A survey on wine tourism regulations in Italy and an extremely successful case study. The successful move from heritage to luxury wine tourism: the case of Marchesi di Barolo By Duilio Cortassa 1. Introduction Mediterranean countries have long been associated with wine production. However, only recently, as regions come to face the implications of global rural restructuring, have wine and tourism been utilized for regional development and re-imaging strategies. Michael Hall and Richard Mitchell were writing this back in year 20001. Hall and Mitchell define wine tourism as visits to vineyards, wineries, wine festivals, and events in which tasting and/or experiencing the characteristics of winemaking regions are the principal pull factors for visitors. It can therefore be included in the subsectors of agricultural, rural, cultural, special interest, and, of course, industrial tourism. While industrial tourism was in principle related exclusively to visit industrial historical heritage, there is today greater recognition of current or active industrial heritage for its tourist use. For this reason, according to María Andrade-Suárez and Iria Caamaño-Franco, “industrial tourism is made up of three different types of resources (pre-industrial heritage; heritage of the industrial revolution; living industry) that are included in two groups: industrial archaeological heritage and living industry. Wine tourism, as a form of industrial tourism, can be seen as a tool for regional development that favors the integration of the primary (agriculture), secondary (wine industry), and tertiary (tourism) sectors. Furthermore, the landscapes of winemaking regions are of particular value, due to the unique nature of the regional “tourist terroir”2. “Indeed, winemaking has endowed many regions with a rich cultural heritage, made up essentially of traditional wineries and vineyards which today comprise one of the emerging tourist trends with the greatest appeal and potential for growth. Wine culture is the essential component of wine tourism activity and, therefore, is directly related to the environmental, economic, and social sustainability”3. Tackling the topic of agritourism from a legal point of view, too, means identifying the actors who can play a role in this area. We shall explore, thus, all topics which deserve being discussed in this respect, from the figure of the agricultural entrepreneur and the differences with the industrial enterprise, suggesting why even large wineries are agricultural enterprises, and then move on to deal with the Italian regulations on the management of agritourism, direct sales of wine in the cellar and, finally, the management of the more strictly hotel services. 1 C. Michael Hall and Richard Mitchell, Wine Tourism in the Mediterranean: A Tool for Restructuring and Development, Thunderbird International Business Review, Vol. 42(4) 445–465 • July–August 2000. 2 María Andrade-Suárez and Iria Caamaño-Franco, The Relationship between Industrial Heritage, Wine Tourism, and Sustainability: A Case of Local Community Perspective, Sustainability 2020, 12(18), 7453. 3 M. Marzo-Navarro, M. Pedraja-Iglesias, Desarrollo del turismo del vino desde la perspectiva de los productores. Una primera aproximación al caso de Aragón—España. Estudios y Perspectivas en Turismo 2012, 21, 585–603.
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