The economic system of Italian beauty, i.e. the historical, artistic and cultural heritage, the natural and landscape heritage, the services connected to them (such as transport and hospitality) and the production of design-driven Made-in-Italy sectors, as a whole, contributes 17.2% to the Italian GDP (of which 6% derives from the enjoyment of the cultural and landscape heritage) and includes 341,000 companies with an overall annual turnover of 682 billion euros.

This is what emerges from the research "L'economia della Bellezza" (The Economy of Beauty), elaborated by the Banca Ifis Studies Office. "Beauty represents a real strategic resource to design the future in a sustainable and collaborative way, a strategic resource made of projects and processes, but also of responsibility and solidarity," said Ernesto Fürstenberg Fassio, vice president of Banca Ifis.

"In Italy you can breathe the Beauty of the natural mixture of art, landscape, nature - stressed the Minister of Tourism Massimo Garavaglia - Years ago talking about slow tourism was utopia, romantic thought. Today, slow tourism runs and brings us back to the villages, also thanks to walking paths, wine tourism, historical trains. There are many growing sectors that have one thing in common: the (re)connection with nature and beauty".