Two dates offering two insights on the opportunities of Roots Tourism in the Trentino region, namely a type of tourism that moves 10 million people in Italy alone and generates a revenue stream of about 4 billion euros (source: Enit data).
The meetings take place on the
Vigolana Plateau.
The presentation of the book “Rio dos Cedros. Nella nostra mente. L’identità degli emigrati Trentini-Italiani, la nostra identità” written by Renzo Maria Grosselli (historian dealing with Italian emigration, poet, writer, and journalist) and Andrey J. Taffner Fraga (Brazilian-Trentino lawyer and writer) will be held on
Saturday, May 27th at 08:30 pm in
Vigolo Vattaro (Auditorium Istituto Comprensivo, Via G. Garibaldi, 8). The
conference “Identità e aspettative del turista delle radici. Alla ricerca delle origini” is scheduled on
Saturday, July 1st at 08:30 pm in
Vattaro (Teatro Comunale, Via Dante Alighieri, 8) with Renzo Maria Grosselli, Sabrina Talarico (director of Il Viaggiatore), and many other testimonies.
What makes the Vigolana Plateau the top destination for ROOTS TOURISM? The municipality of Altopiano della Vigolana is the hometown of
Santa Paolina del Cuore di Gesù Agonizzante, namely the patron saint of Trentino emigrants and Brazil, as well as engaging in the promotion of the relationships between the Trentino region and Brazil since 1991. “The municipality of Vigolo Vattaro, followed by that of Altopiano della Vigolana, have granted support for the promotion of the figure of the saint as of 2013 – says Vigolana deputy mayor Michela Pacchielat – In 2015, an official meeting was held with the former mayor of Nova Trento Gianfranco Voltini, other administrators of the state of Santa Caterina, tour operators, and entrepreneurs. In 2017, a
Friendship Pact was signed to formalize the partnership with the municipality of Nova Trento in the
state of Santa Caterina in Brazil, where a sanctuary dedicated to Santa Paolina is located and draws about one million pilgrims each year. Nova Trento is, together with Rodejo and Rio dos Cedros, the premier destination for most of the 64.000 Trentino people who migrated to Brazil towards the end of the nineteenth century. Today, their offspring are over 2 million in Brazil. Moreover, more than five thousand Brazilians stay in or transit through Trentino. The native places of Santa Paolina are the destination of pilgrimages and the religious order of the Piccole Suore settled in Vigolana registers hundreds of private visitors from Brazil each year”.
The two meetings, organized by the municipality of Altopiano della Vigolana and Azienda per il Turismo Alpe Cimbra, are intended to spread awareness about the history, real life, and identity of the Brazilians (and not only) of Trentino origin (and of Venetian Lombard origins), and to aquire elements for the development of a tourist offer and a tourist product aimed to the enhancement of the Brazilian-Trentino identity and the leading motivations and expectations of the roots tourist.
Daniela Vecchiato, director of the Alpe Cimbra Tourist Board, states: ”Roots Tourism is a key resource for the Italian economic and tourist sector, generating a stream of millions of visitors coming to Italy each year, plus a potential pool of about 80 million people. We are in front of a market niche with high growth potential. The roots tourism phenomenon becomes the subject of a taylor-made promotional project of the Alpe Cimbra Tourist Board aimed at enhancing the Vigolana territory. At the same time, many initiatives are catching on in Brazil, and we encourage cooperation and the creation of synergies”.
Meeting schedule
On Saturday, May 27th “L’identità degli emigrati trentini. Uguaglianza e diversità”.
08:30 pm, Vigolo Vattaro (Auditorium Istituto Comprensivo, Via G. Garibaldi, 8)
Presentation of the book “Rio dos Cedros. Nella nostra mente. L'identità degli emigrati Trentini-Italiani, la nostra identità” written by Renzo Maria Grosselli, historian dealing with Italian emigration, poet, writer, and journalist, and Andrey J. Taffner Fraga, Brazilian-Trentino lawyer and writer, with the participation of the Brazilian-Trentino writer Ivete Marli Boso.
On Saturday, July 1st “Identità ed aspettative del turista delle radici. Alla ricerca delle origini”. 08:30 pm, Vattaro (Teatro Comunale, Via Dante Alighieri 8)
Conference attended by Renzo Maria Grosselli, the director of Il Viaggiatore Magazine Sabrina Talarico, the president of Gist-Gruppo italiano stampa turistica, and the Trentino-Brazilian people Christian Eduardo Gretter and Franciane Menestrina, who also participated to the PAT interchanges.
