"The network of regional Italee represents a strength of our project as well as being a completely innovative aspect in this tourism promotion experience. We have created 20 Italee in each of the regions of Italy. Today we are here in Pollica to inaugurate the work of Italea Campania. The regional Italee are really the core of our project because they are made up of people who have specializations in different fields: from genealogy to the creation of itineraries through the rediscovery of traditions. They are profiles that are in charge of creating in the territories all those services that are intended for root travelers". This was said by Giovanni Maria De Vita, Head of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) "Tourism of Roots" project yesterday in Pollica, in the province of Salerno, at the presentation event of the Italea Campania program. On the subject of Roots Tourists, De Vita pointed out that this is an "audience of 80 million people with Italian origins in the world who come to Italy to discover places with a special focus because they want to see where their ancestors left from and possibly feel those traditions, see those habits, those ways of life that they have known through stories. It is therefore a very important task," De Vita added, "especially because the Roots Traveler, returning to these places, does not come just to see monuments or landscapes, but comes to feel at home and it is important that this 'feeling' is built. The motto of our project for 2024, the Year of the World's Italian Roots, is precisely 'Welcome Back Home'.” For Roots Tourists, the Ministry provides a platform through which they can apply for various services. "The platform," De vita further explains, "allows the Roots Traveler to organize his or her trip even before coming to Italy. The platform puts the Roots Traveler in touch with each of the regional Italees, depending on the regions they intend to visit, but we also know that there are many people of Italian descent who do not know exactly - or do not remember - the countries of origin of their ancestors: italea.com was also created to give support to these people and to help them trace the places of origin of their ancestors”.
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