The UNESCO Area of Vineyard Landscapes

“A Heritage to be Told” is a two-year project designed to enhance tourism in the municipalities of the Core Zone of the UNESCO site, “Langhe-Roero and Monferrato Vineyard Landscapes”. It is financed by the Ministry of Tourism through the “Fund for municipalities with a cultural, historical, artistic and landscape vocation, in whose areas sites recognised by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites are located, as well as municipalities belonging to the UNESCO Creative Cities network”.

The initiative involves 20 municipalities in the Vineyard Landscapes Core Zone - Agliano Terme, Barbaresco, Barolo, Calosso, Castelnuovo Calcea, Castiglione Falletto, Diano d'Alba, Frassinello Monferrato, Grinzane Cavour, La Morra, Monforte d'Alba, Neive, Nizza Monferrato, Novello, Rosignano Monferrato, Santo Stefano Belbo, Serralunga d'Alba, Vaglio Serra, Vignale Monferrato - which have teamed up in partnership, led by the Municipality of Canelli, to devise actions that will enhance and promote the landscape and vineyard heritage, using an innovative and effective communication style.

The activities are supported by the Associazione per il Patrimonio dei Paesaggi Vitivinicoli di Langhe-Roero e Monferrato (the Association for the Heritage of the Langhe-Roero and Monferrato Vineyard Landscapes), as well as the two territorial ATL reference boards: Ente Turismo Langhe Monferrato Roero and Alexala.

The aim of "A heritage to be told" is to implement the tourist offer of the Langhe-Roero and Monferrato Vineyard Landscapes by improving the usability and cultural accessibility of the tourist product. The project therefore aims to develop innovative proposals that will allow visitors to experience the local culture fully during their holiday. By implementing communication activities and coherent, qualified development paths for the offer, the Vineyard Landscapes will be able to enhance their specific features and meet the new needs of tourists.

This will prevent the tourism supply from adapting to quantitative tourism, instead triggering a virtuous growth process in the tourist economy across the entire area.

The project involves 4 interventions to be carried out in 2024 and 2025:

1. Implement the tourist destination portals of the involved areas through a website that tells the story of the local territory in the words of three different types of storytellers and generations in comparison (a Boomer, a Vlogger and a TikToker).
2. Enhance and innovate the communication of wine tourism heritage by organising World Café-style meetings and a forum for operators to address cases of excellence in vineyard heritage communication.
3. Improve the online booking system for wine cellar tours via the Piemonte on Wine portal.
4. New initiatives to promote and communicate the UNESCO site through marketing campaigns aimed at stimulating interest in the destination. A “Tourism Exchange” will be organised for tour operators, buyers and tourism companies from the key markets (Germany, Northern Europe, Switzerland, France, the UK and North America). This will lead to the creation of fam trips, educational tours and press tours in the area.