Sondrio & Graubünden
Sondrio (ITA)
Sondrio is a province located in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, renowned for its diverse and stunning territorial characteristics. Nestled in the heart of the Alps, it spans an area of approximately 3,212 square kilometres. This mountainous terrain features majestic peaks, serene valleys, and lush forests, making it a paradise for nature enthusiasts and outdoor adventurers. The province is dissected by the Adda River, which flows through the Valtellina Valley, adding to the region’s picturesque landscape.
The local economy of Sondrio is diverse and robust, driven by agriculture, tourism, and industry. The fertile Valtellina Valley is a major agricultural hub, producing high-quality wines, cheeses, and meats that are celebrated both domestically and internationally. Viticulture and dairy farming are particularly significant, contributing to the region’s reputation for culinary excellence. Tourism also plays a critical role in the local economy, with the province’s natural beauty and outdoor activities attracting visitors year-round. Winter sports, hiking, and wellness tourism are key sectors, supported by a network of hotels, resorts, and hospitality services. Industry in Sondrio includes small and medium-sized enterprises specialising in manufacturing, food processing, and artisanal products. The province is known for its high-quality craftsmanship, particularly in woodworking, textiles, and metalwork, reflecting a blend of traditional skills and modern innovation.
The population of Sondrio province is around 180,000 residents, distributed across several towns and villages, with Sondrio city serving as the provincial capital.
Culturally, Sondrio is a province where Italian and Alpine influences merge. Local traditions are celebrated through various festivals and events, such as the Fiera di San Giorgio and the Alpini gatherings, which showcase the area’s customs, music, and folklore. The province is also home to several museums and historical sites that reflect its rich history and cultural evolution.
Graubünden (CH)
Kanton Graubünden, located in eastern Switzerland, is the country’s largest canton by area, covering approximately 7,105 square kilometres. This mountainous region is characterised by its diverse and dramatic landscapes, including high peaks, deep valleys, and numerous alpine lakes. The Rhine and Inn rivers flow through the canton, contributing to its breathtaking scenery and fertile valleys.
The population of Graubünden is around 200,000 people, spread across various towns and villages. The capital city, Chur, is the oldest city in Switzerland and serves as the cultural and administrative hub of the canton.
The canton is notable for its linguistic diversity, with German, Romansh, and Italian being the official languages. Moreover, it is known for its rich traditions, which are reflected in its architecture, festivals, and customs. The region boasts numerous historical sites, including mediaeval castles, churches, and ancient ruins. Annual events like the Chalandamarz, a traditional spring festival, and the Engadin Ski Marathon, attract visitors and celebrate local heritage.
The region’s economy is primarily driven by tourism, agriculture, and industry, with each sector playing a significant role in its development and prosperity.
The canton is home to world-renowned ski resorts such as St. Moritz, Davos, and Arosa, which attract visitors year-round for skiing, snowboarding, hiking, and mountain biking. The natural landscapes, combined with luxury hotels and wellness resorts, make Graubünden a premier destination for tourists seeking both adventure and relaxation. The annual World Economic Forum held in Davos also brings a significant influx of international visitors and business leaders, further boosting the local economy.
Agriculture remains an important economic sector in Graubünden, despite the challenging alpine terrain. The canton is known for its high-quality dairy products. Viticulture also thrives in the lower valleys, producing wines that are well-regarded both domestically and internationally.
Industry in Graubünden is characterised by a mix of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that specialise in niche markets. Key industries include precision engineering, pharmaceuticals, and food processing. The canton is also a leader in renewable energy, particularly hydroelectric power, leveraging its abundant water resources to generate sustainable energy.
The community Cultural heritage Typical products and activities
Sondrio
The province of Sondrio holds a significant tangible and intangible heritage, resulting from the long coevolution between the local environment and the communities that have inhabited this place over time. Agricultural activities, gastronomy, and associated traditions represent crucial resources for this territory and its inhabitants. Local dwellers have based their subsistence economy on taking advantage of the micro-climates of the different zones, thereby diversifying the available food-related resources.
In this region, there is a notable production of cheese, with high-altitude pastures offering peak-quality grass for the animals. Vineyards are located on the south-facing slopes, and apple orchards thrive thanks to the Breva wind from the lake. Furthermore, the province of Sondrio is famous for its hearty and flavorful cuisine, which includes specialties like pizzoccheri (a type of buckwheat pasta), bresaola (air-dried, salted beef), and sciatt (fried cheese-filled buckwheat balls). In addition, the landscape of Valtellina is renowned for its vineyards, producing esteemed wines such as Valtellina Superiore and Sforzato. Many of these products have been recognized at the national and international levels as typical food products of this region through food quality schemes such as geographical indications (PDO and PGI), prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali (PAT), and other similar initiatives. Among the most notable ones are: Bitto DOP, Valtellina Casera DOP, Bresaola della Valtellina IGP, and Pizzoccheri della Valtellina IGP.
In this context, small-scale herding and dairy farming in the alpine meadows have historically contributed to the production of high-quality cheeses. Several small-scale productions, especially those related to the production of alpine cheese such as Furmàcc del Féen and Storico Ribelle, are still embedded in the local foodscapes and play a crucial role in the continuation of the food and cultural identity of this territory, as well as in the safeguarding of the local landscape and maintenance of local biodiversity.
The main tourist activities revolve around mountain tourism: skiing and snowboarding in the winter and excursions in summer, gastronomy tourism with many sagre taking place especially in autumn around towns and villages, and many restaurants dedicated to typical foods. The landscape is also an important tourism resource: outdoor activities and sports competitions are carried out on pastures, hiking trails and terraces, and paths like Via dei Terrazzamenti and Strada del Vino allow most everyone to walk and cycle while enjoying the valley bottom. Alpine pastures are linked to tourism through mountain hiking.
Graubünden (CH)
The foodscapes of Kanton Graubünden are deeply embedded in the local alpine environment. In the lower parts of the valleys, vineyards dominate the landscape, producing notable wines. In the upper regions, the landscape has been heavily shaped by small-scale livestock farming, particularly cattle and sheep. High-quality dairy products, especially cheeses, and traditional cured meats epitomize the economically valuable activity of livestock farming in the canton.
Alpine cheeses, particularly from the 18th century onward, have created a strong brand image around cows, mountain pastures, and iconic dishes like fondue. Bündner Alpkäse, a full-fat semi-hard cheese made from raw milk, is one of the key elements of the food heritage of this region. Produced only during the alpine season when cows graze freely on alpine pastures, it is available in mild, flavorsome, and mature forms. Bündner Bergkäse, another celebrated cheese, adheres to strict production guidelines stipulated by the Mountain and Alp Ordinance, and is produced year-round in commercial dairies located over 600 meters above sea level. In the Bregaglia Valley, traditional ricotta, known as Mascarplin in the upper valley and Mascarpel in the lower valley, is made. This cheese is crafted from a blend of cow’s milk whey and a little goat’s milk. Graubünden’s culinary offerings also include traditional cured meats such as Coira Salami and Furmagin Da Cion, as well as the regionally famous Müstair Valley Rye Bread.
Moreover, the region is renowned for its hearty and flavorful cuisine, influenced by its alpine environment, with specialties including Capuns (Swiss chard-wrapped dumplings), Pizzoccheri (buckwheat pasta), and Bündnerfleisch (air-dried beef).
Tourism in Graubünden could enhance the well-being and quality of life of citizens by ensuring attractive living spaces for both residents and visitors, as well as preserving decentralised settlements, all while being supported by the local population. Motivated stakeholders could convert tourism potential into profit through good collaboration and efficient structures.
Promoting the specific resources intrinsically tied to the local foodscapes within circuits of tourism can foster inclusive and sustainable development of the area. The promotion of culinary itineraries could facilitate the meeting of tourists and consumers with the territory, understood as a unique system of environment and landscape, typical and traditional agricultural and food products, farms, and processing workshops, with farmers often operating in areas far from traditional tourist circuits.
Challenges and objectives Community expectations and needs
The difficulties faced by rural and marginal regions, such as the province of Sondrio and the Kanton Graubünden, especially in relation to the safeguarding of local food heritage and local agri-food chains, extend beyond the commonly cited external pressures of globalization. The fragility of these areas is influenced by a combination of spatial, affective, and relational elements unique to each context, rather than solely external factors.
Looking at the structure of local food systems, the high average age of entrepreneurs and employees is one of the main challenges, especially in marginalized areas with minimal generational turnover. Additionally, rural firms suffer from inadequate infrastructure, which limits their market access. Moreover, while local actors often show a strong willingness to innovate and expand their offerings and services, these efforts are not yet fully consolidated due to economic, technological, and digital constraints.
Furthermore, despite established networking practices among companies and territorial stakeholders, expanding collaborations and strengthening partnerships remain challenging. Persistent difficulties in collaboration highlight the need for secure and inclusive processes to reinforce territorial collaborations and socio-economic inclusivity. Ensuring stable and long-term collaboration is essential for the sustained development of these territories.
To address these challenges and leverage opportunities, a multifaceted approach is necessary, involving the revision and expansion of national and regional policies to support rural development. Addressing the complexities and leveraging the strengths of these areas requires a comprehensive strategy that combines local innovation, enhanced collaboration, and strategic policy support. Some possible interventions include the following:
- Implementing financial incentives aimed at promoting the recovery and activation of local production, processing, and sales entities, attracting new generations, both local and foreign, to engage in entrepreneurial activities.
- Promoting projects that connect companies across different regions or within the same territory to enhance networking and create a shared vision of local needs, potentials, and future prospects. Organizing working groups among actors from different areas experiencing similar dynamics and challenges could help share best practices and develop bottom-up solutions based on shared knowledge.
- Delivering training courses aimed at improving managerial and digital skills, with a particular focus on communication and marketing, could help local actors consolidate their know-how and improve the future development of the food and tourism industry.
Team
The team of the project belonging to UniBg is composed of an interdisciplinary team including experts in marketing, management, economy, and geography with a focus on tourism. Team members have research experience in cultural heritage management, participatory and collaborative processes in rural and urban contexts, and territorial regeneration from a sustainable perspective through tourism. All members also have national and international relationships with academics and practitioners developed during applied projects.
Roberta Garibaldi (Principal investigator) is a university professor who engages in training and research activities to promote regions, gastronomic and cultural tourism, and directs projects at an international level. She directs international projects and has experience with various Ministries of Tourism and organisations such as UNWTO and FAO. Garibaldi served as CEO of ENIT – National Tourism Agency under the Draghi government and as Vice President of the Tourism Committee of the OECD. She has been invited as keynote speaker at major events on tourism and holds numerous positions, including President of the Italian Association of Gastronomic Tourism. She is the author of 23 books and over 60 scientific publications. She has curated eleven editions of the Gastronomic Tourism Report.
Federica Burini (role to be defined) is an Associate Professor of Geography at the Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Bergamo. She coordinates the Imago Mundi Lab and contributes to the ITSM Center. Additionally, she presides over the international Planning and Management of Tourism Systems program. Her primary research interests focus on participatory processes and collaborative mapping in rural and urban contexts to promote territorial regeneration from a sustainable perspective, especially in rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. Among her recent publications are: *Tourism facing a Pandemic. Dalla crisi alla ripresa* (2020), *Challenge-Based Learning per lo sport e il turismo sostenibile. Un percorso formativo di governance territoriale multilivello* (2022).
Dauro Mattia Zocchi (Research fellow) is a research fellow in geography at the Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Bergamo. He holds degrees in business administration and gastronomic sciences. In 2022, he earned a PhD in Eco-gastronomy, Education, and Society at the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo. His primary research interests include food geography, food scouting, and the promotion of food heritage in rural and marginalised areas. He has contributed to research projects in Italy, Peru, Bolivia, Kenya, and Tanzania. He is the author of 10 edited books and over 20 scientific publications.