The seventh edition of the It.a.cà festival will take place between Emilia Romagna and Trentino from 22 May to 7 June, taking its name from the Bolognese dialect phrase “It a cà” (Are you at home?)
The scope of sustainable tourism is becoming ever broader and more precise: what now draws the attention and conservation efforts of those involved is no longer solely the physical integrity of places, but also the identity of those who inhabit them — complex and multifaceted, irreducible to easy stereotypes or postcard clichés, and deserving to be explored in all its multiform otherness.
This is precisely the guiding perspective behind the annual festival IT.A.CÀ, the responsible tourism festival now in its seventh edition: a name with a double meaning, evoking not only the Homeric homeland par excellence — Odysseus's native island — but also an unambiguous Bolognese dialect phrase: It a cà, meaning "Are you at home?" The packed calendar of events and themed tourism offerings unfolds along two geographical routes: the Emilia-Romagna route (covering Bologna, Parma, Reggio Emilia, Ferrara, Rimini, Ravenna and Forlì), which takes centre stage for events running from 22 May to 2 June, and the route that will travel through Trentino and its natural parks in the programme scheduled from 1 to 7 June.
Key highlights of the festival will include cycle tourism, "nordic walking", a wide variety of original trekking formats — such as river trekking and trekking on donkey- or mule-back — the presentation of the Sustainable Tourism Award 2015, the photography contest "Racconta la tua città", the itinerary "Di verde in verde" devised by Fondazione Villa Ghigi to guide visitors through Bologna's gardens, the presentation of the "Carta dell'Ospitalità Consapevole" hosted at the Ecomuseo delle Erbe Palustri, as well as round tables on "green marketing", workshops for children, and a full complement of conferences, film screenings and book presentations on the theme of responsible tourism, eco-tastings and food and wine offerings featuring zero-kilometre products. This substantial organisational undertaking is made possible by a broad network of local associations, supported by national partners UNESCO and MIBACT.
The well-known Sardinian author Michela Murgia, a guest at last year's 2014 edition, summed up IT.A.CÀ's distinctive approach with great clarity: an alternative perspective on the phenomenon of tourism that draws inspiration from the experience and the desire for knowledge of migrants and travellers, in search of intrinsic, non-prefabricated atmospheres. "There's a difference between going to visit the postcard," Murgia said, using her own homeland as an example, "but ten times worse is to be born inside the postcard and live within the stereotype of yourself and the idea of 'typical' that others expect you to interpret and embody. It's an attempt to dismantle a self-prejudice, because there are generations of Sardinians who have grown up believing themselves to be the reflection of the visitor's gaze — which is the first, the most subtle and pervasive form of colonialism, especially when there is an economy built upon it."