A journey that smells of the future. It is with this awareness that the Terre Vibonesi GAL, led by president Vitaliano Papillo, together with the Due Mari GAL, has just returned from a three-day mission in Romania, in the Dâmbovița region. Not a simple institutional visit, but a real journey of building relationships, ideas and concrete opportunities.
It all started last May, when the top representatives of the Valea Ialomitei GAL were guests in Calabria. In those days a spark was lit: the sharing of common visions, the discovery of affinities between apparently distant but profoundly similar territories in their challenges and potential. Good practices, knowledge and flavors have laid the foundations of an authentic dialogue. Now it was the turn of the two Calabrian LAGs to return the visit, bringing to Romania the enthusiasm and concreteness that characterize their action.
Romania is a country that still bears the signs of dark years, of a complex past that has left deep wounds in the social and economic fabric. Yet, today it is a nation in full development, with an evident dynamism and a desire for redemption that strikes anyone who visits it. The potential is all there: extraordinary natural resources, deep-rooted cultural traditions, a strategic geographical position and, above all, a generation of administrators and entrepreneurs who believe in change. In this transformation journey, the Valea Ialomitei GAL plays a fundamental strategic role, acting as a tool through which local communities can access resources to build sustainable development projects and give concrete shape to a vision of the future. And this is precisely where international cooperation can make the difference.
The mission was a concentration of content, relationships and strategic vision. The Calabrian delegations were welcomed with great hospitality by the highest local and territorial authorities, in a climate of institutional and human collaboration that left its mark.
Over the course of three days, representatives of the two Calabrian LAGs met mayors, prefects and regional managers, building solid and lasting bridges. They visited the activities financed by the Romanian LAG, seeing first-hand innovative and sustainable rural development projects. Together they imagined possible joint actions, identifying strategic areas of intervention and discussing methods, tools and visions in a dialogue that enriched sharing.
“We found a lively, dynamic territory, with an extraordinary desire to grow and compete,” declared Vitaliano Papillo at the end of the mission. “The baggage is full of ideas, contacts, sketchy projects, but above all of mutual trust. The cooperation we are building can be truly significant, for them and for us. It is an equal exchange that can generate concrete development on both fronts”.
The shared hope is that this experience will transform into a real project capable of bringing resources, innovation and concrete visibility to both Calabria and Dâmbovița.