Fed up? Why not visit unspoiled Romagna with our nice travel agents. Unhurried, happy, enjoyable, foodie. Escape for a few minutes and have a lovely few days!

The story so far: Into action – creating a sustainable tourism offer in Romagna
read about it and MUCH MUCH MORE ‘You Lucky People’
 
[STOP PRESS - Are you a Travel Agent, tour operator - come and visit - uncrowded Romagna is the perfect post-COVID destination - 2021 FAM trips and special deals unveiled HERE]

Quickly we got to work creating a team of friendly locals and preparing to show Romagna to travel agents from the USA.
 
The idea was simple, we would choose such brilliant co-operators with such brilliant products and services and full of such passion for what they did that what we created with them would shine out as the real Best of Romagna. Naturally we chose people that we liked and could have fun with too. After all what we did had to be happy and it had to infect our clients with joy or it wouldn’t work.
 
So, we ate great food at super restaurants, Valentina tasted wine at great vineyards, we inspected lovely small hotels, we talked to artists and guides and lots of other people.

Finally, we had our initial team of 20 – all people we really liked and that were full of passion and professionalism. And they were full of fun. Our dream team in fact.
 
We had three great vineyard owners: one historic, one organic and one biodynamic. We had five great restaurateurs, all offering different twists on great Romagnolo cuisine and all making their pasta fresh by hand every day. We had five hoteliers all with different styles of hotel but all giving warm hospitality with superb service, we had a master cheese affineur, an olive grove owner and oil producer whose family had been doing the same thing in the same place, wonderfully, for seventeen generations.
 
As this is the land of Federico Fellini we had a couple of great film- makers and philosophers. Naturally we had an organic piadina maker. We had a bunch of artists in metal and fire and other unusual stuff. Above all Casa Artusi had become a partner too – here our clients could experience the culture of Romagnolo food started by the “Father of Italian Home Cooking” – Pellegrino Artusi. MEET Our team HERE:

After a while we had lots and lots of good friends - lovely caring travel agents throughout the USA.

Our FAM/INSPECTION trips are always organised to appeal to each small group of travel agents - and to take advantage of any special events - so each one is different, like rhe meals - local, seasonal, fresh. This is the story of just one of our FAM trips...

Bologna’s beautiful, but we’ll see it later and today our travel agent friends have something much more interesting to do!

Our hi tech couple from San Francisco Bay Amy and Jason and our lovely Virtuoso pair from South Carolina Antonia and Paul were in for a real Romagnolo experience!

Trump is no Truman

I don't know much about what happened after the First World War - obviously I wasn't there. So all I know is gained from my travels and the history books. However, it seems clear that the post-war 'peace agreements' were so brutal, one-sided and nationalistic that the Second World War happened just 21 years later.

I do know quite a lot about what happened after the Second World War. The beginning of my book You Lucky People about the travel industry and me is devoted to it.

And, under US President Truman The Marshall Plan had lent $12 billion (in today's money over $100bn) to European countries to heal their economies and their cities.

The United Nations had been formed to help the whole world follow a path to peace and prosperity through open discussions and agreement. The NATO alliance was formed,

The Chicago Convention offered open skies to aid the world airline industry and world trade through the UN. And in the UK, Labour Prime Minister Clem Atlee introduced the free National Health Service.

The European Coal and Steel Community (the precursor to the European Union) was formed.

Luckily it was a time of open hearts and big, sophisticated plans, communication and cooperation after the horrors brought down upon all our families by nationalism.

In the aftermath of Covid-19, when it comes, we will certainly have a post-war situation. By then the cost will have been enormous - possibly more than in 1945. And there will be no public construction works available - just massive debts to pay.

Whatever, the world will have changed. Permanently. And you will have an opportunity if you work in the travel and tourism industry.

But, unfortunately the UN is not in a position to help and the US has a less open-hearted regime - Trump is certainly not Truman.

Moreover, if we are saved from a recurrence of Covid-19, afterwards we will still have another massive, war-like challenge to face - at most, in another 30 years, the untreated effects of climate change will be causing global mass devastation.

The net effect of the pandemic will almost certainly be austerity. Much higher taxes for everybody which opens the door to the sort of policies that caused the hyperinflation of the Weimar Republic and the anger that led to war.

There will be no doubt that politicians of all shades will shun the truth, and to save their own skins will play the blame game - blame China, blame the UN, blame the WHO, blame individuals - all ultimately leading to the destruction of Truth, tighter controls and restricted human rights.

Moreover the global poorest in every country will have paid, in their hunger, in their lack of care, in their poverty, in their deaths. Naturally this will sow millions of seeds of disharmony now and in future generations.

Strangely enough, this could be an opportunity for global tourism, just as it was in 1945. It will be an opportunity for those who control the industry. But also, maybe for you if you are one of the 400 million or so people who work in the global travel industry. And you ask not "how can we save our jobs" but "how can we, and our communities, truly, sustainably benefit from this situation and gain advantages for us and for our future generations".

In this way we could use the awful situation for truly massive positive advantage.

Plus make a lot of money by dealing direct and taking the 30% + that intermediaries have been pocketing.

Here are a few ideas:

• For tourist guides and want-to-be tourist guides: Get in a group, create itineraries and stories, create a joint website, link with other local tourism people. Promote for all you are worth!
• For DMCs: Create and market your own unique itineraries and offers with your own group of local cooperators
• For accommodation providers: engage with local tourism businesses and create your own branded products, itineraries and informed local suggestions
• For tourist attractions: Engage with all the above, use them to extend your experience with 'local happenings'
• For local tour operators and bus companies: Engage with all the above - become your own DMC and market your offers globally
• For bicycle hirers: Create and market your own routes with accommodation and meals, events and sightseeing
• For outbound tour operators and travel agents: choose your own destination offers and either create or engage with all the bunch above and choose the best of the best!

The entire global tourism industry may be poised to transform - very much in your favour! The world could soon become your (highly profitable) oyster!

Valere Tjolle

Valere is CEO of Best of Romagna and author of 'You Lucky People' the story of travel - the world's most delightful and devastating industry. Find out more about it HERE

Into action – creating a sustainable tourism offer in Romagna
an excerpt from ‘You Lucky People’
 
[STOP PRESS - Are you a Travel Agent, tour operator - come and visit - 2021 FAM trips and special deals unveiled HERE]

Quickly we got to work creating a team of friendly locals and preparing to show Romagna to travel agents from the USA.
 
The idea was simple, we would choose such brilliant co-operators with such brilliant products and services and full of such passion for what they did that what we created with them would shine out as the real Best of Romagna. Naturally we chose people that we liked and could have fun with too. After all what we did had to be happy and it had to infect our clients with joy or it wouldn’t work.
 
So, we ate great food at super restaurants, Valentina tasted wine at great vineyards, we inspected lovely small hotels, we talked to artists and guides and lots of other people.

Finally, we had our initial team of 20 – all people we really liked and that were full of passion and professionalism. And they were full of fun. Our dream team in fact.
 
We had three great vineyard owners: one historic, one organic and one biodynamic. We had five great restaurateurs, all offering different twists on great Romagnolo cuisine and all making their pasta fresh by hand every day. We had five hoteliers all with different styles of hotel but all giving warm hospitality with superb service, we had a master cheese affineur, an olive grove owner and oil producer whose family had been doing the same thing in the same place, wonderfully, for seventeen generations.
 
As this is the land of Federico Fellini we had a couple of great film- makers and philosophers. Naturally we had an organic piadina maker. We had a bunch of artists in metal and fire and other unusual stuff. Above all Casa Artusi had become a partner too – here our clients could experience the culture of Romagnolo food started by the “Father of Italian Home Cooking” – Pellegrino Artusi. Our team HERE:

Then we put together our offers and created our website.
 
Our customers would get what we considered was the very best of Romagna food and wine, history and culture sights and hospitality. They would stay not in five-star chain hotels, but lovely local country houses with warm hospitality, they would visit beautiful ancient historical places with local people and they would enjoy wonderful local food and wine.
 
And then we welcomed our American travel agents. The idea was that these travel agents would just love Romagna, our choices, our offers and our ambience so much that they would tell all their customers about it and come back with groups of nice Americans.
 
So, half a dozen at a time, Valentina and I showed our travel agents our Best of Romagna. They stayed in delightful country house bed- and-breakfasts, they tasted delicious wine in lovely vineyards, we fed them fabulous food in happy restaurants, and our guide Cinzia introduced them to fifteen hundred years of colourful stories where they happened – in Ravenna. Of course there was much, much more – and they loved it!
 
They all went back home happy and enthused knowing that our initiative was something really special really authentic and certainly not mass-produced. We hoped that now they would spread the word in at least the twenty states that they’d come from. We hoped that they would enthuse their clients who we were sure wanted something more fulfilling than today’s commodity tourism.
 
Then, in the autumn, Valentina and I started showing off our cooperators’ offers to our visiting American travel agents.

We had become so proud of them all and all of them had fascinating stories, which we understood better and better in the telling.
 
For many years I’d known that travel loses its true value when it becomes just a formula of accommodation, transport and price.
 
By now I had come to understand the level of thick necks that the Romagnolo people sported. Every small entrepreneur I met had a deep conviction on exactly how everything should be done. And our co-operators were no different.
 
Take our vineyards. At Villa Venti, Mauro was so sure that he needed to own his own vineyard and produce obviously perfect wine that after a short career in the rubber industry, he studied to be a sommelier, worked in a top restaurant, persuaded his wife and his family to work with him tearing down an old fruit farm, planting the perfect grapes for the terrain and lived on little more than fresh air for 5 years before his (perfect) organic, biodynamic wine appeared, while his wife Manuela slogged away in the kitchen and the terrace creating breads and jams and chutneys by hand from their own raw materials.

On the other hand, Augusto at Zuffa wine had the responsibility to carry on his grandfather’s work. Nonno had not become organic because he was part of any green movement. To him it was simple, his family deserved the best, they weren’t going to have to drink any old chemical rubbish – they would drink pure wine just like their forefa- thers had. Augusto had to get a degree in chemistry so he knew what to avoid and why, and on the way he created organic wines so good that they got noticed by the Italian Ministry of Health and chosen to repre- sent Italy at the World Expo. Obviously, Augusto is just as determined as his granddad was.
 
And at Fattoria Paradiso as we arrived there was always a noisy and colourful argument going on behind the scenes – reminded me of my days at Saintseal with Nanni shouting at Dr Fabbri in my early days in the industry.
 
God knows why they were shouting at each other. But this fourth- generation vineyard had a colourful history with superb wines and a superb wine library to prove it. The founder, great wine character Mario Pezzi, had created a truly noble vineyard in a truly noble medi- eval estate. He had re-introduced great indigenous grapes to the area,grown and matured world-beating rich sangioveses when everybody else had said they would not mature.
 
Poor American travel agents. Finally, they got it and loved it but, for the day after they arrived, they were totally fazed. When we said we were going to take them to a restaurant and its own farm they thought they were going to see a big homogenous establishment like they would in the USA.
 
In fact we’d take them to a campsite, with some chalets and a big restaurant full of local workers eating their lunches. And the Ameri- cans had no idea of sizes. I’d order some stuff and the waiter would bring some carafes of their own good wine and then troll up with a massive platter of assorted meats and cheeses for everyone. Plus a few baskets of their hot, just cooked piadina flatbread.
 
The platter would be piled high with the family’s own prosciuttos, salamis, collar, head and cheek of their own cured pork, ultra-fresh squacquerone cheese, and dozens of fabulous crostini topped with exquisite delicacies. Delving into the food and the wine they finished practically every morsel and sat back, sated. The nice waiter (they all were) cleared away.

They thought it was all over.

Valentina Valentini, the owner would look on - "I'm trying to learn English" she would say with a lovely warm smile!

Until the waiter reappeared with another even more enormous platter – this time loaded with three different sorts of pasta, hand made that morning. Usually there were tortellini stuffed with cheese and covered with sage and crispy prosciutto; there were strozzapreti (stran- gled priest pasta without egg) covered with vegetables, and always the family pasta speciality – tagliatelle with a fabulously rich sauce of pork, beef and sangiovese wine. Our guests were not quite so hungry for this course although the food was always miraculous, the Americans would try to finish. The waiter would clear away.
 
And then he would reappear. Now he would bring the main course! Usually great spicy pork sausages, big juicy meat patties, enormous pork chops, great long thick slices of bacon, beef and veal steaks, all grilled to perfection on a roaring open fire and all from their own animals.
 
Plus, the grilled vegetables – fat deep red tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines and red peppers – also grilled, also their own produce – plus superb potatoes, crisply roasted with rosemary and Cervia sea salt. Delectable. A hush would descend over the table, draughts of wine would be quaffed as energies were recouped to deal with this feast... and of course, more hot piadina would be brought.
 
Done with everything they could eat, our guests would sit back in their chairs – full warm and happy. When the desserts and the dessert wines were brought.

One dessert was always Zuppa Inglese – what? English soup? Well, a very traditional Romagnolo dessert actually. It’s a concoction of sponge soaked in Alchermes – an ancient cochineal liqueur – covered in a rich egg custard and melted chocolate.
 
Or, if you couldn’t eat a dessert, there was always the option of dipping rich eggy Ciambella sponge into sweet late harvest Vin Santo. Coffee of course, naturally with a range of home-made ‘digestivos’ – usually including Limoncello, Banane and Licquorice.
 
Done? It’s time to go and walk off lunch usually with a tour around Ravenna and its amazing Byzantine heritage of glorious glistening mosaics.

The imperial Roman Capital of Galla Placidia was always a highlight of the visit for our American travel agents. How could they resist a little time travel? Back 8 centuries to where Dante’s bones were buried then back 9 centuries to the Franciscan monastery – then straight back nearly 17 centuries to the Ravenna of Empress Galla and 21 centuries to the Roman port begun by Emperor Augustus.
 
Hot and hungry work this time travelling – lucky that Ravenna provides a home for the gelateria that currently occupies number 1 spot on my list of great gelaterias! This one is on the outskirts of town and is simply amazing, so it should be if it’s top of my list.

Anyway, its gelato is organic (not as unusual as you may think but a big plus nonetheless – at least you know that there is no messing around with the ingredients). But the killer issue here is the family’s quirky tastes like beetroot gelato and blackberry and sage, arabica coffee gelato is amazing and for texture, just try the ricotta gelato: light and fluffy and
totally yummy!
 
And back to the hills, another extraordinary dinner and a good sleep with wonderful country air.

Quite a day! And that was just ONE day!

The American travel agents had amazing times in Romagna. So much so that they were more than happy to tell everybody about this new (actually old!) place to go.

And Best of Romagna was on the way. Obviously lots more work to do but the sun was smiling on all of us!

Valere Tjolle
Valere is CEO of Best of Romagna and author of 'You Lucky People' the story of travel - the world's most delightful and devastating industry. Find out more about it HERE
 
More info on Romagna: www.BestofRomagna.com

A fascinating mixture in a quirky destination for those that want more from their visit
 
Visiting Forli filled me with a dark spirit. In the main piazza Saffi I could see the lovely, friendly cathedral, the market, the massive pre-war Post Office building, the indoor market even Eataly. Then I realised that there were eagles everywhere – Mussolini eagles. In particular on the lampposts that surrounded the square. Here, I thought, during the war partisans hung from these lampposts; after the war colaborators. 
 
Benito Mussolini was born in Forli and it was here that his rise to political power began. So, it’s no wonder that he chose his hometown to showcase the power and grandeur of his Fascist regime.

The grand avenue of Fascist architecture stretches from the massive railway station to the memorial monument and includes a flying school, an enormous gym, workers flats, two schools and many other buildings all in a muscular Art Deco style now called Totalitarian Architecture.
 
Of course, everybody is wary of showcasing this architecture but, as it appears all over Europe there are lessons to be learnt. The town council have gripped the nettle with both hands and have been prime movers (with other countries in South East Europe) in a multinational new project to see and learn from these monuments A tourist trail is being created to understand the Fascist, and other totalitarian movements, and their destructive power. In Forli, along with the fascinating buildings, a new art collection has also been shown depicting both pre-war Italian daily life and great works of Fascist art.
 
To promote the "Totalitarian Architecture Cultural Route" to tourists, a "Festival of the Twentieth Century" was launched, a collection of events which involve the whole Forli area including five towns in the district: Bertinoro, Castrocaro Terme, Terra del Sole, Predappio, Forlimpopoli and Cesenatico. The idea is to create a visit to the area which, starting from rationalist and monumentalist architecture, is able to include all that the cities can offer in terms of art, events and food. Quite a combination!

And, when the war was over, in 1949, as the post-war boom was helping Italy get out of its economic traumas, a rich local art collector and brickmaker, Giuseppe Verzocchi contacted Italy's top 70 artists. His request - paint what you like, and I'll pay but just make sure that each painting has one of my bricks in it! The Verzocchi collection - a unique snapshot of Italy in the early 1950's was given to Forli in 1961. Included in the collection are such world-famous artists as Moreni, Morlotti,, Santomaso, Birolli Capogrossi Turcato Carra, Casorati, de Chirico, Depero to name just a few. See the Verzocchi Collection HERE
 
Off into the countryside for a bit of happiness and beauty. Just down the road from Forli and still in Romagna, a new discovery has just taken place.

San Leo is simply stunning, from its citadel you can see from the sea all the way to San Marino, Tuscany and Marche. What an inspiring and precious view – no wonder this tiny walled city has been fought over for millennia. The city itself is extraordinarily atmospheric, its paved streets reek of history and religion. And so they should – it’s been a centre of worship since pagan times and now its beautiful cathedral sits atop a pagan sacrifice site. It is said that Saint Francis was a visitor and certainly Count Alessandro di Cagliostro the alchemist and seer was imprisoned in the impregnable escape-proof fortress – naturally he escaped! And, naturally, as this is Romagna they have a wild festival of alchemy here every year!
 
It’s time for lunch and there is no better view than from the Osteria Belvedere as its name suggests. And there is no better view than one of the Belvedere’s specialities – fabulous truffles and amazing local mushrooms. A resuscitating delight.

The scenery around San Leo is really amazing – as is all the scenery in the Montefeltro area. It will be no surprise that this scenery was chosen by many artists of the Renaissance as background for their subjects. Landscapes that graced many famous Renaissance portraits.
 
The discovery, in the Montefeltro area, of the background landscapes of Piero della Francesca and other painters, including Leonardo da Vinci, is a real treasure and represents an absolutely unique and original tourist and cultural offer. And a great post-lunch walk.
 
Conceived by Rosetta Borchia and Olivia Nesci, two local landscape seekers, with the help of a promoter, Silvia Storini, the project is called Montefeltro Renaissance Sights.
 
The idea is to create a new, alternative and unique unconventional hillside museum concept. The museum will be in the open, in the sun, in the wind, "closer to the sky” they say … https://www.montefeltroveduterinascimentali.it/portfolio-item/montefeltro-renaissance-sights-2/
 
Dinner – just down the road, outside of Pennabilli, there is a spectacular, romantic little restaurant. It’s inexpensive – and it’s got one Michelin star. Not only was my meal really local and seasonal (it always is in Romagna) – it was beautiful too! Local resident, Oscar-winner, poet, restaurateur, partisan Tonino Guerra says it’s great why not watch the video! HERE

Time for a party? In Romagna it's always time for a party!. And at the tiny picturesque hilltop settlement of Pennabilli (pop 1,500)a massive party recently kicked off. 'Artisti in Piazza' plays host each year to 64 international theatre, music, circus and street art companies. This festival attracts no less that 40,000 guests who enjoy great music and entertainment, fabulous food and wine and astonishing hospitality.
 
But, Pennabilli had one massive asset - a committed resident in the form of Tonino Guerra, concentration camp survivor, acclaimed film director, poet and friend and screenwriter to Frederico Fellini. He created the magical gardens around Pennabilli, "Places of Reflection" including the "Garden of Forgotten Fruits" and the "Sanctuary for Thoughts". Guerra even enticed the Dalai Lama to Pennabilli to plant a mulberry tree for peace.
 
Asked "Why do you do this festival" - the organizers replied "To have fun, of course!"
 
That’s Romagna!
 
Valere Tjolle

Valere is CEO of Best of Romagna and author of 'You Lucky People' the story of travel - the world's most delightful and devastating industry. Find out more about it HERE
 
More info on Romagna: www.BestofRomagna.com

Unhurried, uncrowded, uncommercial, community focussed - the joy of tourism for visitor+citizens. It could always be like this...

The first time I saw the fireflies, I was spellbound. Returning to my rented apartment late at night, I thought that I had become intoxicated with the warmth and the scents of Jasmine and the sweet lime trees and that these little flying pulsating lights in the garden were another part of a beautiful waking dream.
 
"No dream" said Roberta Sama the next morning "We call them 'Lucciole' and we are having a walk tonight to see them in my village Castiglione di Roncofreddo - please wear walking boots"
 
Anyway, I had somewhere else to go over the valley first - I was off to nearby  Montecodruzzo (with my walking boots) because I'd been invited on another walk, a walk for landscapes and well-being.
 
Montecodruzzo ranks pretty high in my personal hierarchy of great Romagna places for two reasons one is the spectacular view of the surrounding countryside - all the way from the Adriatic Sea to the Apennine mountains and Tuscany. And the second is the best place to see this amazing vista - from a window table in the fabulous, unpretentious Osteria di Montecodruzzo. Here, Massimo Monti uses his family's local farm to deliver sensational Okm food - at extraordinary prices.
 
The Gurkha squad who liberated the hill in 1945 were amply rewarded too by Massimo and 70 years later they enjoyed a great celebration in his restaurant.

But now I was here on a walk to understand another reason why Montecodruzzo was so great - because of the hill's healing properties and the opportunities for 'Benessere' or well being tourism.
 
Donatella Onofri has designed a walk around the hill both to see the unbelievably splendid views outwards for hundreds of kilometers - and inwards to understand the healing power of the massive block of stone.
 
Organised by Daniela Corrente, helped by Vittorio Belli, and equipped with two dowsing rods - one for water the other for power ley lines- we walked around the hill  through its hawthorns and oak trees and in and out of its power sites. As we walked we talked about the history of the area, all the way from the Etruscans, through where Caesar crossed the Rubicon to the last war, the Ghurkas and the present day. And, of course – as this is Romagna, we ruminated about the best places for mushrooms and other edible goodies.
 
Properly prepared, at dusk, I found myself a few kilometers from Montecodruzzo, a part of a happy crowd of over a hundred in the tiny village of Castiglione di Roncofreddo in the Rigossa river valley.

A field had been requisitioned as a car park complete with uniformed attendants . The lovely little church had been opened and decorated for the occasion and was full of families enjoying a guitarist leading children singing and an actor reading poetry. On the lawns outside there was a picnic stand loaded with donated delicious cakes, tarts, fruit juices and wine. Excited groups talked as it got dark enough to start.
 
And, as a bemused English family were brought out of their rented villa to join in the walk, an excited hush fell over the crowd. Short instructions and calls to enjoy the walk were given by Roberta and we started into the woods.
 
Are there woods in Paradise? If so, these were they! Great hedges and trees and ferns and woodland were illuminated by fireflies performing their mating dance. Lovely valleys took on an otherworld air as sparkling fields came to twinkling life in the dark. The 5 kilometer path was muddy after the recent rains but help was always to hand.
 
So, the satisfied, chattering crowd enjoyed a truly enchanting walk. As we returned to the village, we were reminded that life was not always so pleasant in Castiglione. The village was under siege in the last world war and our happy group took advantage of the British Army-built Bailey Bridge to get to our penultimate stop - a garden lovingly created by a local resident.
 
Not just a garden but Mr Calandrini's life-work - everything created by his hands and called 'Fred Flintstone's Home' by locals. A stunning, and very otherworldly setting.- particularly under the dark, star-filled night sky.
 
The guitarist was now sitting in a woodland glade in Mr Calandrini's garden and accompanying a beautiful young lady  (Samanta Balzani) singing medieval songs and playing an otherworldly, and very different glass harp made of crystal and metal bowls. And all totally in keeping with the dreamy air of the evening.
 
The happy end of the evening was eating tart and cake and cookies accompanied by local wine and fruit juices as we all came back to reality.

But the next evening was to take all the sadness away. Still in the parish of Roncofreddo stands yet another soaring hillside - Sorrivoli (my translation - 'smiling flights'!) is another stunning castellated hill where lots of good things happen.
 
Resident Ilario Fioravanti (1922-2012) was an extremely prolific and well-known Romagnolo sculptor, but first he was a great architect. And judging by his house in Sorrivoli he had a magnificent eye for a magnificent view, and a great vision for a wonderful home.
 
Here, in the garden of his house and studio - Casa Dell'Upupa (the Hoopoe garden) another event was taking place - an evening in his memory, hosted by his wife Adele. Aptly entitled "Food for the body, food for the mind and food for JOY" and 100 or so locals were joining in the celebration.

A harpsichord and a flute provided the music, local people provided the food and the wine, Adele and her friends provided the warm hospitality and the views were provided by a generous divinity!
 
Full of divine food and drink and music, we were treated to yet more divinity in the shape of Ilario's massive treasure-chest of sculptures still living in his house. Covering subjects from crucifixion to sensuality and ranging from satire to religion, the sculptures are a remaining memory of a wide-ranging mind.

Back in Longiano another celebration was taking place - the unveiling of a new postage stamp with a picture of the castle. First day postmark will include a castle stamp and 3rd day cover will include a cherry stamp!
 
Why a cherry stamp?, Because it's cherry time on the hill of Longiano - and its ancient valley of cherry trees. And at 9am at least a hundred locals were ready for the walk to celebrate this glorious fruit and enjoy the stunning valley - before they send their postcards!
 
After a briefing by our guide - out-of-uniform local police chief Maurizio Sartini and by local tourism boss Cristina Minotti, we make our way down into the ultra-fecund valley:
 
More amazing views delightful walks and a happy crowd gorging themselves for 10 kilometres of apricots, peaches, sweet, sweet peas, grapes - and, of course, fabulous, big, ripe, red round succulent cherries.
 
It's no wonder that when we got back, the Longiano Cherry Feast is getting ready to rock. The streets are lined with colourful stalls and much more. Vendors are selling sweets, local olive oils, local wines, kitchen equipment, local honey and local sausage, local meat and local fruit and veg, local handicrafts and local artisan work. And, of course great baskets of local cherries and cherry-related things are on sale - like cherry beer and cherry wood - even the delicious ice-creams on sale in the local gelateria have cherries on top.
 
The warm jasmine-scented nights are full of song and dance and entertainment -comedians speaking local Romagnolo dialect take the stage, alongside rock bands and country and western singers.
 
The feast-days are full of entertainment too - from the local historical group through the enthusiastically enjoined tug-of-war to the greasy pole with a great whole local prosciutto hanging from the top as an enticing prize. And, to make sure there is order throughout - Maurizio is back in uniform!
 
Three days full of merrymaking in Longiano - and all in honour of plump, ripe delicious cherries!

This is a real experience.
 
Interested in coming? Just email welcome@BestofRomagna.com and we'll find a way!

Valere Tjolle

Valere is CEO of Best of Romagna and author of 'You Lucky People' the story of travel - the world's most delightful and devastating industry. Find out more about it HERE
 
More info on Romagna: www.BestofRomagna.com

An alternative world has appeared through the looking glass…
 
With any luck, an enormous battle will take place after the lockdowns - you need to take your side now.

Covid-19 has done more to de-claw the big cats of the mass tourism industry than all the greenies in the world could have hoped. How wonderful!

I don't think that anyone will disagree with me when I say that the major section of the market - about a billion of the international tourists - are driven by the usual fear and greed. Standard marketing touchpoints. These people also fuel the industry's dramatic expansion.

I've been in the industry for over 60 years and I know that the customer is always right; I forgot it at my peril. Every single major market shift has been driven by the idea that you can get the magic formula = distance+exotic+luxury, cheap. Spain in the 1960s, North Africa in the 1970s, Caribbean in the 1980s, Turkey in the 1990s, Far East in the 2000s. Then, after all this, the OTAs and the Low-Cost Carriers managed to make EVERYTHING cheap. .

Of course, it has not actually been cheap for many years - it was only ever true at the very beginning.

The fact is that it LOOKS cheap. Why? Because someone else always pays. The governments pay to keep the airlines in business with tax breaks and dodgy deals with plane-makers; local destination communities pay as their families get horridly tiny wages and nastily hard work on terrible terms in bad conditions with no prospects. The 'advantage' to them? …the opportunity to serve their 'superiors'. And the global community pays as the airlines pollute OUR atmosphere more and more.

Once upon a time, when the writing was on the wall, the travel industry began a long and committed journey into health and sustainability.

The travel industry truck crashed into another wall in 2009 after the financial crisis. Everybody wanted/needed the short-term buck, so sustainability existed in name only. Nonetheless, the writing was on the wall even more powerfully at Davos, at Oxford University, in Gothenburg: report after report emphasised that mass tourism was headed for disaster. Unfortunately, it wasn't mass tourism that crashed - sustainable tourism crashed - at the COP15 climate summit in Copenhagen, of all places.

Like I said before, the market drives tourism, and there is nothing wrong with tourism marketers assessing their potential clients' needs and fulfilling them.

That was easy enough when they all needed something good, cheap and superficially sustainable.

Now we all have a little taste of things to come. Covid-19 has, quite literally, changed our entire world. Generously distributed by global airlines at no extra cost, carriers of the virus spread it to every corner of the globe.

And suddenly...

The fact that people are now travelling much less has let us all have a peep into another possible world. The air we breathe is much better, there is much less noise, fewer planes in the sky, carbon emissions have dramatically decreased. We hear the birds once again and are reminded that nature can, and will, take care of itself - even if it means that the human race will be exterminated.

On the other hand, every day we are told that we will have to work for less, we are to have the worst recession for 300 years, airlines will go bust, the industry will take over three years to recover and that hundreds of millions of tourism jobs are at stake, plus hundreds of thousands of hotel properties will disappear.

On the other hand, with a terrifying lack of global government consensus were we to carry on as we were - putting the Paris Climate change agreement and other sustainable initiatives at risk - REAL, even more devastating disaster looms. Maybe not for the current reckless generations but for the generations that follow. Our grandchildren, great grandchildren, and, if they do appear, great, great grandchildren.

I was always taught that sustainability was about respecting the needs of the next seven generations and thinking locally. Now we have been forced to do the latter - is it not time to do the former too before the generations grind to a halt due to our bad stewardship?

I'm sure that my fellow tourism professionals will agree that the travel and tourism industry is not the major direct cause of the loss of human and worker's rights, the loss of species, the despoiling of our environment, the rise of emissions or any of those bad things that challenge the survival of our own species on this Earth.

But global mass homogeneous tourism, without doubt, is a symptom of a way of living that is doing tremendous damage to environments, to human beings, to our cultures and our societies.

Shortly we will have a critical choice to make if our governments begin attempting to put an incredibly expensive sticking plaster on a system that was never fit for purpose. If so, they will use cynical meretricious phrases like "full employment" and "tourism for our economic development". They will assert that "air travel builds economies and transcends borders" that "tourism brings massive opportunities for all"

And they will be right. Tourism has the opportunity to do all these things and more.

But, over the last 40 years or more, however many tourists travel, however big the tourism economy, however many hotels have been built - the vast majority of the jobs have been rubbish, the vast majority of destination communities have had terrible deals.

My guess is that most of the nearly one billion people employed in the tourism industry actually work at minimal wages to provide the top ten thousand or so with riches and power. And the top 100 of those, in fact represented by the WTTC, and including the big no-skin-in-the-game marketers like Airbnb, Priceline, Tripadvisor and Expedia - get all of the cream - if you can call it that.

We've had a big shake up. Within a few months, weak organisations will perish.

Soon it will be time to build a new travel and tourism industry. An industry that uses the term 'sustainable' - not just as a buzz word, but one that implies Responsibility in Business Practice, quality training and employment, sustainable tourism economies and businesses, social integrity, cultural and environmental respect, resilient sustainable destinations.

The billion tourism people with skin in the game could make it happen and change the world of tourism for the better.

In the meantime, strangely, virtual tourism could have answers, reducing actual travellers to lower numbers and higher prices and giving others the possibility of fundamentally understanding the destination they wish to visit.

I pray that it will happen - do you?

Valere Tjolle

Valere is CEO of Best of Romagna and author of 'You Lucky People' the story of travel - the world's most delightful and devastating industry. Find out more about it HERE

 

 

A Shangri La in the midst of little castellated, vine-strewn hills beside the Adriatic Sea - uncrowded, peaceful, caring, healthy - ideal for post COVID-19 2021

Writes travel journalist Valere Tjolle: "I've been in the travel industry since the 1960's and I've been writing about it for over 20 years now - in all that time, I've never lost the belief in that perfect destination - that combination of food and wine, art, history and sights, accommodation and hospitality, accessibility, cleanliness and relaxed, fulfilling adventures, plus safe, wholesome hassle-free places to chill out.

So as I've travelled around the globe from Azerbajan to Zanzibar and in every continent I've searched for this perfect destination combination,

I first visited Romagna (the historic region of Italy between Venice and Florence, the Apennines and the Adriatic) in 1966 on an extremely boozy FAM trip, Later on, in the 1980's I had an office in Rimini but that was all about cheap coach holidays. Then in the spring of 2012 I discovered something very different - I'd gone then to write a story about the destination's green tourism opportunities. It was amazing, but I've been lucky enough to see many amazing places all over the world - why did I think that Romagna was so very special?

The fact is, I simply couldn't believe it  - in a world of mass commodity tourism, here was a place that had escaped intact from tourist hordes - it was totally stunning - a real Shangri La! All of the values that I believed tourism could offer - and I felt were lost - were here in Romagna and thriving.

Everybody was more than just kind and courteous, they treasured their homeland and their heritage - a glorious history, stunningly beautiful countryside and cities of art. They treasured their massive harvests of food and drink and their superb culinary culture. Above all they took great pleasure in sharing it all with me.

So, naturally, I kept returning to check that this wonderful place wasn't a dream and every time I returned something very special happened.

Read just three of the stories I wrote:

TOTAL COMMITMENT EMILIA ROMAGNA... HERE

RASPONI REVELS HERE

THE HEART OF THE GREAT ROMAGNA TOURISM TRADITION HERE

Thinking that this amazing place deserved a much better showcase, I then researched and published three magazines about the area in 2013 and 2014 -I called them 'The Best of Romagna'  you can download them here:

Issue number 1 DOWNLOAD HERE

Issue number 2  DOWNLOAD HERE

Issue number 3  DOWNLOAD HERE

Then, in 2016 with the help of some Romagnola friends we created a video about Romagna, see it HERE it's called 'Romagna Mia"

And then, because I STILL wasn't sure, we brought professional travel agents to Romagna to see what they think - see and hear what they said about it in the short video clip HERE:

The travel agents liked it so much that they organised the FIRST small groups of lovely, lively Americans visited Romagna.

This is what the travel agents said:  "My clients they deserve to see this part of Italy that's not really known and its beautiful" "Breathtaking mosaics - something you just can't imagine" "On every corner of the street there's a story and someone wanting to tell it to you""After Rome it was so nice to be here without that craziness" "You see smiles, graciousness and you see fun - you want to be a part of it and its so easy because everyone welcomes you".

Then the first 3 small intimate groups of 12 visitors each arrived - lovely, interesting, interested people from all over the US, Alaska to Florida:

• They tasted superb wine and local produce in three fabulous organic vineyards.
• They ate great fresh, seasonal local Romagnolo food in three superb restaurants.
• They were taken back 1600 years to the glorious Byzantine Roman Empire
• They took adventures from Romagna to Venice and Florence

Care, security, life enhancing, fun, unique/different, simplicity, clarity, love - they just LOVED going back in time!

This is what they said: Thank you for all your knowledge and passion…thank you so much for a wonderful time… we so enjoyed this wonderful trip… a great experience… awesome… a fabulous journey… you are the best… a trip we will always remember… words cannot express our gratitude… thank you from my heart… thank you for wonderful memories… the best meal I've ever had!

Why don't YOU come and find out what it's all about?

If you are a travel agent or group organizer and want to be a part of something really special for the benefit of your clients, find out more about Best of Romagna Familiarization and Training program HERE

And more about HOW IT WORKS HERE

Valere Tjolle
Want to read my book about the last 60 years of tourism click here

We are at your service.

Specially for travel industry professionals and would-be professionals - all the info you need to know on how our industry works!

We know that just about everybody loves to travel. BUT… what has happened to the travel industry?

Where did it all start and how did it get to where it is now? What have been the biggest changes, where is it going next and could it cause irreparable damage to the world as we know it?

Or will COVID-19 stamp it all out?

Few people are better placed to answer these questions than Valère Tjolle, one of the industry’s most colourful characters, a TravelMole.com writer and a veteran with sixty years in the business.

From tiny beginnings all those years ago to the enormous global industry that it is today, travel and tourism has grown to be a massive force in all our lives – for better or for worse.

Follow this astonishing lifetime’s adventure across Europe, along The Silk Road, into the heart of Africa, through foodie historic Italy, into destinations only revealed as the Iron Curtain lifted – all seen through the eyes of a uniquely well-informed insider.

This is the back-story to the rollercoaster ride that is the real travel industry: its heroes and its villains, failures and successes, rags and riches, heartbreak and happiness, bonanzas and bankruptcies.
It tells how fun in the sun has grown dramatically in one lifetime to employ a billion people and cast its shadow and its tempting riches all over our global heritage.

This is the story of the addictive industry of dreams that we all love.

Valère Tjolle is the travel and tourism insider. An entrepreneur, consultant, developer and journalist, he has been in at the beginning of almost every key tourism development for the last sixty years. There is no one better placed to expose the seedy side of tourism, nor to reveal its enormous opportunities to unite people across the globe.

This is the story of an industry that could make or break the world’s future.

Find out more - enjoy the story here:

This is what just a few top travel people say about it:
“A wonderful insight into the world of travel and where it SHOULD be going...” DJM
“A fascinating insight into travel and tourism.” AJT
“Loved the stories.” GL
“Strangely I don’t read many travel books but this one was a page turner.” SM

Independent Travel agents and other micro travel businesses - your Covid -19 big opportunity

Despite - in fact because of - the demise of the fast-falling industry giants,this is your COVID-19 big opportunity.
 
First you may ask why is this opportunity available to small businesses? It's simple! If you rent or own hotels, resorts, planes or other tourism-related 'assets', if you have a big payroll or you have an algorithm or a MO - you're stuffed for a while. Quite a long while as it turns out.
 
Maybe for a couple of years big travel businesses will have to keep their noses to the grindstone, otherwise they'll lose the lot. Remember that the mass travel industry is built on the mathematics of big numbers. Hotel beds or plane seats are the most perishable items in the world - worse than fruit and veg!
 
So, all of a sudden, travel-related micro-businesses have the upper hand - they have no big asset that they need to serve or die! Who are these travel micro-businesses who have an open goal? Travel agents. Tourist guides. Small accommodation providers. Small local DMCs. In fact almost any travel-related micro business is now looking at the opportunity of a lifetime.
 
And what is the opportunity? The Experience Economy in which already globally over 450,000 micro businesses are turning over some $200 billion.
 
And it is set to grow exponentially because: There is a massive global marketplace of people who want something different, authentic, un-crowded, safe, and experiential! And hand held.
 
And...
 
There are low - or no - barriers to entry and, if you get it just right, you can write your own margins.  The opportunity is as small or as big as you want it. You can use your own passion and drive to fulfil your own needs.
 
Once upon a time, travel was about going there, doing stuff and coming back. The key was… Where was 'there'? The pulling power of the destination dragged the passengers in.
 
Now, 60 years later, the old-style business has become top-heavy, stale, ordered and homogenised; margins are as thin as ever. This makes for low wages, brutal prices, unhappy destination communities and disappointed tourists.
 
There are so many people going to so few iconic places, they have become totally sad and unsustainable.
 
And now due to Covid - 19 it's all on hold.
 
Your opportunity is preparing for 2021. While all the big boys and girls are trying to hold on to what they had you can create something NEW, by joining the Experience Economy.
 
At the moment there are something like half a million micro-experience organisers around the world and their total sales nudge some £160 billion ($200 billion) annually. That means the average micro-experience organiser is already turning over £320,000 ($400,000) per year.
 
And the field will grow rapidly. What do all these little businesses do? Simply said they share their passion with others. So, if you want a break from dull routine and you have a passion, NOW is the time to share it for profit!
 
Mostly it's about passion. Whether you're passionate about eating , cookery, about wine or beer, if you're passionate about a sport, riding or gliding or go-carting, sailing or swimming, about shopping or needlework or making mosaics, knitting or walking or you're passionately knowledgeable about a place... or absolutely anything in which visitors are interested too.
 
It could even be just helping to create and fulfil your travel agent client passions. Whatever your niche passion, now is the time for action. Why now? Because, for certain this year will see a rock bottom for the old travel industry and from there the only way is up for the new wave of small, agile, entrepreneurial experience economy innovators.
 
You will start at the bottom of the curve and the graph and your opportunity goes up from there. You don't need big assets. You simply need to coordinate and manage your own plan.
 
Remember the success of Airbnb? Tripadvisor? They had nothing but an idea at their beginning and soon they will be part of the past.
 
The future belongs to the growing sustainable band of micro-businesses in the Experience Economy and you could be a part of that future if you follow your dream.
 
And in this situation, when economies of scale are failing unusually, governments and banks will be on your side. This is the opportunity for you to use the power of your experiences, your knowledge and your passion, rather than just the boring old destinations, to pull in your business.
 
So start now. Choose your passion and combine it with your business plan. You are half way there already.
 
You'll need to be a coordinator, choosing the settings for your experiences and creating local partnerships, making new friends.
 
In operating this way your activity will be sustainable too.
 
Valere Tjolle
Valere

Valere is CEO of Best of Romagna and author of 'You Lucky People' the story of travel - the world's most delightful and devastating industry. Find out more about it HERE