“Cuttings”: in Italian called “Talea”, a practice by which a plant is allowed to propagate. By severing a part of it and replanting it, it can be given new life, growing new roots: just as happens with migration. From this peasant term takes its name the Italea project, a program to promote root tourism, launched by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

The Italea project is aimed at Italians living abroad and Italodescendants: welcome, facilities and initiatives for those who want to travel to Italy in the footsteps of their family history.

A journey through the wonders of Italy to discover one’s origins and rediscover the places, traditions and culture of one’s ancestors, in many cases linked to peasant knowledge and agricultural practices.

The project provides a set of services to facilitate travel in Italy, thanks to the work of a dense network of professionals in each region of Italy who will take care to inform, welcome and assist travelers. All information can be found on the website dedicated to the italea.com project, which offers support every step of the rediscovery journey: from family-historical research to organizing the personalized experience in Italy. In addition, the program offers a series of root workshops, activities to deepen knowledge of the culture of origin, thus related to ancient crafts, traditional cuisine, folk music and dance, dialects, culture and peasant knowledge.

In 2024, the year of Italian roots in the world, Italea aims to promote a model of sustainable, responsible and accessible tourism for the enhancement of small municipalities and all those areas that, both in the past and today, suffer depopulation due to migration flows. For those who travel to rediscover their origins, it may be even more enriching to bring home a greater awareness of natural agriculture and sustainable lifestyles, to broaden their gaze from their past to a common future of environmental protection through agroecological practice, of healthy and fair food, and of daily habits of lower impact.

Hosts will be able to receive visit requests from woofers who have come to know our association through the Italea program, and will therefore be able to combine the teaching of agroecological practices with the transmission of knowledge related to local customs, traditions, and history. Finally, there is also an opportunity for hosts to consider the benefits offered by the Italea Card(https://www.italeacard.com/) to give their projects greater visibility.