Friuli-Venezia Giulia – where’s that?
Friuli-Venezia Giulia is tucked into the far north-east corner of Italy, between the Adriatic Sea and the Julian Alps, on the border with Slovenia to the east and Austria to the north. It is a young and dynamic wine producing region of extraordinary diversity, internationally recognised as a source of premium and super-premium wines. The region is renowned for its interpretation of the international classics, from Sauvignon Blanc to Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay, but it is arguably Friuli’s unique local varieties which best crystalize the flavours and aromas of the terroir and project a sense of place.
Vitinera – what’s that?
Vitinera is a place where the DIY wine tourists can plan and book a wine tasting day or two by connecting to www.vitinera.com and selecting a specific winery to visit in one of the several sub regions of Friuli Venezia Giulia region as per the Vitinera web site namely: Gorizia, Pordenone, Trieste and Udine. The platform is currently available in English, Italian and German.
Before a wine tourist can start to create a personalised wine tasting tour the user first has to create an account (takes about 60 seconds to complete the process) which is free and then the user is able to search the directory of wineries to visit on a region by region basis.
Each listed producer has a profile page in the platform which shows which kind of wine tourism experiences they have on offer, availability and a price per person. Wine tourism experiences include visits to vineyards, visits inside the winery, tasting, wine and food matching, vineyard picnics, treasure hunts for kids, whole lunches and dinners and even sleep over at certain wineries. A location map is provided to avoid getting lost.
Vitinera came about by a chance meeting of 5 people at the MIB School of Management in Trieste, united by their passion for wine tourism. The start-up is in fact the final project work of their Master degree. The team is as follows: Luca Buccino is the CEO of Vitinera; Francesco Bacarini is the Chief Operating Office; Mario Arnoldo is Chief Marketing Officer; Fabrizio Lesca is Chief Financial Officer; Enrico Codognini is the Chief Technology Officer.
CEO, Francesco Bacarina presented Vitinera at the 12th annual International Wine Tourism Conference (IWINETC) October 2020:
Vitinera plans to add the neighbouring Veneto wine region and other Italian grape escape destinations such as Lombardia and Trentino in the near future. Vitinera also plans to make the platform available for tour operators and agents to use as a tool to help create wine tasting tours for their clients. Agents interested in know more should contact Mario Arnoldo
