The first meeting of the Interreg IV-C “Vitour – Vineyards and Tourism” Project is taking place in Riomaggiore in the Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre, Italy. This project has a total budget of two million Euros, of which 240 thousand Euros will be invested in the Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture.

 In addition to the Azorean landscape, another nine areas, all classified as World Heritage by UNESCO, from Germany, Austria, France, Hungary, Italy, Switzerland and Portugal (Pico Island and Rio Douro) participate in the project.

The promotion of Good Practice in this   type of landscape, the dissemination of promotional tools with international level and the promotion of capital gains from the union of this extraordinary European heritage are amongst the main goals of this three-year project that officially started on January 1.

The meeting was attended by the Regional Director for the Environment and the Head of the Pico Vineyard Landscape Office on behalf of the Azores. Before the beginning of the works in Italy, the Regional Director for the Environment has reinforced the importance of a joint work. Frederico Cardigos stated that “as a recently classified landscape, we will certainly learn the correct attitudes and with the mistakes made by our partners. The journey was long, which lasted decades in some cases, and we will benefit from that experience. On the other hand, as we have different characteristics, we may certainly provide new ideas for activities, new visions and by geographical contingency, we expand the scope of this group.” The Regional Director added that amongst are benefits “this contribute will promote the visibility of the Landscape of the Pico Vineyard Culture in their territories.”