I just returned from a six-day trip to Italy. I was at the Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI) in L’Aquila where I participated in a workshop for PhD students and early career researchers in the fields of Economic Geography and Regional Science. This was my fourth visit to L’Aquila since 2017. Located a two-hour bus-ride east of Rome, L’Aquila is a city of just under 72,000 people. It made international news in 2009 when it was hit with a 6.3 magnitude earthquake, whose epicenter was just outside the city; an earthquake that was responsible for 308 deaths.

In addition to the workshop, I was also invited to participate in a local food and beer festival in Lecce nei Marsi. Located just over an hour drive southeast of L’Aquila, Lecce ne Marsi is a small community of just over 1,600 people. Lecce ne Marsi is located in what the Italian Government has designated as an Inner Area. Inner Areas are parts of Italy that, because of their geographic isolation, have limited access to essential public services such as health care, education, and transportation. They are areas that are suffering from the out migration of younger people, resulting in an ageing population. An estimated 22% of the Italian population live in Inner Areas. In response to the challenges facing Inner Areas, the Italian Government, in 2012, developed the National Strategy for Inner Areas (Strategia Nazionale per le Aree Interne). Known by the acronym SNAI, the goal is to “counteract marginalisation and demographic decline” of these areas. One of the ways in which the SNAI tries to do this is through the protection and promotion of the natural and cultural assets of Inner Areas.

In an effort to promote its cultural assets, as well as those of twelve surrounding communities, Lecce nei Marsi decided to organize and host a festival promoting local food and local beer. Prior to its start, the Mayor of Lecce nei Marsi, Augusto Barile, held a short two-hour mini conference titled “Typical Products: The Strength of the Internal Area”. As the festival coincided with my visit to L’Aquila, Mayor Barile invited me to give a short presentation on craft beer. The mayor’s interest in craft beer was driven by the fact that a nearby micro-brewery, Beer Park Brewery, produced a beer whose ingredients include locally-harvested faggiola. Translated into English, faggiola are beechnuts (the fruit of the beech tree). The mayor was particularly interested to learn about beer tourism and how it could be used as part of a broader culinary tourism initiative to boost the local economy. Other presenters at the mini conference included Alessandra Faggian, my colleague from GSSI, the President of the national park within which Lecce ne Marsi is located, local elected officials, and even the local priest (who recognized the importance of economic development to the region). The audience were local residents and the mayors of the twelve surrounding communities. It was a standing-room only audience in the town’s small council chambers. The event was promoted as a Alogastronomia Festival. Alogastronomia was a neologism created in 2015 by the organizers of a local food and beer festival in the town of Appechio, Italy, from “merging of two words: ale, a kind of fermented beer, and gastronomy, . . . the art of regulating the stomach.” As such, it indicates a particular relationship between beer and food.

Beer tourism is an increasingly popular activity. This is particularly the case in the United States, where the craft brewing industry is more developed than most other countries. However, the potential for beer tourism in Europe is, in my opinion, also significant. Indeed, there are already a number of travel companies who offer packaged vacations focused on visiting breweries and tasting beer in a variety of European countries, including Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom, and yes, Italy. These tours tend to focus on larger cities such as Prague, Brussels, and Rome. This leads to the question – can small, geographically isolated communities, such as Lecce nei Marsi capitalize on the growing interest in traveling to taste beer? I believe that they can. However, it will require significant coordination and collaboration on the part of local communities. Attracting people to visit geographically isolated places such as Lecce ne Marsi will also require that non-beer assets be promoted. This may include local food, sites of historical significance, and events and festivals like the one that I attended.

The good news is that there is already an existing organization, the National Association of Beer Cities (Città della Birra Associazione Nazionale), that can perhaps be a source of advice and also used for promotional and branding purposes. Established in 2015, and headquartered in the small town of Appechio (also located in an Italian Inner Area), the goal of the association is to promote beer tourism. As of now, most of the breweries participating in association activities are located in the Marche region of Italy. However, as it is a national association it should be open to assisting breweries in other regions of Italy. Beer and food tourism cannot solve all of the socio-economic challenges facing communities like Lecce nei Marsi. However, they do represent one opportunity that such communities should consider. Indeed, the aforementioned Appechio perhaps offers a model for what is possible for places like Lecce nei Marsi. Appechio has had an annual Alogastrnomia Festival since 2015, whivh has evolved into a three-day event that attracts over 4,000 visitors. Apecchio has also done an excellent job of promoting the region’s other assets such as outdoor activities (biking, hiking, horseback riding etc.). And they have a very impressive website which promotes the region’s assets.

By the time the mini conference had wrapped up, the food and beer festival was well underway. Each of the thirteen communities had stands offering a food that was typical of their particular place. Baked lamb, frogs’ legs, olive oil, truffles, and ricotta cheese were some of the culinary delights on offer. When it comes to food, I am not particularly adventurous, but I did take the opportunity provided by the festival to taste frogs’ legs for the first time.

While the food was wonderful, I was most interested in sampling the local beer, especially the one made with the local faggiola (beech nuts). Moricento, is an English Brown Ale, and is named after the nearby beech forests from which the beech nuts were harvested. Not only did I get to taste the beer, but I also got to meet both the owner of the brewery, Marco D’Aurelio, and brewer, Luca Fusè. The opportunity to meet both brewery owners and brewers is one aspect of the craft brewing industry that I really enjoy and appreciate. To be able to shake the hand and chat with those responsible for producing the beer that you are drinking is a true privilege.

This was the first local food and beer festival in Lecce nei Marsi. The plan is to make this an annual event. It will be interesting to see how this event evolves in future years, and what other initiatives Lecce nei Marsi and its neighboring communities develop in their efforts to improve the socio-economic environment of both them and their neighbors.

Further Reading:

Pezzi, Maria Giulia. 2017. From peripheral hamlet to craft beer capital: Apecchio and the ‘Alogastronomia. Italian Journal of Planning and Practice, Volume 7, Issue 1, Pages 154-185.