WHERE ARE ITALY"S MOST BEAUTIFUL SMALL TOWNS ?


 

The Club of Italy's Most Beautiful Small Towns, founded in 2001 to encourage tourism to lesser known areas of the Italian peninsula, has grown from year to year and at present counts over 200 members. Modelled on the French organization Les plus beaux villages de France, exclusiveness is guaranteed by a strict list of essential criteria that must be met in order to qualify.

In addition to possessing charm and architectural harmony, the little towns must be able to offer a high quality of life to their inhabitants, who should not exceed 2000 in the case of the borghi (historic rural or fishing hamlets) or 15,000 in the case of a comune.

All the villages and towns must be lived in. They must be complete with shops, artesan workshops  and maintain local traditions and festivals. Since the instauration of the Club, members have seen a considerable boost in visitors, with tourist presences up by between 25% and 52% in some cases.

Not surprisingly, competition for membership is keen, with hundreds of suitable small art centres applying each year to join. Numbers, however, are strictly restricted and on average over 70% requests are turned down. The Club intends not to exceed a membership of 220 in 2012. In addition, membership is not automatically forever. Members are inspected every two years to make sure that they meet the necessary requisites.

At the moment, the majority of certified borghi are in the North (75) and Centre (87) of Italy, with the most concentrated in Umbria, Marche, Abruzzo and Ligury. To date, the South possesses 40 members, while Sicily has 9 and Sardegna still only 3. However, with its wealth of art treasures, it can be expected that Italy's Mezzogiorno will soon catch up.

The Club publishes a guide book and has a website with full information about the member borghi, as well as a calendar of events and attractions throughout the year.

 

For information: www.borghitalia.it

Posted on 22 Feb 2012 by Editor
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