Fonte: ROTUR. Revista de Ocio y Turismo; Vol. 5 No. 1 (2012); 67-79
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Resumo: In the academic debate rural and urban occupied a relevant space today. At the same time, a reversal of values for these two spaces is revealed, especially with the search for a healthier life and contact with nature, which is associated with the appreciation of rurality. Thus, rural areas, once seen as the area of agricultural production alone, are now used as a recreation area and place of residence. Indeed, it is through leisure activity and leisure in rural areas that today we can gauge the growing demand for tradition and for the endogenous. As Wandeley (2001) refers, Brazilian society reinforces its present eye on the countryside, once seen as a source of problems, but today indicating a potential “solutions”. The search for the habits and elements of country life reflects the concomitant demand for tourism in rural areas. Among the modalities of tourism in rural areas, we emphasize here agritourism, because it is a discipline that focuses the most on local ruralities and enables the visitor to live and experience the rural life. In that perspective, it was sought to analyze the formatting matrix the “traditional rural” and its appreciation as a tourist product in small towns in rural Brazil. The proposed case study focuses on the municipality Silveira Martins, located in the central part of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. This municipality includes a Gastronomic Route which features elements that report to visitors the traditions and ancestry of Italian immigration that settled in the region throughout the nineteenth century. The analysis of the study conducted in the city of Silveira Martins - RS - was based on data obtained through interviews and unstructured questionnaires applied on site, as well as participant< observation during the visits that took place in the city and in the analysis of tourist publicity material.
