The 3rd online peer review meeting of the RedEra+ project took place on the Zoom platform on Wednesday, 24 March, 2021 from 14:30 to 17:00.
The working session started with an introduction by Daniele Zini who showed the socio-economic characteristics of Trento. 80% of the Trentino province is mountainous and its more than 545,000 inhabitants are concentrated in more than 75% in localities below 750 metres. It can be seen that the most mountainous areas are also the most uninhabited and those with a proportionally older population. In terms of unemployment rates, Trento has a good record with rates in recent years of around 5%, below the Italian and European average.
Luciano Galletti, Director of the Office for European Resources and Territorial Development of the Autonomous Province of Trento, gave a brief welcome speech before presenting the good practices.
Giancarlo Orsingher, began his presentation by describing the Italian initiative "National Strategy for Inner Areas" which, through a combination of European and national funds, aims to revitalise areas considered fragile, with demographic challenges but high environmental potential. He showed the main features of Valsugana and Tesino, the mountain communities where the "Adopt a cow" project is being developed. This initiative, promoted by Tourism Board of Valsugana and Tesino in close cooperation with the local association of farmers. The aim is closely linked to the promotion of the products of the area, the way of life in the mountains and to attract sustainable tourism in an original and funny way. By adopting a cow for 65 euros a year, the adopters, who are given a card identifying the adopted animal, undertake to visit the area, as they must collect in person 50 euros worth of products from the farm. In this way, they visit the farms in situ, meet the cow they have adopted and learn how cheese is made using traditional methods. The remaining 15 euros are used for project management and solidarity initiatives. By 2020, the 12 farms involved in the project will have achieved 2,500 adoptions. Farmers participating to this initiative are most of the time young entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector and female managers are really active in marketing and promoting their farms and products.
Elisa Corni, presented a project supported by the European Leader programme consisting of the "Digitalisation of the Colle delle Benne fortress" located in the municipality of Levico Terme. The fortress is one of the defensive infrastructures built in the area during the Austro-Hungarian Empire, specifically between 1880 and 1882. For their part, the Local Action Groups of Eastern Trentino manage a budget of 11.69 million euros for the local development strategy of the 41 municipalities and 96,000 inhabitants that make up the region. The initiative consists of the digitisation of the history and educational tours in different languages for visitors to the fortress adapted to families with children, including children with special needs, among others. The enhancement of the cultural heritage of the area is part of the local development strategy mentioned above in which quality tourism and the modernisation of the primary sector are fundamental pillars. In parallel, with the collaboration of qualified personnel from the area belonging to the University of Trento, a video game is being developed that aims to involve young people in the knowledge of the history of the fortress in an entertaining way. In this second case study it was shown to the partnership how a group of young people used their academic knowledge and made it possible the development and valorization of an historical site, developing at the same time their self-entrepreneurial skills.
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