The “Storytellers of Biodiversity” project comes to an end

The "Narrators" are ready to be ambassadors of the biodiversity of the Langhe and Roero.

The process of forming a team of "Biodiversity Storytellers" has come to an end. This team includes tour leaders, tourist and nature guides, truffle judges, horticulturists, small growers, and professionals interested in food biodiversity. They have been engaged throughout July 2022 in a variety of activities, including sensory analysis of vegetables, digital communication, a primer on horticulture, knowledge transfer techniques, and group management and leadership.

How do you describe a vegetable? How do you narrate a garden and make it accessible to the public? Where do you start for effective sensory communication? How do you explain local biodiversity to a group of visitors and tourists? These are the questions that gave rise to a project aimed at "narrating biodiversity.".

Emanuele Bolla , Councilor for Tourism for the City of Alba, emphasizes: "We have just completed the first edition of a project that is far-reaching and forward-looking. The region is full of unique products that deserve to be properly narrated, always focusing on protecting the environment, the land, and the fruits it can produce. We wanted to train professionals who can tell the story of our region, but also of its gardens and its vegetables. We are proud of this team, which, with determination and enthusiasm, has taken up the challenge of a new and original training program. It will be a pleasure for us to share this project with our partners and make our "Biodiversity Storytellers" true ambassadors of the biodiversity of the Langhe and Roero for future events and conferences, including beyond the Alps."

For months, the Municipality of Alba, as the lead entity, together with the partners GAL Langhe Roero Leader , Municipality of Cogne , Ville de La Motte-Servolex and Commune du Bourget-du-Lac has been carrying out awareness-raising activities on the topic of food biodiversity through the project “Biodiversità Stellata/Biodiversité Étoilée” financed by the Interreg VA France-Italy ALCOTRA 2014-2020 programme.

Not only promotion, communication, and awareness-raising on the topic, but also training: biodiversity in its many facets, from land to plate, was the subject of a course taught by experts from the academic world, the tourism sector, and the restaurant industry. Biodiversity was taught for the first time through lessons given by professionals such as staff from the ATL Langhe Monferrato and Roero Tourism Board, chef and general director of the “ Bocuse d'or Italy Academy ” Luciano Tona, Luca Ferrua, editor in chief of ilgusto.it and “I Piaceri del Gusto” at GEDI Gruppo Editoriale, professor Silvana Nicola of the UNITO Department of Agricultural, Forestry, and Food Sciences, and the “Narrators of Taste,” Professors Luigi Odello and Gian Paolo Braceschi.