Melitzazz - Promoting the Tsakonian heritage

An example of a LEADER financed local festival that became a tool to promote cultural heritage and create the conditions necessary for sustainable local development. 

Full Project description EN PDF icon (411.46 KB)
Project summary: 

Melitzazz Festival started as an initiative to promote the local gastronomy of the Tsakonian region in the Eastern Peloponnese. The success of the LEADER funded festival became a driver for sustainable local development for the area. 
Over the years the festival gradually established its identity, enriching its content and selecting different themes each year: ‘Folk songs and dances’ (2010); ‘Exhibition of local products’ (2011); ‘Mediterranean cuisine’, ‘Musical adaptations’ (2012); ‘Tsakonian carpets’, ‘Melitzazz junior’ (2013); ‘Cine-Melitzazz’ (2014); ‘Jazz Liquor - Entering old mansions of Leonidio’ (2015); ‘On the road’, ‘Child climbing wall’ (2016); ‘Loving Melitzazz’ (as in Loving Vincent), (2017); ‘Labyrinth dance’ (2018).

Project results: 

The Melitzazz strategy has helped to:

  • highlight the value and uniqueness of the Tsakonian heritage in order to  strengthen its regional identity. 
  • attract tourists.
  • improve the quality of life of the local population and boost the local economy.

In 2018 approximately 6 000 people attended the festival.