In Australia, chasing new targets for emotional tourism on the Gargano and giving a reversal to the fears and numbers in decline in recent weeks due to "coronavirus". It is the Australia Tour project of FDG Viaggi e Turismo of Ferrovie del Gargano, born from an idea of Luciano Castelluccia, historical artistic director of the Carpino Folk Festival, an event for the recovery and enhancement of popular music of Puglia, always engaged in rebuilding the fabric of community memory and enhancing the Gargano cultural heritage through research, music, food and wine and social gathering. Transfer to the "land of kangaroos" organized in collaboration with Metano’s, Like Food and Wine Guide (media partner) and CDP Service (logistics).
A new way of "seeing" and conceiving the tourist offer on the "mountain of the sun", on the Tremiti Islands and on the Mountains in light of the new needs of slow and environmental tourism. Questions that FDG Viaggi e Turismo has shaped into two offers tailored to the new needs of the tourist / traveler / walker. The objective of the Australia Mission will be to intercept flows of emotional tourists who intend to reach the places of their ancestors and relatives from that country (in Melbourne and its surroundings, live about 30,000 people from San Marco in Lamis).
And to connect the two worlds popular culture. Since 2011 Castelluccia has conceived, written and staged a musical, theatrical and gastronomic show entitled "Acquasala will save the world" a multisensory performance to discover the typical food and wine of Puglia Garganica. In the foreground, the raw materials such as bread, extra virgin olive oil, wild vegetables and caciocavallo, legumes, wine that accompany the participants along a suggestive mystical path, starting from the Gargano, with its dirt roads, its cowbells, the bellowing of podolic cows, bleating of goats and its deep sense of belonging to the land of origin of the shepherds. With more than 100 shows running around all the major Italian cities: Turin, Milan, Bologna, Perugia, Urbino, Rome, Naples, Pescara, with foreign releases such as those of last May 2018 in Berlin, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and London, the Performance achieved a moderate success both from the point of view of public participation but above all that of promotion, arousing the curiosity of the local and national press. In collaboration with the Apulian Federation of Australia, a project of "rapprochement" between the large Apulian community residing in Australia and Puglia has been shared for about ten years, thus creating "emotional" and "experiential" corridors. In Melbourne also the "Tarantula Garganica" of Monte Sant'Angelo.
The programming, in fact, will see a series of meetings with the most important "Apulian Social Clubs" in Melbourne, meeting and social gathering centers, fundamental for the Apulian communities. The meetings will be structured in three phases, having direct contact with the participants, from Puglia for three generations, they will be shown a promotional video that, emotionally, retraces the beauty of the area. In the second phase will be illustrated and travel proposals in Puglia designed and curated by the FDG Travel and Tourism Agency of Ferrovie del Gargano. In the third phase there will be a convivial moment with a Gargano / Apulian aperitif, all in the form of an "experiential cooking show" where the participants themselves will be able to interact with the preparation of traditional Gargano / Apulian dishes with the fundamental support of the Cantine D'Alfonso del Deaf of San Severo, Di Nunzio Legumi of San Paolo Civitate, Biorussi of Carpino, Lake Café of Lesina and Consortium for the protection of Orange of the Gargano PGI and Limone del Gargano PGI of Rodi Garganico. In the partner roster also the "Federico II" Higher Institute of Apricena.
Other partnerships will instead be made with the travel agency of the Italian community of Melbourne: a memorandum of understanding will be signed which will be presented during the Taranta Festival scheduled in Melbourne from 11 to 15 March 2020. Also scheduled meetings with the president and all members of the "Puglia Club Australia" where the tailor-made travel packages will be illustrated.