Bologna, 27 November 2024 – As it has been for sixteen years now, the month of November marks the conclusion of IT’s events. A.CÀ Festival of Responsible Tourism which, from North to South passing through the Islands, filled the weekends (and not only!) of Italian and foreign travelers, also showing the communities of the territories touched by the festival new ways to discover and experience the roots of their favorite places. The main and central theme of this 2024 was precisely Roots in Motion, a review and representation that the festival born under the arcades of Bologna – the city that still hosts the ‘mother’ stage of IT. A.CÀ – has chosen for this XVI edition. “Despite the festival’s Bolognese origins, the national success of this edition shows that roots expand and communicate, mixing the here and the elsewhere, the self and the other, to create new connections that broaden horizons – declares Pierluigi Musarò, Co-founder of the IT Festival. A.CÀ – And we are happy about it, because this has been our goal for 16 years”. What better way to tell a type of tourism that respects the environment, the territory and the communities that live in the places visited than to practice it? For this reason, the organizers of IT. A.CÀ together with the festival network – which in recent years has seen the participation of over 700 local, national and international realities – every year work together with the territories to put into practice the real key of slow, sustainable and valuable tourism, that is, co-creation and collaboration, the concrete participation of bodies, institutions, associations, people, who together want to tell, by showing it, the only viable tourism, the ‘responsible and inclusive’ one. And so the IT. A.CÀ, now a point of reference for accommodation facilities, associations, APT, DMC, DMO and ‘sustainable’ travelers, represents a virtuous example of social and inclusive innovation, made up of people who really take care of the territory, proposing to tourists and visitors in mutual respect and at the same time offering a new interpretation to the inhabitants of the places themselves.

LET’S GIVE THE NUMBERS! The 2024 edition of the festival saw the participation of over 20,000 people, who took part in almost 260 events including trekking, bike tours, urban itineraries, shows, readings, seminars and exhibitions, of which 112 were totally accessible to people with disabilities. The events of IT. A.CÀ were held in 8 regions (Lombardy, Emilia Romagna, Marche, Umbria, Campania, Sardinia, Puglia, Sicily) for a total of 14 stages, which made tourists and travelers discover over 70 unique and wonderful territories, including Protected Areas, UNESCO sites, parks and nature reserves, ancient villages, towns and inland areas. Also this edition of IT. A.CÀ has had an excellent response on web and social channels, reaching almost 7 million users in the months of the festival, twice as many as just two years ago: a confirmation of the success of a unique and special format, which knows how to speak and interact. “We have chosen to focus on some territories, together with the organizers of the stages, to propose an even more accurate review and a more refined management of all the realities, over 330 in total, that make up our extraordinary extended community – says Sonia Bregoli, co-founder and head of national IT network coordination. A.CÀ – Because the review of sustainable tourism and the consequent implementation of concrete actions must continue to be a driver of change and development, both of a territory and of a community”.

THE PARTNERSHIP WITH ITALEA In this edition of the festival, the collaboration with Italea – Turismo delle Radici stands out, a national project promoted by the MAECI (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation) to attract Italians abroad and Italian-descendants eager to rediscover the places and traditions of their origins. The project involved Italea’s regional networks (Lombardy, Marche, Emilia-Romagna, Puglia and Sardinia) with events in the stages of the festival. This promotes tourism that embraces both old and new generations of migrants as potential “returning immigrants”, ready to transform those places into a new home

WORKING FOR 2025! The festival is already working on the next edition and in the meantime will meet on 29 and 30 November in San Giovanni in Persiceto (BO) for the second edition of AITR Incontra, a reference event for responsible and sustainable tourism co-organized with the Municipality of San Giovanni in Persiceto and IT. A.CÀ. Over 60 Italian companies will be present at the two-day event, including tour operators, accommodation facilities, associations and bodies such as CAI, AMODO and Legambiente: a unique opportunity for operators and the public to discover and promote responsible tourism.

Source: IT. A.CÀ – Festival of Responsible Tourism