In February, I spent some amazing three days in Terni, Umbria, as a guest of several wine and tourism promotional bodies. Inviting bloggers and people active on the social media was a first for this area, but recently they published a report expressing their satisfaction with the results and the intent to continue these kind of promotions. This is part of the report.
“Despite some difficulties, the event #Umbriaforwinelovers saw the participation of more than 60 wineries, food and wine experts as well as bloggers from across the world. It may be said that the new idea of linking Umbria wines with the saint of love [Valentine, mb] and their promotion through the web has proved to be successful. The collaboration between Regione Umbria, Comunità Montana of Valnerina, Camera di Commercio as well as Umbria Top, points the way to promote our territory and its outstanding wine and food products. The whole of Umbria was involved in the event, as it was made up of visits to several wineries of the region, accompanied by wine and food tasting. It also included evening shows in which some fine artists performed.
“Wine bikers”, a mountain bike ride which concluded the event, drew many people from regions close to Umbria. One of the highlights was the workshop held by prof Biaggio, of the Università Bocconi, along with Luiz Alberto (The Wine Hub) as well dr. Morosini, a representative of Regione Umbria. It dealt with “visibility and reputation on the web, how to get and maintain them”. The lecture was aimed at tourism operators, from hotels keepers to restaurateurs.
One of our objects was to offer our businesses an opportunity to take part in an event, which would allow them to ‘internationalize’ their products (there were representatives of 12 countries, included China), through the “Vini di San Valentino” brand. The results prove that we are right. The event has been described in a dedicated blog; since the 20th February tweets with “Umbriafor Winelovers” have been more than 250.000; moreover, the event was dealt with by national and international newspapers, as well as dedicated magazines. Altogether, more than 5.000.000 [or 500.000?, mb] readers and listeners took an interest in the event. However, #UmbriaforWineLovers did not come to an end in February, in that it will also be included in the Cantamaggio Festival, as one of “components” of “Terni a tavola”- which is supported by professional unions. From 26 April through 5 May, at the restaurants participating in “Terni a tavola”, it will be possible to taste Umbria wines together with local foods.”
Well, Umbria, I for one will be back, I guarantee. More on the results of this event can be read on the website of Comune di Terni.
I gathered tweets and posts on #Umbriaforwinelovers on Storify.