Romagna: definitely not commodity tourism

GET FREE REAL TOURISM GUIDE: In a commodity -tourism world, class history and uniqueness stand out away from the mass market trail

When everybody swans off to Wallmart, what happens to the delightful, friendly, old established shops in the high street? Often they give better value, certainly better personal service. But they are left out in the cold by the distribution chain.

The same thing is happening in tourism.

The Wallmart destinations of today are the ones with low costs and maximum margin like Thailand and Turkey.

And the still amazing and authentic high street places like Italy’s Romagna, one of the world’s greatest destinations, are finding tourism-life less easy than in years gone by.

But Romagna – the coastal plain in Northern Italy between the Appennines and the Adriatic – has an extraordinarily rich cornucopia of offers for tourists who care to go outside the usual.

Romagna’s beaches are second to none – from Rimini, the ‘Dolce Vita’ of 1960’s tourism along the 50km of perfect coast through Cesenatico, all the way to  beautiful Cervia and swanky Milano Marittima – there are 50 kilometres in all of soft golden beach and sand-dune playground backed by pine groves and dotted with beachside restaurants serving superb, and reasonably priced local food.

And for culture-vultures, what more can you say than Ravenna, whose history, art and architecture stretch back two thousand years and which hosts no less than eight World Heritage sites. Chock full of mosaics, this amazing city was capital of Italy no less than three times. But, of course that’s not all, within Romagna’s borders there are no less that 11 cities and towns full of art including Faenza with its ceramics and superb square, Forli with lots of Art Deco architecture, ancient Rimini and picturesque seaside Cervia.

You see Romagna in yet another light when you think of its food and wine – we counted no less than 24 delicious items that are indigenous to Romagna including the Mora Romagna pork, the Squacquerone di Romagna cheese, Romagna peach and nectarine, the Romagna shallot, Volpina pears and the amazing DOC Sangiovese di Romagna, DOCG Albano di Romagna and DOC Trebbiano di Romagna. It’s no wonder that the "Father of Italian Cookery" Pellegrino Artusi hailed from Romagna where his unique foundation with "The best cookery school in Italy" still operates.

And Romagna is not just a two dimensional food and beach destination. The reason for its glorious culinary and cultural heritage is the nearby Po Delta – an amazing resource in itself. 54,000 hectares of wetlands, floating forests, salt pans, lagoons and canals entice over 300 species of bird including massive flocks of beautiful pink flamingoes, The park is a nature tourist’s delight.

All these tourism riches have fostered some of the best hospitality in the world. Not chains of commodity establishments serving homogenous fare – but mainly small family-run hostelries whose idea is to engage with their guests and deliver a truly unique and personal welcome. There is real, true hospitality at every level, from basic 1 star establishments to the height of stylish boutique places.

Examples include the upmarket boutique Villa Foris, the Villa Roncuzzi and the Casa Masoli.

Romagna special interest and activity holidays include cooking courses (naturally!), walking, riding and cycling holidays, you can learn Italian, learn art, even make your own mosaic with a master craftsman.

And, just a hop, skip and jump from Romagna’s borders are even more untold riches – the fabulous city of Bologna, for example, the delightful cycle-city of Ferrara, and the pretty Venice-like port of Comacchio not forgetting World Heritage, duty-free, mountaintop citadel Republic of San Marino.

So, Romagna has got pretty much everything AND it’s well out of the mass-tourism trail. But don’t think that it is a pushover – the Romagnoli are fiercely independent, they have their own language, their own traditions and their own attitudes – they are rightly proud of their unique heritage and expect tourists to be so too.

All in all a fascinating destination that is ideal for REAL TOURISM – and that’s why TotemTourism is producing a free REAL TOURISM guide to the destination – get yours now! Just email [email protected] and ask for one!

And, in cooperation with local suppliers, TotemTourism is offering a limited programme of tours to Romagna. Find out more HERE

Valere Tjolle

SUSTAINABLE/REAL TOURISM INFORMATION & OFFERS HERE