IVREA. See how cheeses are produced in the small farms that dot the Canavese area (about seventy without counting the mountain ones), smell the scents from the pastures to the stable up to the maturing room, with the master cheesemaker explaining the reason for that intense aroma , the origin of the color, the processing method from which the consistency of the pasta derives: experiential visits remotely or in person, to be concluded by purchasing a slice of toma. At the company shop or online. All this thanks to a web platform and a mobile application that the Politecnico di Torino is working on (Open Systems course) as phase two of a specific project on the Canavese dairy entitled Cheers to cheese. A project that, in fact, enters phase two of development as it won the Hackathon Hack4land promoted by Seiplus, a Turin association born in collaboration with the School of entrepreneurship and innovation to stimulate youth entrepreneurship by organizing networking events and developing collaborations with realities prominent in the world of innovation.
The scenario in which the Hack4land contest must be inserted is the Innovlab project of the Alcotra Italy-France Graies lab cross-border plan. The challenge took place online on November 14th and 15th. Over two days, the five participating teams developed the design phases to propose digital solutions aimed at responding to the needs for change, innovation and evolution of the food and wine tourism chain. In particular, they were called to find innovative solutions for the food and wine tourism chain of rural and mountain localities of the Canavese or Valli di Lanzo. As the winning group, the Politecnico was given the opportunity to participate in the Design thinking workshop: 6 months to develop the idea with the professionals identified by Seiplus in support of the prototyping and experimentation phases. Project partner of the Polytechnic, Gal valli del Canavese, Coldiretti Turin, Turin Chamber of Commerce, Coeur de Savoie, Sm avant pays savoyard and Interreg alcotra innovlab. In the working group, Federica Cipriani (Bologna), Anna Oliveri (Catania), Aila Lombardi (Vercelli), Leonardo Molinari (Verona), graduates or undergraduates of the master’s degree course in Systemic Design at the Polytechnic of Turin, coordinated, among others , by Professor Pier Paolo Peruccio.
«The idea of Cheers to cheese – explain the students – was born from the desire to give concrete output to the study of the Canavese territory, an analysis carried out last year within an academic project of the Open Systems course at the Politecnico. The aim was to stimulate the entrepreneurial initiative of young people in the field of enhancing local realities ». The analysis «of the territory has allowed us to identify in the dairy reality of the Canavese, a valid opportunity to relaunch the territory from the point of view of tourism, food and wine and experience».
Italy is the ninth consumer of cheeses in the world, with 21.5 kg per capita per year. “Piedmont alone produces 9% of the total Italian milk and is the 4th dairy producer in Italy, having the greatest diversification of the offer with 51 types of cheese produced”. Of these, six types are produced in the Canavese area (more than 10% of the total): Civrin, Salignun, Tomini, Toma, Tuma d’Trausela, Tuma frola, therefore ranging from fresh to dry and seasoned pasta, from cow’s milk with goat’s milk; traditional Italian agri-food products therefore included in a special list established by the Ministry of Agricultural Policies in collaboration with the Regions.
The rest of the work took shape from the numbers. “We are committed to cross-referencing these data with the reality of tourism in Italy”. It emerged that “the tour of the dairy represents the food and wine experience of greatest interest for tourists”. However, only 51% of tourists succeed and take part in this experience. And here the crucial step is triggered: «This creates a gap of 20% between supply and demand, due to the lack of visibility dedicated to the initiatives of the local dairies».
So here is the opportunity for Canavese cheese producers, about seventy in addition to the small authorized mountain pastures and the six dairies in the area that process the milk supplied by the farms.
Cheers to cheese is still under development. “The team’s idea is to create the web platform as emerged in the two days of Hackathon and accompany it with the development of a mobile application”. Cheers to cheese aims to “become a reference point for food and wine tourism in the Canavese, Canavese and Canavese areas, by offering both physical experiences on site and remotely (home delivery of kits and products, digital content available online). The proposal that tourists will see on the online platform will be based on the experiential offer made available by each individual dairy ». As the winning team, «we hope to see our project idea concretized; by organizing ourselves in a startup we will be able to expand the offer of our proposal and to involve an increasing number of players in the business network ». In this operational phase the interface is represented by Gal valli del Canavese, Welcome Canavese, Turin Chamber of Commerce, Seiplus, – Confindustria Canavese, Turin Chamber of Commerce, Coldiretti.
«A beautiful project and an excellent road that of food and wine tourism to be promoted among our cheese producers – comments Riccardo Bertot of Confagricoltura Ivrea Canavese -. Many companies have already organized themselves with company outlets, having understood that the consumer requires more and more direct experiences. But we can do much more. We have excellences and a beautiful territory. Already with wine, before Covid stopped the events, we have seen that the road works ». –