Italy’s Gastronomic Highlights Shine at BITEG Tourism Fair

First a visit to Valtellina for a plate of delicious pizzoccheri, then a quick trip to Porto Sant’Elpidio in the Marche region to enjoy the local fried fish, perhaps accompanied by a hot “ciupeta,” freshly baked and expertly prepared by the bakers of Ferrara.

Is this a bizarre geography or an imaginary journey of a hungry person? None of the above: what has just been described is only part of the gastronomic itinerary that, yesterday and the day before yesterday, could be experienced in piazza Catena and piazza III Novembre thanks to the fourth edition of BITEG, the International Tourism Fair, which concluded last night after three days filled with a rich program of events and a truly remarkable public success.

Event Success and Data

The exhibition area of Palafiere della Baltera, doubled compared to last year, hosted around 16,000 visitors. The \”technical\” data was also impressive: during the workshop, contacts between tour operators and the local operators totaled over 5,000.

Numbers speak for themselves, as does the success of the stands in piazza Catena and piazza III Novembre. Last year, in fact, people looked at the regional groups with a bit of suspicion; yesterday and the day before yesterday, chefs and various staff had their hands full managing both adults and children, locals and tourists eager to taste the various specialties.

They were so eager and numerous that some teams arriving in Riva exhausted their supplies earlier than expected: on Saturday night, for example, the chefs from Porto Sant’Elpidio had to return to Molise to restock their fish supplies.