Plan

Etna’s foothills and mountainous area can find a boost of revaluation and at the same time motivation in maintaining and preserving the landscape and rural resources through rural nature tourism, supported by traditional attractions that wink at innovation.

The location of the investment, thanks to its strategic position at the foot of the volcano, its climate made up of short winters, early springs and sunny summers, succeeds in giving the nature-loving tourist a year-round opportunity to carry out activities related to green tourism, with low environmental impact, succeeding in satisfying that need to come into contact with authentic cultural-natural resources. A strength of this area is that activities carried out outdoors are often surrounded by spectacular eruptions of Europe’s highest active volcano in a unique setting.

Industry studies show that today tourists are motivated to visit naturalistic places because of new tourist routes that allow them to observe and appreciate biodiversity through the performance of outdoor activities.

With the present project, it was intended to take advantage of the growing demand to visit and touch nature and its products through an experience designed for nature lovers of different ages, with a service aimed at three different targets, from school groups through adults and finally to the third age. In this case, the activation of multilingual website with related online services for booking guided tours, renovation of the premises used as tasting room and removal of architectural barriers were planned.

Visitors, in addition to pistachio cultivation, will be able to taste the farm’s typical products inside the tasting room, visit the farming museum, and observe the lava flows of the Northwest side of Etna and the Simeto River, Sicily’s most important waterway.

The itinerary has been designed in the following manner:

Visit to the farm with explanation of the various processing stages (planting of plants, pruning, explanation of the various plant pathogens, difference between chemical and biological control), harvesting of the product, shelling and processing, tasting of pistachio products inside the tasting room. Guests’ experience will be enriched through the use of multimedia services.

Amount of financial support received from the EU € 74,926.41