Building networks with neighbouring territories to create new opportunities for tourism promotion. San Marino is betting on cross-border collaboration, starting with Tuscany and Romagna, where the Secretariat of State for Tourism spent the weekend attending the Convivium of Signa and the hundredth edition of the Festa dell’Ospitalità (Hospitality Festival) in Bertinoro.
The first stop was on Saturday 5 September in Signa, in the province of Florence. Private Secretary Alan Gasperoni represented the Secretariat at the historic Twinning Ceremony and the medieval Convivium, an event that brought together various Italian and foreign organisations around the theme of historical reenactment.
San Marino’s relationship with Signa builds on an existing partnership. The Republic and the Municipality of Signa are already linked by a protocol on religious tourism and spirituality, but the aim now is to broaden the scope. During the meeting, the Secretariat explains, the parties “were able to explore new avenues of cooperation, from food and wine tourism to musical events and historical reenactments“.
Gasperoni, together with the mayor of Signa, Giampiero Fossi, also took part in a public interview dedicated to young people, organised by the Conversatorio association.
The following day, San Marino’s delegation moved to Bertinoro, where the hundredth edition of the Festa dell’Ospitalità was held on Sunday 6 September. The event revolves around the historic “Colonna degli Anelli” (Column of the Rings) and maintains a special bond with the Republic.
“A hundred years ago, it was San Marino that donated the stone on which the Column rests,” the Secretariat recalls, while Professor Paolo Amaducci, one of the key figures behind the revival of the ancient ritual, also contributed during his career to the cultural education of young Sammarinese.
The tradition dates back to the Middle Ages. Travellers arriving in Bertinoro would tie their horse to one of the twelve rings on the Column, effectively choosing which of the twelve local families would host them. Today the mechanism is different, but it preserves the same spirit: twelve guests draw an envelope from the rings, discovering the family with whom they will spend Sunday lunch.
San Marino also found a place in the centenary celebrations. The historic Pascucci printing house of Gambettola set up an exhibition in the Town Hall featuring twelve large prints dedicated to the fortresses of Romagna, among them the First Tower of the Republic of San Marino.
Numerous authorities attended the event, including Mayor Filippo Scogli, the regional culture councillor Gessica Allegni, Member of Parliament Jacopo Morrone and Monsignor Livio Corazza, bishop of the diocese of Bertinoro and Forlì.
The common thread running through these engagements is the desire to expand the tourism network around the Republic. Bertinoro is in fact part of the Territorial Tourism Board and of “The Lovely Places”, a project promoted by the Secretariat of State to showcase local excellence through coordinated promotion.
This is a network that now extends well beyond San Marino’s borders: the tourism cooperation programme, developed together with the Emilia-Romagna and Marche regions, involves more than 120 Italian municipalities, with the goal of connecting territories, events, culture and local excellence.
