“THE ISLAND OF WELL-BEING” IN ISCHIA THE GENERAL STATES OF AGRICULTURE IN THE ISLANDS OF THE GULF

On Thursday 19 and Friday 20 April in the Tower of Sant’Anna the “General States of Agriculture in the Gulf Islands”, a two-day conference, tastings, workshops and thematic meetings with the involvement of the Metropolitan City of Naples and professors of the University of studies Federico II. The event, organized by the Municipality of Ischia in collaboration with Coldiretti Campania, aims to promote the enhancement of agricultural products, the direct relationship with the consumer and the synergy with the tourism and spa sector. It starts on Thursday 19th, from 9 am to 1 pm in the Piazzale delle Alghe at Ischia Ponte, with the “Campagna Amica” market and the sale of agricultural products to 0 km Ischia and Campania. At 4 pm, at the Tower of Sant’Anna, the opening conference, with the institutional greetings of the mayors of Ischia, Capri, Procida. Special guest the Municipality of Cetara. Friday, April 20 from 9.30 to 12.30, in the gardens of the tower of Sant’Anna, the educational path for the Ischian schools on biodiversity and agriculture of the islands. At the same time, at 10.30 am, the conference on the theme “The bagpipe bean becomes PAT, a traditional agri-food product”, with the speeches of professor Antonio Giordano, director of the Sbarro Institute of Filadelphia, and of Professor Rocco di Prisco of the National Research Council. At 3 pm the presentation of the book by Elisabetta Donarono, “Il Grand Food”. At 4 pm the final workshop “Well being at Zero Km: agriculture, tourism and spas” with the intervention of Gionata De Vico, scientific director of the Consortium for the protection of the Italian snail (Coteli) and professor of the Biology Department of Biology Federico II University of Naples. In fact, among the themes there is the breeding of snails in the islands, both for gastronomy and for cosmetics. Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, scientific coordinator of the Campagna Amica Foundation, is also expected to participate. “The States General of Agriculture of the islands – says the commissioner Anna Maria Chiariello – the protagonists are the land and of course the farmers, men and women who in difficult times, of global economic crisis, have managed to keep the boat, not to let it sink, despite the stormy sea.Agriculture sector, economically and economically mortified by the European Union and by national and local politics, has held up the impact and is, today, one of the lively sectors for production, exports and creation of jobs, the birth of new businesses, many of them created by young people, very young people who return to the earth “. “We are working for a long time on a project to promote the agriculture of the islands – explains Salvatore Loffreda, director of Coldiretti Campania – which represents an extraordinary concentration of history and biodiversity.On the island of Ischia, agriculture has been present for over two thousand years and was the main economic activity until the arrival of tourism.Today, this heroic agriculture must be preserved and saved from the risk of extinction, both for unique products and for the protection of the landscape, an agriculture that can ally itself with tourism and in particular with the spa facilities, offering visitors from all over the world unique experiences that pass through authentic food, great wines and cosmetics from the agricultural supply chain “.