Ferrara

The Project: under an agreement with the Municipality of Ferrara, Ascom Federalberghi, of the Associazione Strada dei vini e dei sapori della Provincia di Ferrara, of the Associazione Ospitalità Estense, of the Consorzio Ferrara Arte e Natura and of the Assoturismo Confesercenti, Legambiente introduces its ecolabeling scheme to improve the environmental quality of accommodation businesses in Ferrara. This initiative intends to add more value from the environmental point of view to the city-of-art tourist model, which in the last few years succeeded in combining the magnificent variety of its glorious past with a wide choice among the latest artistic and cultural events.

The place: its glorious century-old history and its significant role in the Italian cultural and artistic scene of the last XX century give Ferrara a special glamour. Ferrara shows its heritage jewels with nonchalant attitude of daily use. The powerful Castello Estense, the superb Palazzo dei Diamanti, the elegant Cathedral, the famous Schifanoia and other Palaces - where the dukes of Este used to rest, hunt and have fun - are part of the urban life and planning, between orchards, gardens and the ancient walls and rampants. In spite of the severe wounds that this territory suffered from past environmental-destructive industrial development policies, the harmonious down-town design still makes Ferrara a nice and pleasant place to walk, bike-ride and live.

Training: in this context, at the beginning of 2004 Legambiente put forward a program which offered businesses an update in sustainability and promotion of local specific advantages. This six-unit course was organised with the cooperation of ECAP and Areté and is completely free of charge for hoteliers, thanks to the support by the European Social Fund. Through this training phase, interested businesses may acquire all necessary information to join the environmental quality scheme and be awarded the Legambiente Turismo ecolabel.

References:

• Comune di Ferrara
  Piazza Municipale 2, 44100 Ferrara
  Tel. 0532-419327, Fax 0532-419286
  
• Associazione Strada dei Vini e dei Sapori della Provincia di Ferrara
  Via Baruffaldi 14, 44100 Ferrara
• Ascom Federalberghi
  Via Baruffaldi 14, 44100 Ferrara
• Associazione Ospitalità Estense
  Via Baruffaldi 14, 44100 Ferrara
• Consorzio Ferrara Arte e Natura
  Corso Porta Reno 11, 44100 Ferrara
• Legambiente Turismo
  Piazza XX Settembre 7, 40121 Bologna
  Tel. 051-241324, Fax 051-4210514
  E-mail: info@legambienteturismo.it