Chestnuts, Hazelnuts & Truffles

Tuscia is a historical region of Italy that comprised the territories under Etruscan influence and the name adopted for Etruria after the Roman conquest. While it later came to coincide with today’s province of Viterbo, it was originally much larger, including the whole region of Tuscany, a great part of Umbria and the northern parts of Lazio.

Tuscia today is an undiscovered, hidden treasure of archaeology, culture, arts, music and of course food!

Rich soils, ancient beech forests, high, hilly terrain, generations of agricultural families and a mild Mediterranean climate produce some of the best artisan Italian products, three of these being chestnuts, hazelnuts, and truffles.

This year, for the very first time, the Australian Cultural Centre – Italy is extremely proud to have partnered with Italy’s leading Agricultural University – Università della Tuscia to present the International Conference on Chestnuts, Hazelnuts & Truffles and the creation and marketing of their post-harvest products.

Being held during the 50th Anniversary of Sagra delle Castagne in Soriano, the Conference will bring Local producers together with Professors, Producers, Retail Product & Marketing Experts from Italy, Australia and the USA to share their experience and knowledge and to discuss opportunities for developing joint international programs to continue to support and develop these industries in Australia and Italy.

The Sagra delle Castagne is one of the regions biggest festivals, held over 3 consecutive weekends at the end of September and beginning of October, this year it is celebrating its 50th Anniversary.  Our International Conference is being held on the first Saturday of this years Sagra.  Last year the first weekend of the Sagra saw over 10,000 visitors attend the event and given the 50th-anniversary events planned this year we anticipate many more visitors providing great exposure for our Sponsors.

Registration for the conference is compulsory so we will be able to provide valuable feedback to our sponsors who will also enjoy promotion via our social media networks, our partner's websites and during the conference.  Local and international media coverage will be in attendance and we will be recording the presentations to distribute to participants after the event.

The Conference will be attended by the Mayor of Soriano, Sig. Fabio Menicacci who together with representatives from the Australian Embassy in Rome and the Australian Government Department of Foreign Trade will open the conference and host the international presenters over this first weekend of the Sagra.

A 5-day tour itinerary of meetings with local industry producers, manufacturers of agricultural machinery and agricultural associations have been arranged to host our international guests.  More information can be found about this tour on our partner's website - Terra in Tuscia

Working with our Institutional Sponsors we hope to create an event that will benefit both local and international participants and be the beginning of a new agricultural connection between Australia and Italy, in particular, the regions of Tuscia and the South West of Western Australia: