Relationship between fundamental dimensions of the social way of living and characteristics of the 'new' tourists is very narrow, to demonstration of the remarkable role assumed by tourist phenomenon; the global dimension, the aesthetical space, the redefinition of the space-temporal coordinates, the desire to recover relationships meaningful determine in decisive way the tourist choices. The author writes on the increasing attention for nature and peasantry, that conducts to the diffusion of new fruition’ forms of territory as the greenways and of innovative models of receptiveness as the farm holidays. The narrow bond that is established between tourism and rural places is expressed particularly in the rediscovery of the cultures and the traditions of places of origin of the gastronomic products. Binomial tourism-agriculture is strengthened by the fact that the restaurants and the local recipes are integral part of every typology of tourist product. Also some areas of mountain that are in difficulty can find occasions of social and economic rebirth developing the gastronomic tourism. The local network of the subjects acting on the territory must involve the local population and must follow the models of sustainability: one of the fundamental components of tourist system is constituted by strategic partnership among participants, that unites them around projects of development.
Keywords: Gastronomic tourism, rural tourism, territorial development, greenways, sustainable development.