From 12 to 14 October, Program Manager of the Urban Leisure & Tourism Lab Rotterdam, Iris Kerst and Siobhan Burger, social designer visited the beautiful Italian city of Vicenza! The visit was part of the exchange programme of the European project SmartCulTour. Within SmartCultour, the sustainable development of cultural tourism is central. This development takes place in a total of six European living labs and the Urban Leisure & Tourism Lab Rotterdam is one of them.
Exchange
The exchange of knowledge and experiences took place between the living labs in Rotterdam, Split and Vicenza. Curious about the previous visits in Split and Rotterdam? Then continue reading the earlier blogs here. Each of the visits focused on a different sub-theme touching on cultural tourism. For instance, the Split visit focused on the challenges faced by the various stakeholders of the Croatian lab. In Rotterdam, we zoomed in on spreading visitors and involving different stakeholders.
Innovations of the past and present
Vicenza is a beautiful city between big crowd-pullers like Verona and Venice. The city has character and breathes innovations. Not only innovations of today, but also of the past. This becomes apparent several times during the exchange visit.
The visit starts in Vicenza’s international library, which focuses entirely on gastronomy. There are centuries-old books with beautiful drawings that were very progressive for the time. The region has always built on this knowledge and today offers the most delicious dishes and wines.
In addition, Vicenza is linked to modern architect Andrea Palladio, who designed several villas in the region and was very progressive for his time. For instance, he played with the concepts of symmetry and light. Worldwide, students come to Vicenza to admire his structures.
Finally, Vicenza capitalises on the concept of ‘bleasure’. A mix of business and leisure. Companies like Bisazza and Dainese don’t just make mosaic objects and motorbike clothing but provide a visitor experience by adding museums and labs to their business. This makes for an interesting mix for business visitors.
All in all, Vicenza has an interesting mix to offer to different types of visitors!Currently, we are working hard on different concepts and ideas to entice visitors from Venice and Verona to visit Vicenza as well.
Valuable knowledge
The exchange has provided many new insights on cultural tourism, leisure, business tourism and how innovations can be used for visitors! These insights will be taken into account in the projects and collaborations that the Urban Leisure & Tourism Lab Rotterdam is running.
