Tourism: Sorrento, hospitality model studied in the US
Naples - The Sorrento peninsula is studied as a model of Mediterranean hospitality and a cultural bridge between Italy and the USA. The Italian Language Inter-Cultural Alliance in New York, together with the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, the Queens College of CUNY - City University of New York, and the National Organization of Italian American Women (NOIAW), organized a conference on the theme of "Mediterranean hospitality from Magna Graecia to the 21st century" at the John Jay School of Criminal Justice. The conference featured Mario Gargiulo, councilor in charge of Events for the Municipality of Sorrento, representing the administration led by Mayor Giuseppe Cuomo, the journalist and writer Pino Aprile, Donna Chirico, Dean of CUNY's York College School of Art and Science, Anthony Julian Tamburri, Dean of CUNY's Queens College and Giampiero Barbuto, International Relations Director at the Universita' della Calabria. The founder of Ilica, Vincenzo Marra, moderated the meeting, emphasizing Sorrento's ability to "attract huge flows of tourists, charm visitors and become a real legend worldwide". "For the second year running, Sorrento has been invited to New York by the Ilica Foundation", Gargiulo explained, "and this was made possible by the organization of Mvula Sungani, Artistic Director of Sorrento Incontra. Our excellence is based on several elements, including the quality and comfort of our hotels, restaurants, bars and lidos, the politeness and skills of our operators". "Hospitality is our way of being. It is in our culture, traditions, daily life and productions. This is the true spirit of Sorrento: a large family that is always happy to host, debate, promote any exchange. We promote incoming flows from New York, especially from visitors of Italian heritage, towards Sorrento, Pompeii and Ercolano, Capri and the Amalfi coast. We welcome opportunities to work together and really use this bridge between our worlds"."Sorrento Incontra, a festival of events and projects sponsored by the Municipality of Sorrento, the Fondazione Sorrento and Federalberghi, represents our defining features well: it is where culture meets art, music, dance, literature", highlighted the Artistic Director of the festival, Mvula Sungani. The Italian-African director and choreographer has awarded the title of "Man of the Year 2017" by Ilica.