Enrico Gragnoli case, the regulation did not concern wine - related profiles, which fell beyond the boundaries of the regulation, and for which anyone is entitled to offer information and accompany tourists. Law no. 97 of 2013 regulated the work of tourist guides, so that, in article 3, the qualification “is valid throughout all of Italy”10. This principle was, however, mitigated by the ministerial decree issued on 7 April 2015, with which the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism identified approximately three thousand sites for which a further special qualification was required in order to exercise the activity, as described in subsequent ministerial decree of 11 December 2015. Whilst the qualification was national, the decree limited the scope of the qualification to a specific area, and actually hindered the work to non - local guides. On the contrary, there are no restrictions in the wine - related field, as there is no reservation to do so. Both the ministerial decree issued on 7 April 2015 and the decree issued on 11 December 2015 were challenged before the Administrative court, which ruled they were illegitimate as they extended the sphere of operation of the specialistic qualification excessively, to the point that the national qualification was rendered useless if not complemented by the former. In actual fact, the list of approximately three thousand sites contained in ministerial decree dated 11 December 2015 limited the extent of the national qualification to the point it almost annulled it. As a result, a system “which should have been (…) simplified” was transformed into “one which necessarily called for a double qualification”11. Moreover, due to the fact that wine - related areas were originally excluded from the provisions regarding guides, any debate about their functions does not apply to this analysis. Anyone is free to address issues related to the gastronomic field and wine tourism, and does not benefit from any limitations. There are no other parties at this moment in time to whom such exclusive competence is reserved. Tour managers may intervene, as under Italian regulations they are not subjected to selective protection, in spite of the fact that they have to pass an exam to assess their expertise12. At present, the field of food and wine allows freedom of illustrative action to anyone 10 Cf. Cons. Stato, sez. VI, 13 April 2017, n. 3859, Giur. it. rep., 2017. 11 Cf. Cons. Stato, sez. VI, 13 April 2017, n. 3859, cit.. 12 Cf. Righi, Professioni turistiche, in Dig., disc. pubbl., 12th volume, 12 ff., and, by the same Author, La dimensione comunitaria del turismo e il suo impatto sull’ordinamento italiano, in Riv. it. dir. pubbl. comm., 1992, 833 ff., and, by the same Author, Professioni turistiche e principi comunitari: si riaccende la “guerra delle guide”, in Dir. tur., 2005, 281 ff.; Silingardi, Le professioni turistiche: profili organizzatori nell’ordinamento interno e in quello comunitario, in Riv. giur. circ. trasp., 1993, 677 ff..
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