We met with the Mayor of Agerola, Luca Mascolo, and Councillor Regina Milo, who works with responsibility for the European Funds, Education, Culture, Work and Training, to tell a story of success in the use of the European Funds, which saw the municipal administration carry out a project that made it possible to recover an abandoned historic building, in a university campus with advanced training in the field of food and wine and tourism.
This is the story of the former Colonia Montana ‘Prince of Naples’, which since 1938 has stood on top of a belvedere overlooking the Amalfi coast and with a wide view of the Gulf of Salerno and the island of Capri.
Through the project, a building of historical and artistic interest has been returned to the community giving it new life, focusing on the vocation of Agerola for hospitality, typical gastronomy and the enhancement of the typical products of the territory.
Three main rooms on the ground floor: the lobby, the reception room and the multipurpose room.
On the first floor there are 6 classrooms. The agora classroom, intended for lessons of a theoretical nature; two training rooms side by side; a tasting and washing room; a sommelier room and a pastry room. All rooms are furnished, equipped with the most modern kitchen equipment and each student has a fully equipped station.
The second and third floors house double rooms and their toilets, are intended for reception. In total the property has 35 double rooms and 3 suites.
An industrial kitchen (in the basement) an open-air amphitheater and 23,000 square meters of public park complete the whole.
The municipality of Agerola has awarded a concession, through an international tender, for the building.
The Montana Colony is now the ‘Prince of Naples’ Campus It offers advanced training courses in food and wine as well as a course of study aimed at obtaining three-year and master's degrees in Economics and Tourism Sciences. In particular, the Gastronomic University headed by Michelin-starred chef Heinz Beck offers an advanced training course to develop the skills necessary for the needs of food and catering professionals, through an increasingly strong link between knowledge and processing of raw materials, the creative sphere and knowledge of an economic, organisational and managerial nature.
English (UK)