”
The opening of the day was also attended by the Consul General of Italy in New York, Fabrizio Di Michele, who said, “This program offers a new approach that connects Italian descendants with even the smallest realities transforming them from every point of view, socially, economically and culturally.”
While typical Calabrian dishes, such as gnocchi and “girelle di sardella,” prepared by chef Fabrizio Facchini, were being served among the tables, American tour operators began to tour the stands of the Italian regions, meeting with local agents who present new travel prospects.
The appointment at ENIT is just one of ITALEA’s busy agendas for this weekend, which is the run-up to Columbus Day. This day celebrates Italian descent and culminates with a parade on 5th Avenue. Thursday night was the launch of activities at the Italian Cultural Institute, where five regions-Piedmont, Calabria, Liguria, Lazio, and Puglia-were presented through five short films representative of the peculiarities of each territory. On Saturday, the Campania region organized a workshop at the Culinary Institute of America with more than a thousand chefs to emphasize how the gastronomic and cultural heritages intersect with territorial resources and values.
