A SHOWCASE TO PROMOTE JEWISH 
TOURISM AND ITALIAN KASHER PRODUCTS
A new site appears on the largest English newspaper in Israel

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(News ITALIA PRESS) - Gianfilippo Pietra - 18/1/2002  Jerusalem 

Starting on Thursday, January 17th, the Jerusalem Post Internet Edition, has begun to publish a site devoted to the Italian Jewish world. The supplement will focus both on the region of Friuli Venezia Giulia and on the Jewish itineraries and products offered by the other Italian regions.  

For English-speakers all round the world, the site of The Jerusalem Post is the first place to turn to for information. It is visited every month by over a million people: 70% North Americans, 13% Israelis and 10% Europeans, most of them are affluent and their main interests are travelling, leisure, Jewish art, historical sites and kasher food. The JP readers are not only Jews.  Many visit the site both because interested in having first hand news from Israel and beacuse interested in Judaic  culture and thought. 

“I think that the Jerusalem Post site is the ideal showcase and it will give a real boost to the Italian products, says Lello della Riccia, Representative of the Friuli Venezia Giulia and editor of the site. Most of the Jews all over the world ignore the opportunities that Italy offers to them. The Italian Regions have prepared seven Jewish itineraries of great historical interest, but not enough has been done to sell them. The same is tru for the Italian kasher products: they are not known around the world and exports are limited to the very small Israeli market.”

On October of this year, an international workshop of all tour operators interested in promoting Jewish tourism and a fair of the Italian kasher products will be held in Trieste, the "Gateway to Zion" as it was called in the past century.  

“Our goal, says della Riccia, is to create tourist packages capable of boosting incoming tourism to Italy and to make known to the tourist operators the gastronomic offerings for this specific target group”. 

The October workshop will be accompanied by an extensive program of side events linked to Jewish culture: klezmer music, exhibits of Jewish art and craftsmanship, lectures, Jewish yddish theatre.    

The Italian Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and the Trieste Tourist Board (APT), which, during the past year, contacted several Italian tour operators throughout Italy to create a network of Jewish itineraries, organize the meeting.