It has been said for years that Italy can live on tourism and culture. But few really believe it. The startup SharryLand wrote it in the statute of the benefit company that intends to develop a territorial economy activated by sustainable tourism with an impact in the internal areas of the country. The startup has put a national map of widespread cultural and naturalistic heritage on the platform and app and involves local communities to create networks and development. Now it grows with the equity support of the Giordano Dell’Amore Social Venture Foundation.
The enhancement of internal areas
“Almost five years ago we became aware of the lack of an app dedicated to inland areas with historical-cultural itineraries and we felt that, in the perspective of the 2030 Agenda, sustainable, authentic tourism centered on local communities could give satisfaction” says Luigi Alberton, founder of SharryLand. And now comes the confirmations of how far-sighted that intuition was. Together with the Municipalities of Riace, Scilla and Rapone, the startup has built a project for the regeneration of the territory that has been awarded for a total of 5 million euros by the Pnrr, mission of the villages of the Ministry of Culture.
“It is a question of putting widespread cultural heritage to full value, of building a prospective vision of a sustainable economy that creates impacts in terms of employment and tourism seasonality and enhancement of short supply chains and that pushes the digital transition of economic actors. In short, not a sum of services but an overall vision of the system »adds the Paduan entrepreneur.
Services and agreements with institutions
From the point of view of economic sustainability, the startup is based on two pillars. The first is represented by projects with consortia, municipalities, regions (Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Marche). The second on services: economic operators pay an annual subscription of 50 euros to enjoy the services of the platform and a fee of 5% on the value of the transactions.
To the user – resident or traveler – SharryLand offers inspiration to organize their free time and holidays, towards destinations and experiences outside the traditional tourist circuits, giving value to the less known places in our country. The Map of Wonders is public and freely available without registration; by registering for free, however, users can actively enter the Community – becoming a “Sharrylander” -, finding “tailor-made” inspirations; use social tools to share Wonders, photos and comments, meeting like-minded people; access useful services nearby. The user can thus be both a user and a supplier of contents, actively contributing to the growth of the “Map”.