TASTE THE ALPS

The proposing organization is “Valtellina Agricultural and Food Quality District”; Valtellina is the Alpine region that forms the province of Sondrio in Lombardy (Italy). The District, according to its Statute, provides for the exploitation and promotion of Valtellina food products with European PDO and PGI logos, bringing together all the groups covered by the EU quality schemes: PGI Bresaola Consortium, PGI Valtellina Apple Consortium, PDO Casera and Bitto Cheese Consortium, PDO and PGI Wines of Valtellina Consortium and the Committee for the Promotion of PGI Valtellina Pizzoccheri. The District operates with the aim of promoting the dissemination of knowledge of these local products since 2010.The promoted products are all PDO and PGI from Valtellina: salami PGI Bresaola, PGI Valtellina apple, cheeses PDO Valtellina Bitto and Casera, the red wines of PDO Valtellina (DOC), PDO Valtellina Superiore (DOCG), PDO Sforzato di Valtellina (DOCG), PGI Terrazze Retiche, and the pasta PGI Valtellina Pizzoccheri.Target groups: Food & Beverage stakeholders (trade and press) and consumers.Planned activities: Project coordination, public relations, website, social media, online advertising, informative and set-up materials and gadgets, videos, events (fair and food & wine events, cooking shows, study trips to Europe), evaluation of results.The main message conveyed by this programme concerns the system of EU quality schemes PDO and PGI as a guarantee of quality and safety for consumers and as a means for encouraging the production system and the local economy while protecting the environment and social cohesion of the community.