The beauty and history of ancient villages (‘Borghi’) often remain unknown to tourists. With this in mind, Borghi Autentici was founded. This association of villages in the Salsomaggiore Terme area of Italy aims to attract tourists and bring the tradition of hospitality back to local communities.

“Our mission is to create a network which promotes the territorial features of these ancient villages. In order to expand our services, we decided to invest in marketing plans but we lacked funding.” Maurizio Capelli, Secretary-General of Borghi Autentici, added. “With Cooperfidi as guarantor, we benefited from €60,000 in funding, backed by COSME, the EU programme that helps SMEs access financing. With this, we have developed our web activities, events and marketing plans. By the end of our start-up process in 2019, we hope to hire 2 or 3 employees besides our team of collaborators.”

Cooperfidi is a guaranteeing institution which, alongside Artigiancredito Toscano, signed an agreement with the European Investment Fund (EIF). It aims to provide €360 million worth of guarantees to over 10,000 Italian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) over a 3-year period through the COSME programme.

“The agreement with the EIF enables us to issue guarantees to companies with lower risks and costs (by 25%),” Ferruccio Vannucci General Director of Cooperfidi explains. “Indeed, it gives great support to the guarantor to take on the risks of companies that do not have access to the national guaranteeing fund.”