Italian Roots supports the appeal of the celebrated Italian chef and entrepreneur in Argentina, Donato De Santis: “when it's all over we'll go back to Italy for a holiday to help the country of our roots”
The social promotion association Raiz Italiana, born thanks to the “PIN – Pugliesi Innovativi” call for proposals, has been committed for several years to the promotion of Roots tourism, which is the travel of all those who have Italian origins and who come to Italy to discover the places their ancestors came from. In recent months, with the support of the Directorate General for Italians Abroad of the MAECI and numerous Italian institutions, we have been carrying out a project consisting of the creation of a series of tourist guides dedicated to root travel. The first volume of the Guide to Italian Roots. A journey in the footsteps of your ancestors. It was published last September and presented in Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Colombia and Paraguay during an institutional tour organised with the MAECI, the Italian Embassies, ENIT and the regions involved in the project (Puglia, Basilicata, Abruzzo, Emilia Romagna). Now we are working on the second volume, which will include another five regions.
We partners, as well as many other tourism professionals, in this moment of health emergency due to the worldwide spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the consequent economic crisis caused by the lockdown necessary for containing the virus, are questioning ourselves about Future tourism scenarios and on what will become of these special journeys featuring our Italians around the world.
It is a unique moment, in which the tragedy unfolding is calling into question everyone’s expectations and hopes. The fortunate ones suddenly find themselves at home in a suspended time, reflecting on their lives up to this point, on the ease of certain gestures and actions that were taken for granted just a month ago, including the multitude of experiences gained through travel, which will likely be the last to return to normality. At the same time, we are appreciating the importance of some small things that we are still allowed to do, such as sharing everyday life with family, preparing good meals, and taking care of our homes. It is, in some ways, a return to the past, to the times of our grandparents, to the art of making do, to authenticity. We wonder what this crisis will leave in our lives and how it will also impact travel choices and habits. We like to think that in the tourism of the future, authentic experiences, in contact with nature, in small villages, will be more appreciated, where we can learn about past stories through the tales of the elderly, whose lives, severely tested by the pandemic, now more than ever seem to us the most precious heritage to safeguard. Are these some of the elements strongly present in travels to the roots?.
The echo of newfound national pride, shouted from balconies across Italy, has also reached the homes of our fellow countrymen abroad who are following the events of their beloved country with great apprehension, today more distant than ever. Perhaps from hearing so much about it and from the pain of seeing it brought to its knees, the desire to get to know their land of origin has emerged for those who have not yet been there, to return for those who usually spend their holidays there and, above all, the strength to say: “Italy, you are not alone, we are with you!”. Countless were the affectionate messages of solidarity we received from those who are part of that large community made up not only of the five million people with passports, but of the 80 million with Italian blood.
Donato De Santis, renowned Apulian chef and entrepreneur in Argentina, as well as a Knight of the Italian Republic, right from the early days of the emergency on his social media pages, which reach over two million people, he launched a concrete proposal for all Italians abroad who wish to help their country get back on its feet after the crisis, obviously once the health emergency has subsided. De Santis in his video on Facebook on March 11th spoke of the commitment to consume and favour the purchase of products Made in Italy and organise your holidays in Italy, perhaps by spending time there in the country of origin or in small villages, participating also in work-holiday projects in small and medium-sized enterprises, to contribute to the local economy. Therefore, restarting from authentic experiences in contact with the territory, supporting artisanal work and the production chains whose importance we are rediscovering globally through this crisis.
The proposal received widespread approval from his followers, not only Italo-Argentinians who would be willing to join the initiative. Certainly, we know that we need to be realistic as the possibility of lockdown potentially causing difficulties for the economies of other countries is evident, but the influencer's authoritative voice and the response obtained from his proposal, with a touch of positivity, give us cause for optimism. In the meantime, We are at work with Donato, with associations and institutions for Imagine new scenarios so as not to be caught unprepared when this nightmare is over and to allow our compatriots to get to know those much-dreamed-of places. We also continue to write and promote our guide to Italian roots, which at the moment allows us to at least acquire the basics for historical-family research, deepen our knowledge of the regions of origin and the Italian language, find inspiration for regional recipes and, why not, travel with imagination!
Is it possible to download the guide at the following link: https://www.raizitaliana.it/guida-alle-radici-italiane/?lang=it.
The Raiz Italiana team