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Veneto is situated in the North-East side of Italy between Dolomiti mountains and Adriatic Sea. It extends over a surface of 18378 square kilometres, whose 56% are plains, 14% hills, 30% mountains. It is divided into 7 Provinces - Venezia, Verona, Padova, Vicenza, Treviso, Rovigo e Belluno. the Regional Administrative Centre is Venezia. | 
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For years Veneto has been described with slogans in order to express with one or a few words, a complex and variegated reality like that of a Region in which tradition go together with modernity, autonomous impulses and a marked sense of State, technological and industrial innovations with relevant agricultural activities. The Veneto territory is morphologically unique in Italy, where an unrepeatable environment stretches for a radius of 100 Km, with mountains and beaches, hills and lagoons, arts cities and castles, thermal areas and lakes. Then, the different definitions are: "land of the economic miracle", "a dream in colour", "a stylish Region". All of them are true, but no one is exhaustive. First of all Veneto is a Region which, during the past twenty years experienced a great economic transformation, by passing from a merely agricultural system to a "mixed" one in which agriculture has kept its precise relevance and industry has developed to the point of allowing Veneto to be among the first industrial regions in Italy. Industry is characterized by a vast system of small and leading entreprises like Benetton, Stefanel, De Longhi Sanson and Aprilia, just to mention a few of them. This system, which determined "the Veneto economic miracle", is still working, allowing the economic network to better "face" the national crisis of the latest years, so that today Veneto has an average unemployment rate that is notably below the national average and absolutely among the lowest ones. At the origins of the production system there is the new generations' professional and technical training, that must be dynamic and in step with the European rhythms as much as possible. This commitment has been undertaken by a more and more qualified university "network" to which the Region shows interest and availability. Padua Historical University, Cà Foscari and Verona University and the Venice Institute of Architecture represent a wide guarantee to this extent. What aforesaid is introduced and more and more integrated in an economic, political and geographical system that has already been called "North-East". Veneto believes in this area, that includes also Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige, to develop a "territorial agreement" where Institutions, economy and finance can work in harmony and synergy but maintaining their respective single characteristics intact, and that constitutes a privileged way towards the rising Eastern European economies. Only recently has this Region attributed a great strategic and political relevance to international relations. And it is not casual that Veneto itself was among the most convinced promoters of Adria Alp Community of Labour (gathering 19 Regions, Republics, Counties of different countries in Central Europe). It was a courageous and far-sighted laboratory towards the East, created before the fall of the communist regimes beyond the iron curtain, just in the past few months it has started to convert itself from a merely political executive body to - perhaps above all - an economic one. It is working to gain credit as a formal interlocutor within the European Community. In the past few years, in this context a new sensitivity to tourism has progressively developed, taking into account the potentiality still unexplored of this sector, thanks to a land whose main source of pride is Venice, a casket of art and treasures as well as a territory characterized by aesthetic and scenic beauties which aroused enthusiasm in Titiano and Tiepolo, Palladio and Canova, Goethe and Byron, Strawinsky and Hemingway and that today still offers many occasions, artistic and cultural events of world interest such as the Biennial International Exhibition of Modern Art in Venice and lyric season of the amphitheatre of Verona. Particularly in the field of tourism, recently the Region took decisive steps in the legislative, promotional and structural fields. A new sector-outline has been in force recently, realizing an innovative co-operation with private operations who are asked to compete with the public sector in individuating and financing promotional initiatives. A promotion that is not simply a touristic one, but aiming at imposing the "made in Veneto" to be globally intended on the markets, by combining the traditional touristic offer - mountains, beaches, lakes, thermae, art cities, natural parks - with the peculiarities of craftsmanship, agriculture, enogastronomy. All this will be supported by an instrument forecasting the touristic influxes coming from abroad. Veneto was the first in Italy to use it, taking part to the CISET (International Centre of Studies on Touristic Economy) together with Cà Foscari University. CISET itself drew up a study called "Strep-Veneto forecast pattern": by using a complex series of data and parameters it is able to offer systematically and timely the main information on the dynamics of international touristic movement towards Italy, considering the evolution of the economic conditions upon which the national demand depends, and the ability of competition shown by each single destination. An example of a concrete effect of the "Strep-Veneto" pattern produced on touristic planning is the Region acknowledgement that in the two-year period 1994-1995 the touristic influxes from abroad would have increased by 5% - 6%, that is quite over the national average and that other considerable increases in the touristic influx are expected from Northern Europe (Sweden and Norway), Northern America (Canada and United States), and Japan. Thus, the Region has intensified promotional activities with ascertained possibilities of success. This success is to be pursued by using these instruments at best. But its true foundation is the extraordinary quality and variety of the aforesaid possibilities offered by Veneto territory to meet tourists' requirements. In a few words here is a short trip through the many aspects which can make a holiday in the Doges' land unforgettable. Considering the season, the ideal starting point are winter Dolomites, where snow sports and naturalistic scenery unique in the world are merged with great spectacularity,from Cadore al Civetta and Cortina to Alleghe, Falcade and Sappada or the less popular but as much attracting Vicenza mountains with Asiago Upland Plain or the Veronese Lessinia. This space-temporal journey must absolutely include a stop on Veneto Riviera of Lake Garda, that is mild and comfortable in winter, bright and cheerful in summer. A health-holiday? Here is the largest Italian thermal basin:Abano-Montegrotto, with its waters, mud-baths, relaxing atmosphere and a few kilometres away there are the sweet Euganean Hills, the attractive art cities of Padua, Vicenza and Verona, Brenta riviera with palladian villas spread for kilometres along the twelve river bends up to the Venice lagoon. |
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