Rural and Quality Food Districts as Governance Instruments: The Italian Experience

In Italy, ever since the Middle Ages historical, economic and social factors have determined the location of economic activities. Over time, these production systems have become ever increasingly more specialised and organised, to the point that today they are identified as local production systems.
By now, these production systems are considered mainstays of Italy's manufacturing economy and decisive in supporting the competitiveness of numerous production sectors.
In the 1990s, numerous studies demonstrated the presence of districts in the agro-food sector as well and their importance in the swift and complex changes in the Italian agro-food industry (Brasili and Fanfani, 2004).
In numerous areas of Italy agro-food production - above all quality production of this kind, where the bonds between territory and product are strongest - has developed localised production filières that, over time and with the intensifying of inter-enterprise relations and relations between enterprises and the territory, have evolved into highly specialised production systems.