Small Homelands

"We have taken to all villages our secret weapons: books, courses, works of ingenuity and art. We believe in the revolutionary virtue of culture, which gives man his true power."

So wrote Adriano Olivetti.From him we drew the concept of "small homelands, to try to redraw Italy's tourist maps by restarting from minor geographies and community experiences. Olivetti, an entrepreneur-politician, in the post-World War II period envisioned the factory as a place that dispensed not only profits but also culture and services, as the heart of the community that realized an authentic and concrete solidarity, so strong that it became the basis of a new idea of state. Knotted around this concept are the "small homelands": a network of small, governable molecules converging by successive degrees into a new organizational form of our being a country.

We, small fatherlands

• We are territories with a strong local identity, preserved and carefully guarded in the shadow of the bell towers, whose name is enough to generate an idea, an image, a concept and an aspiration;
• we are areas not too large, nor too small, often considered to belong to minor, marginal, disconnected or even isolated geographies;
• we are people who have commonality of cultures, languages and historical events that over time have been layered to become monuments, works of art and intellect that constitute the excellence of Made in Italy in agriculture, crafts, design and manufacturing;
• we are a resource for entire valleys and districts, for islands and mountains, projecting notoriety and economy without any limit of administrative, political, natural or cultural boundaries;
• we are producers, that is, we generate well-being to realize lifestyles capable of becoming references, trends and fashions in every part of the world;
• we are protagonists of markets, leveraging the all-Italian inclination to produce development by focusing on unusual factors such as tradition, care, creativity, craftsmanship, love for places and for the land;
• we are an economic model of competitiveness based on talent, which starts with the concept, involves the detail, acts on the processes and enriches the product with a unique and unrepeatable added value;
• we are a fundamental part of the country because we ensure presence and garrison in the territories, fighting against hydrogeological disruption, abuse, abandonment and depopulation;
• we are active in protecting the landscape, environment, nature and cultural heritage, because we are aware that they are our home, a small portion of the larger common home that is the Earth;
• we are local communities that find reasons for cohesion and social innovation in daily gestures, in sharing sacrifices and achievements, in respecting neighbors, neighbors and passing visitors;
• we are open societies, welcoming, hospitable, capable of solidarity in need and conviviality in prosperity;
• we are laboratories of the economy of beauty, portions of the "Bel Paese" that defy crises--financial, economic and now also health--by focusing on a renewed ability to feel community to tell "stories of beauty" that tell the truest Italy, made up of people and workshops, of authenticity and identity, in which "being provincial" becomes a resource to be defended with love and passion.

We are "small homelands," rich in different bell towers, languages, cultures, histories and spirituality, with a common faith and destiny: we are and will be united by the design to transmit our heritage to the Italians of tomorrow and, together, to those - travelers, visitors and wayfarers - who even temporarily want to share it.

We build small homelands

Feeling community:this is the prime attribute that makes a territory a "small homeland".And the big challenge is to aim higher, creating integrated ecosystems of services and experiences that engage the 5 senses and help us propel the country toward forms of circular tourism, 5.0.

Small Homelands, a project born on May 4, 2020 from an idea of SIMTUR (Italian Society of Professional Soft Mobility and Sustainable Tourism Professionals), has resulted in a successful collaboration between SIMTUR, ACT Creative Academy Tourism and SharryLand.

You too can participate!If you want to build a "small homeland" and become its "trustee, or if you simply want to discover with us the first "small homelands, follow us and get in touch.