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Purpose – This paper intends to highlight how local tourism development is strongly oriented towards policy development based on the combination typical product-territory, in particular extra virgin olive oil, which assigns value to identity, social capital and indigenous cultural heritage. Design – The work supports the idea that the development strategies of typical products should be considered as a potential local development tool. Besides the enhancing the knowledge of product itself and of its ties with local history and traditions, this could also help promoting a quality tourism in the awareness that local products contribute to the implementation of a multiplicity of local initiatives (such as tourist paths, markets, educational initiatives, community events) able to encourage and support new social relations. Metodology – At a methodological level, the paper developed a theoretical contextualization of the subject of study in the gastronomic tourism and compared, using the technique of benchmarking, the experiences of extra virgin olive oil enhancement and promotion in Italy and Spain. These two countries were selected for this study since they are the main producers in the world of olive oil with certified quality. Approach – The interpretative approach has characterized the development of this study; theoretical elaboration and empirical research in fact are processed in parallel. Finding – The research work has demonstrated that the enhancement of extra virgin olive oil is a great potential for the development of new tourism practices such as gastronomic tourism. Originality of research – The work represents a first effort to compare the development and promotion strategies of extra virgin olive oil in Italy and Spain and to examine the possible links with local tourism development.

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This chapter analyses the development of rural tourism in Italy over the recent decades. Since the end of the twentieth century, also due to the crisis of industrialization and the exhaustion of the factory work model, interest in "returning to the countryside" has grown. The spreading of new social and cultural trends, more sensitive to the issues of sustainability and preservation of natural wealth, has encouraged in Italy, the country of art and the beautiful landscape, a sudden increase in new tourism initiatives that are environmental friendly and revolving around quality food and wine. The "Roads of flavours" and numerous associations of small towns have therefore been created, to enhance the Italian artistic and architectural heritage. In particular, interest in Mediterranean diet has increased, as shown by the growth in tourism linked to oil. There is no lack of compatibility problems as well as difficulties in devising new cohabitation formulas, but as this work demonstrates, after the boom of the "sun and beach" tourism of the 1960s, today a far more diversified tourist panorama has emerged, thus allowing the rural world to benefit from a renewed momentum.