28 June 2021

Experiential tourism is a new form of travel. Those who decide to embark on this journey have a clear objective: to immerse themselves in the culture, tradition, environment of a given city or nation. It is therefore a three hundred and sixty degree adventure. In this sector, which is still a niche in our country, a start-up from Calabria, Eimì Experience, has entered the scene. Let’s find out more about her.

Travel Experience Awards 2020

Don’t dream it, Live it. This is the slogan the Calabrian start-up Eimì Experience has made its own. The company rose to prominence by winning the Travel Experience Awards 2020, thanks to a commercial that promoted the beauty of Calabria. The prestigious prize, which is awarded at BITEST, the only international exchange for experiential tourism held from 23 to 30 November, gave visibility to this start-up that was born in 2020 and immediately made a name for itself.

The video in question was created by the start-up’s creator and administrator, Paola Scuticchio. The entire ‘staff’, from directors to actors, was composed solely of local people. The video covered, with evocative images, several locations in the region, including Catanzaro, Tropea, Pizzo and Lamezia Terme.

The storyline, lasting about two minutes, is simple, yet evocative. A stressed out and bored company employee (the aforementioned Scuticchio, ed.) during a boring office meeting, finds herself ‘projected’ into a dream where she experiences unique places around Calabria, discovering unique places and savouring flavours, smells and emotions she has never felt before.

The images that narrate these experiences are rich in scenic effects, simple but at the same time of great emotional impact, which project the spectator into a sort of 3D reality where he himself seems to live the experience in the first person. In the end, the protagonist’s return to reality is abrupt, but what has been experienced cannot be forgotten.

The objective of the Calabrian start-up

The company name Eimì, comes from the Greek and means ‘I am’. The creator of the start-up is, as mentioned, Paola Scuticchio, an expert in the Calabrian territory and in the field of food and wine. The aim of Eimì, which was set up just a year ago, is to make Calabria known through unique adrenalin, food and wine and sensory experiences. The traveller who relies on this company, therefore, will have the opportunity to see Calabria through out-of-the-ordinary points of view.

As Scuticchio herself said, ‘at present, such experiences are not well promoted in the Calabrian territory’, and her company’s aim is precisely to make everyone discover Calabria and all that this land hides. The message of the commercial, says Scuticchio, “is to come and visit the unseen and unconventional Calabria”.

But what do these experiences actually consist of? Usually this region is always associated with beaches and seas, but it hides so much more. Just think of the villages, food and wine or hot-air balloon rides. Calabria is a land of people and places that deserve to be experienced and not dreamt of, just as the company’s motto states.