Peer-to-peer exchange in Abruzzo

What is a key lesson or idea you learned from the activities and solutions presented?

A key lesson we learned is the importance of strong community involvement in local development initiatives. The example of the community-based cooperative in Popoli showed how local actors can work together to create economic opportunities while strengthening regional identity. We found it particularly interesting how the cooperative combines different activities, such as running a local shop and producing artisanal ice cream, while also focusing on storytelling and the transmission of local narratives from older generations to younger ones.

This approach of preserving and sharing local stories strongly resonated with us, as we have a similar initiative in our region called the “Geschichtenhaus” in Burgenland. The exchange confirmed for us how valuable such projects are for keeping cultural heritage alive and making it accessible to both locals and visitors.

What impressed or inspired you most during the visit? Is there anything you would like to bring back to your community?

One of the most impressive experiences during the visit was the trip to Rocca Calascio. Beyond the stunning landscape and the historical setting, we were inspired by the efforts to create employment opportunities for local people through sustainable tourism. The area has successfully developed activities such as biking tours and outdoor experiences that add clear value to the region while attracting visitors.

For us, this provided valuable insights into how tourism can support regional development in a balanced way. Many of these ideas could also be relevant for our own region, especially within our nature parks in Burgenland. The discussions and practical examples offered useful tips that we can consider when developing similar nature-based tourism initiatives.

What is a key lesson or idea you learned from the activities and solutions presented?

I'm the person in charge of the peer-to-peer activity in Abruzzo, so my best point was to have the opportunity to finally share our experiences to the other partners.

What impressed or inspired you most during the visit? Is there anything you would like to bring back to your community?

My best point was to feel a big interest in the partners participation to our visit.

What is a key lesson or idea you learned from the activities and solutions presented?

A key lesson from the activities in Abruzzo was the importance of strong community networks and local cooperatives working together to support rural development. Seeing how local residents take responsibility and actively create initiatives gave a lot of hope. In Calascio, it was particularly inspiring to see the shared perspective that local people are the key actors, they take care of the castle, share the stories of the place with visitors, and in this way gain pride, recognition and additional income that helps them remain in their villages.

What impressed or inspired you most during the visit? Is there anything you would like to bring back to your community?

It was really impressing how culture, art and local heritage are used to revitalise rural areas. The visit related to Pane Amaro and the theme of transhumance strongly resonated with some of our own initiatives and gave us useful ideas. In Aielli, the Murales of Aielli project was particularly inspiring, showing how art can transform and bring visibility to a place that was previously almost invisible. This approach is very relevant to our own solution “Pathways of art” that explores the role of art in rural development.

What is a key lesson or idea you learned from the activities and solutions presented?

• Hospitality of local hosts
• Thinking about how to host people and what to take money for
• Collaboration and experimentation (Popoli)
• Recording people's experiences as heritage asset and dialect asset.

What impressed or inspired you most during the visit? Is there anything you would like to bring back to your community?

• Popoli cooperative
• Calascio castle and approach to monetising services
• Murales and its quality.

What is a key lesson or idea you learned from the activities and solutions presented?

A key lesson I learned from the activities was that innovation in rural areas does not always mean technology alone. It can also mean new forms of cooperation, community enterprises, sustainable mobility, cultural storytelling and the reinvestment of local benefits in the territory.

The visits showed that small rural municipalities can become laboratories for new solutions when local people are directly involved. In Popoli and Calascio, the idea of “habitat beyond welfare” was especially interesting because it goes beyond traditional social services and looks at the whole living environment: housing, community relationships, care, mobility, culture and local economy.

In Aielli, the murals showed how art and literature can become tools to recover local identity, attract visitors and create a shared narrative for the community.

What impressed or inspired you most during the visit? Is there anything you would like to bring back to your community?

What impressed me most during the visit was the capacity of small rural communities in Abruzzo to transform local challenges into collective projects. Something I would like to bring back to my community is this integrated approach: using culture, local narratives and community cooperation to create more liveable rural areas. In Zamora, this could be very useful to strengthen social cohesion.