The importance of a website as a distribution and promotional channel in the context of the tourism sector is increasingly relevant. Despite this, the availability of online reviews referring to agritourism resources is very rarely addressed in academic literature. This study investigates visitor satisfaction with farmhouses on the basis of online reviews available on the official websites of 397 farmhouses with educational farms associated with the Agritourism.it organization. Visitor satisfaction is important for successful destination marketing as it influences destination selection and the consumption of products and services. This study’s findings provide insights for consumers and agritourism operators with the aim of matching customer expectations to the types of agritourism on offer in Italian municipalities. On the demand side, according to the overall satisfaction with the specific characteristics of farmhouses as expressed by 10,864 visitors, the results of a Principal Component Analysis showed that the activities and facilities present in the surrounding natural and cultural areas of the farmhouses are the attributes with the highest visitor satisfaction scores. In contrast, on the supply side, the results of a Hierarchical Cluster Analysis showed different groups of farmhouses characterized by “homogenous” features and by a “homogenous” heritage of natural and cultural resources. Assessing visitor satisfaction and feedback can help managers to improve their service performance. For this purpose, the findings of the study reveal that the economic and environmental sustainability, among the other motivations, has shown to play a crucial role in influencing visitors’ frequency to learn about specific information concerning agriculture, the environment, and about issues regarding food, culture and the rural tradition.

The paper focuses on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on some Italian farms. In particular, the aim is to investigate the consequences of the health emergency on diversified farms, their reactions, and their agricultural and rural policy needs in order to overcome the crisis. The research path investigates five farms of central Italy through semi-structured interviews. The identified case studies are characterized by the heterogeneity of features and farms’ activities. These activities include agritourism, on-farm processing of plant and animal products (mainly olive oils, fruits, and cheese), bio-energy production, tastings and leisure activities, educational farms, and contracting of farm equipment. A qualitative–quantitative analysis based on textual analysis techniques, particularly content and sentiment analysis, was performed. The results highlight the importance of farm diversification and networks in farms’ strategies in dealing with the Covid-19 crisis. Furthermore, the presence of both synergies and trade-offs in different types of diversification is found. These results have interesting policy implications that should be more explicitly taken into account to target the next rural development measures.

The article is concerned with parameter estimation for Gaussian Markov random fields observed with additive independent identically distributed noise. In particular, we consider maximum likelihood ...

Italian municipalities distant from main service supply hubs are defined by the Development Ministry as “inner areas”. A new business model, called community-based cooperatives, has recently developed in these areas. The name itself highlights the strong link between these firms and the local population. Their essential features are the pursuit of general interest and the creation of partnerships. This research explores the potential contribution of these enterprises to the growth of Italian inner areas. The data come from a direct survey, and the methodology includes text analysis techniques and correspondence analysis to create useful concept maps that define the paths that community-based cooperatives can take to regenerate their territories. The results highlight the critical issues of inner areas and the needs of their communities, together with the potential fields of business for the establishment of a community-based cooperative. In conclusion, these new firms may lead to real and enduring benefits to local communities. They could also contribute to demographic decline inversion by introducing new practices that reduce inequalities, enhance social, natural, and artificial capital, and boost the sustainable development process.