Celebrating the UNESCO recognition with a convivial dinner dedicated to well-being and intercultural dialogue: this was the choice made by Toscana Promozione Turistica, which, on the day of the announcement, wanted to honor conviviality under the Acropolis.
It was a gesture steeped in meaning: celebrating in the shadow of the Parthenon means paying homage to the deep roots from which our civilization drew its lifeblood. It is no coincidence, after all, that the UNESCO logo itself features the columns of a Greek temple—a permanent reminder of the cradle of Western culture.
The “Tuscan Symposium” was held under the banner of “Philoxenia”: the ancient Greek concept of sacred hospitality and mutual exchange, and in line with the principles of Vetrina Toscana.
The Tuscany Region is the only public administration to have developed a comprehensive project to promote food and wine culture through Vetrina Toscana. Launched in 2000, this project was ahead of its time in anticipating the principles now recognized by UNESCO: seasonality as respect for the natural cycle of production, the promotion of local specialties, the transmission of knowledge between generations and, centrally, the social value of food as an instrument of cohesion and identity. The Vetrina Toscana Values Manifesto clearly expresses this vision, placing at the center not the product itself, but the network of relationships it generates: between producer and consumer, between tradition and progress, between territory and community.
The event, organized by Toscana Promozione Turistica, in collaboration with Greece Therapy and the Athenian hotels of the Electra Group, is part of the cooperation initiative launched with the “Etruscan-Hellenic Symposiums”: a network of international collaborations for the promotion of tourism with Chalkidiki, Central Macedonia, and the Ionian Islands. These relationships are rooted in a deep cultural kinship: that between the Etruscans, the people of our Tuscia region, and Greek civilization.
Representing Tuscany was Roberto Lodovichi, president of the Regional Union of Tuscan Chefs, who on the 10th presented a menu that pays homage to Italian cuisine with dishes such as Pappa con il pomodoro and Spaghetti alla Carbonara, while the previous evening he created a four-handed dinner with Greek Masterchef Charis Zevgoulis of the Metropolis restaurant, who created a harmonious menu inspired by Etruscan culture with dishes that express identity but also evolution, such as Cappuccino di Farro della Garfagnana IGP, a staple food in the Etruscan diet, with a warm heart of aromatic herb cheeses, puffs of Pecorino Toscano DOP, and rosemary-scented croissants made with Marroni del Mugello IGP flour.
The Tuscan story was curated by the Director of Toscana Promozione Turistica, Francesco Tapinassi, and the coordinator of international relations, Clara Svanera, and was featured in a live broadcast on the Greek TV platform EPT3 ERT NEWS.
The slogan for the promotion of tourism in the Region of Tuscany, “Endless Renaissance,” evokes that extraordinary period when Florence, under the enlightened patronage of Lorenzo de’ Medici, became a philosophical laboratory where scholars gathered to rediscover Plato and Aristotle, reweaving a millennial dialogue with classical Greece.
“It is precisely on Aristotle’s eu zen, ‘living well’, that we base our vision of Tuscany: a land where beauty, harmonious landscapes, and culinary excellence still embody that aspiration to quality of life that Greek philosophers—and later their Florentine interpreters—had imagined as the supreme human achievement,” –
said Francesco Tapinassi, director of Toscana Promozione Turistica.
Vetrina Toscana is a project of the Region, in collaboration with Unioncamere Toscana, which promotes food and wine tourism; directed by Toscana Promozione Turistica with the assistance of Fondazione Sistema Toscana.
