2025 ICTC Study Tour to Reggio Calabria, Italy

The 2025 ICTC Study Tour was held in Calabria, Italy from November 21 to 25, 2025, with visits to Zungri, Tropea, Serra San Bruno, Nicotera, Bagnara Calabra, Scilla and Reggio Calabria. The tour also included an official reception by the Governor, a round table with stakeholders, in Nicotera, and a technical-scientific session at Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria. 

The general theme of this edition was: "Mediterranean diet, rural contexts and cultural tourism" and allowed to better understand the dynamics that characterize territories in undertourism, unable to fully express their potential in terms of economic development connected to the enhancement of cultural heritage; and to reflect on the causes and possible measures to be adopted to adequately enhance this heritage.  

These topics were linked with the actual ICTC priority that supposes the promotion of the application of the International Cultural Tourism Charter. Often it seems that it is intended to tackle some of the current issues of tourism in mature or overcrowded sites but in fact it is also very adequate to be considered at places like Calabria with margin to grow and develop tourism infrastructure but avoiding some of the common mistakes of most developed areas. 

Calabria is an emblematic case in this sense as, despite the vast tangible and intangible Heritage of which it is endowed, it cannot yet intercept tourist flows commensurate with the relevance of this Heritage. Even more emblematic is the case of the Mediterranean diet. Inscribed in 2013 (8.COM) on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the Mediterranean diet involves a set of skills, knowledge, rituals, symbols and traditions concerning crops, harvesting, fishing, animal husbandry, conservation, processing, cooking, and particularly the sharing and consumption of food.

Theoretically, therefore, it is the ideal element to enhance rural contexts and Small Villages, such as those that characterize many Mediterranean regions, including Calabria. After more than ten years, however, the effects produced by registration in the UNESCO list are still very below expectations, both in terms of the conservation of the authenticity of the elements recognized by the international organization and from the point of view of the spread of their knowledge and enjoyment.

Calabria, then, has a particular link with the Mediterranean diet: in 1957, a preliminary field survey of the Seven Countries Study was carried out in Nicotera, a small village in Calabria.

The Seven Countries Study, coordinated by the American doctor Ancel Keys, is an international epidemiological study that highlighted the benefits of the Mediterranean diet for the first time. 

The Destinations of the Study Tour 2025

For the reasons exposed above, the program of the 2025 ICTC Study Tour (ST) has included visits to some emblematic places of the Calabrian tangible Cultural Heritage but also companies that produce some foods of the Mediterranean Diet and meetings with some stakeholders who still retain the traditional practices of the Mediterranean Diet and pass them over to the new generations.

On the first day, Friday, 21st November, the group had guided tours of the rock settlement of Zungri and, in the evening, of historic center of Tropea. 

The ICOMOS ICTC also met with His Excellency Governor Roberto Occhiuto at the capital's offices in Catanzaro, to talk together about the sustainable rural tourism initiatives underway. The General Director of the Tourism Department of the Calabria Region, Raffaele Rio, was also in the reception and from both sides there were some speeches to introduce ICTC challenges and its future connection with Calabria cultural tourism strategy. 

On the second day, Saturday, 22nd November, the group went to Serra San Bruno to visit the production sites and learn about the ancient craft of charcoal burners. There was a guided tour of the Serra San Bruno Charterhouse as one of the 3 monasteries in Italy where there are still cloistered monks and the adjacent Museum.

This was followed by a round table at the Nicotera Town Hall on the topic "The Mediterranean Diet as a Driver of Rural Tourism", with Authorities and stakeholders of the culture/tourism sector to discuss the contribution that each of them can bring to the construction of the local tourist-cultural offer system and how to gain more of a competitive marketing advantage with the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage designation of the Mediterranean diet. There was an opened debate among the local stakeholders and the ICTC participants. 

On the third day, Sunday, 23rd November, the group visited the terraced landscapes of the “Costa Viola” (Purple Coast) and traditional food and wine producers (Nougat of Bagnara PGI). 

This was follwed by a visit to Castle of Scilla, story of its Myth, History and of the traditional swordfish hunting, with special boats designed specifically for this type of fishing; minting of a commemorative coin. Lunch was on one’s own in Scilla, with local street food, a special swordfish sandwich. 

This was followed by a visit to the National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria, with its “Riace Bronzes” and the seafront called the most beautiful kilometer in Italy. At the end of the visit, there was also the opportunity of attending the traditional Procession of Our Lady of Consolation, Patron Saint of the city.

On the fourth day, Monday, 24th November, a technical-scientific session “Mediterranean Diet, Rural Contexts, and Cultural Tourism” was organized at Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria, Department of Civil, Energy, Environmental, Materials Engineering.

This was followed by a visit to the Church of Carmine and to food and wine producers and artisans (bread, Zibibbo wine, ceramics) in Bagnara Calabra and an experiential activity: production of fresh pasta by the participants.

Document: Study Tour Report

Study Tour ICOMOS ICTC Participants 

Fergus MacLaren – Canada 

Paolo Motta – Italy 

Wolfgang Köllish – Germany  

Jim Donovan – USA 

Patricia O’Donnell – USA 

Karin Elgin Nijhuis – Netherlands 

Hakan Elgin – Netherlands 

Luisa Ambrosio – Portugal 

Ayşegül Yilmaz – Turkey

Marine Hayrapetyan – Armenia 

Anna Minasyan – Armenia 

Tomeu Deya – Spain 

Marc Kocken – Netherlands 

Colleen Swain – USA 

Faisal bin Abd Rahman – Malaysia 

Muhamad Jefri Shaari – Malaysia 

Juwairiyah Ho Abdullah – Malaysia

Intan Syaheeda Abu Bakar – Malaysia 

Hila Keren Steinmetz – Israel 

Reference Structure: National Cultural Tourism Committee of ICOMOS Italy

General Coordination: Francesco Calabrò 

Technical Scientific Session Coordination: Laura Genovese 

Secretariat: Rosa Maria Staropoli, Chiara Anselmi, Federica Calabrese 

Support Structure: TOTEM SRL by Natalia Spanò