FOOD FESTIVAL AS A STRATEGIC CULTURAL ELEMENT FOR INNER AREAS AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES

Food festivals have been the subject of multidisciplinary insights that have provided different keys to interpreting the same phenomenon. Some territorial evidence shows that the food festival, significantly when declined in its territorial dimension, can itself be a heritage resource that contributes, along with others, to consolidating local identity and generating territorialised economies, dialogical and intra-generational relations, and social welfare. The present paper, through a case study, aims to highlight how a festival, beyond its ability to attract tourist and excursion flows, can be configured as a strategic cultural element for the development of excellent productive activities in the world of food and wine and for the enhancement of people and local communities, "rimanenza" of a middle land.