Optimum Hospitality

The Piceno's rural landscape is characterized by deep harmony between countryside and historic villages. Many old houses dotted among tilled fields and round hills have been turned by skilled hands into charming farmhouse accommodation facilities, and small towns provide comfortable B&B's and cosy hotels, ideal to spend a holiday in a friendly atmosphere while discovering ancient crafts and tastes.

The facilities, all of medium and high quality, aim first of all at satisfying guests - an unmistakable sign of the genuine, deeply rooted friendliness of the Piceno's people - and offer visitors the opportunity of living a unique experience based on quality of life.

Besides old towns of extraordinary beauty, the whole territory is scattered with evocative archaeological sites, important remains, beautiful monuments, small museums, and characteristic shops selling local products and handicrafts.

Visitors, here, can embark on a gastronomic adventure - from wines and liqueurs to oil, from sausages to cheeses, from sweetmeats to honey, from fruit to fresh and preserved vegetables - or discover crafts from the past and traditional artistic handicrafts such as pillow lace, hats or copper, with the possibility of tasting and buying directly from producers.

Traditions and folklore are Piceno's forte: a rich calendar of cultural events satisfies even the most demanding visitor - from village festivals to events evoking the historical past, from religious celebrations to fairs, markets and food-and-wine appointments.

In short, a wide range of choices, served on a "silver plate" to the visitor looking for quality: from the new world and local scenarios emerges a new profile of a visitor, who comes to places in a less unprepared way and a more conscious attitude. Factors such as enhancement of the educational level, increase of leisure time at one's disposal, growing interest in traditions and cultural identity of people, (whose expression, par excellence, is food-and-wine and handicraft production), together with inner urgencies - obvious by now in modern society - such as the search for authenticity, peace and tranquillity, all together increasingly lead to a kind of tourism based on experiences that can enrich individuals in a personal perspective, in contrast with a mass tourism logic.

The farmhouse accommodation in Piceno offers an important opportunity to expand this new way to conceive holidays, trying to create a network of integrated and consistent proposals in a context aimed to enhance development and protection of the culture of hospitality.

A kind of tourism so conceived is marked by integration and interconnection of local products, by promotional strategies of territorial, human, historic and economic resources, by efficiency of the accommodation system, by the presence of services and, last but not least, by constant, verifiable quality.

Therefore, the aim of this proposal is to promote local tourism with intriguing programmes and welcome visitors with the intention of 'rocking' them in values, pleasures and suggestions of the past - with a resulting visibility for an area scattered with different businesses and local production, so to give back the ancient traditions of rural culture that added value they deserve in a modernity scenario.

Optimum Hospitality

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