1. A report of employement resources in the field of cultural tourism in “Valle d’Itria” Grundtvig Project “Traditional village for a future life.”

2. The “Valle d’Itria” The wonderful “Valle d’Itria”, in the extreme south-east of Italy, is one of the most touristic attractive area in Puglia. Here, ancient Greek and Italian culture are mixed in hillside vineyards, olive groves, typical “trulli” and whitewashed villages and towns. The “Valle d’Itria” consists of the urban and rural areas of villages as Locorotondo, Martina Franca, Alberobello e Cisternino

3. Cultural Tourism in Valle d’Itria Cultural tourism, in this area, doesn't consist only of travellers interested uniquely in the historical and artistic heritage: they, on the contrary, tend to enjoy the whole territory with its traditions, handicraft, products, landscapes and cooking. In fact, tourists, in the last years, have been appearing more and more active: for them the traditional attractions are only the starting point for other appealing activities:  discover traditional jobs;  discover and taste local food and traditional recipes;  attend to traditional events, music shows and theatrical performances often held in historical buildings;  shopping. So, what does Valle d’Itria offer to cultural tourists and how has it become a resource for employement?

4. Ecomuseum in Valle d’Itria The Ecomuseum aims to recover and spread the knowledge of local history and culture, local traditions and products, traditional jobs and way of life and everything else that has produced the unique area of Valle d’Itria: trulli, white farms (masserie), dry walls, century- old olive groves, rupestrial villages, traditonal handicraft (stone, wood, pottery, iron).

5. Master craftsmen and creative workshops The craftsmen workshops are still the true heart of the historical centre of the towns of Valle d’Itria. They may be visited year-round by tourists who want to know local handicraft with its traditional manufacturing. Workshops organized by Ecomuseum can allow tourists to attend to, even with practical activities.

6. Firm Museums Collections of small firms products, but also tools and machinery used in traditional productive processes, shown in firm museums, are another attraction for tourists. On one side they are able to know traditional processes, on the other side they are able to taste local products and give to them the right value. Olive oil museum in Alberobello Albea winery museum

7. Stone craft Still nowadays “trulli” are built or repaired, along the tradition, by “trullari”, master caftsmen that can be considered “artists”. This traditional job is still very alive and required. Dry walls, that run for kilometres in the countryside, are another expression of stone craft and are the result of the work of so called “paretari”. Craftsmen have, finally, an important touristic market: the production of small size “trulli” with the same technique as the “trullari”.

8. Wrought-Iron Craft Wrought-iron craft is very common to see in the historical centre of Martina Franca: almost every balcony railing and street light is realized in wrought- iron. The last workshop of the old-town centre was in the “Lama” district. Wrought-iron craft is still alive and many object are stil produced.

9. Woven-twigs craft Woven-twigs craft is very ancient: it consists of weaving mainly olive or wicker twigs to realize baskets or containers of common use. Nowadays, in addition to traditional objects, woven-twigs are used to realize other objects of common use, ear-rings, hand-bags, design objects.

10. Embroidery and weaving Embroidery and weaving are still performed at an high level to produce, in tradtional ways and shapes, carpets, bedspreads, sheets, wraps.

11. Food and culture in Valle d'Itria In Valle d'Itria you can combine culture, history and food: in fact you can visit ancient white farms (masserie), where you can taste typical dairy products and attend to the production process, taste zero kilometres olive oil and visit old-century olive groves or underground oil-mills, taste typical charcuterie (cold-cuts), such as “capocollo”, attend to the traditional production of bread or pasta (orecchiette, cavatelli) in ancient bakeries.

12. In addition to the traditional jobs, rising professions are connected with cultural toursm: Ecomuseum operator Cultural and religious travel planner Specialist in planning and managing services to the cultural heritage Specialist in promotion and selling touristic services Web touristic advisor Specialist in the improvement of local food, wine and other products Touristic reception operator Specialist in planning and organizing cultural events Naturalistic guide RISING PROFESSIONS