There are many ways of defining the journey to discover one's roots because there are many ways of understanding this journey. We are certainly tourists, but intimately we are travellers. And what you are looking for are not just places and people, but a way to reconnect with certain places and certain people.
In general, those who have approached this world have first experienced the emotions of belonging to several places on their own skin, and Letizia Senisi is one of these people.
Over 20 years ago she had reconstructed the history of her family starting from the letters of a great-uncle who lived in America. Once all the relatives had been traced, she had organized a trip to Italy for them to help them discover their roots but also to promote her country of origin: Barletta in Puglia, but also Giovinazzo and Bari where she studied.
With this experience she understood how the concept of time had had different effects on people: she had stopped the Italian clock and another clock had started.
And this is well known by all those who study linguistics who find true Italian dialects only in the communities of emigrants abroad, while our current Italian has evolved/modified with television, Maestro Manzi and Mike Bongiorno.
Thus Letizia discovered the world of feelings of emigrants (and their descendants) and to better understand it she enrolled in a master's degree in tourism. She courageously leaves her job as a company manager and becomes a professional and for years she welcomes people looking for their roots. From this experience she creates the Rooting® style and she writes a book that is a true manual for all those who want to work in this sector.
Welcoming these people and making them feel 'at home' goes beyond the role of travel personal advisors and enters the intimate sphere of the traveler. We too experienced it when we accompanied some young Canadians who wanted to rediscover their roots and their connections with their country of origin: Scifelli, a hamlet of Veroli (www.townambassador.org).
“Rooting is a term that describes the vital drive of plant roots even in difficult terrain or conditions, the same drive that drives the desire of the rooted tourist to seek out their family, cultural and historical origins despite the difficulties of distance and generations .”
Letizia has created a structured hospitality model (www.italyrooting.com), a Rooting training laboratory with international experts and a network of Italian Lifestyle experts in Italy, including scholars in the anthropological, genealogical and tourism fields, and is called for lessons and conferences.
“From this long experience was born the book "Turismo delle Radici, an opportunity to restart with Rooting Experience Planning®" a useful manual for those who want to take up this profession but also for those who want to bring our fantastic small Italian villages back to life And the book also recounts the experiences of other nations such as Scotland and Ireland who understood this opportunity many years before us”.
Letizia is part of the MAECI Technical Table on Roots Tourism and we have met in many conferences and meetings, always finding ourselves on the same wavelength.
For this experience of hers, the credibility she has acquired in communities abroad and the sensitivity with which she deals with the theme of finding one's roots, we asked her to join the Scientific Committee of the Town Ambassador Award and we are happy to build bridges together between small villages and their children/brothers who live abroad.
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