The United Nations Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development identifies sustainable tourism as one of the sectors for achieving the sustainability goals. Under the goal 8, dedicated to promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all, through the target 8.9 the Agenda 2030 suggests “devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products”. Food and wine therefore falls into the areas of tourism able to promote the sustainable competitiveness of a destination, a tourism capable of involving the various levels of sustainability, distinguished by an enormous capacity to stimulate economies, especially local economies, and to promote sustainability and inclusion. It answers the need of destinations of positioning themselves in an increasingly crowded market creating new tourism products based on the authenticity, sustainability and originality of the destination, all elements able to satisfy the motivations dictating demand especially in the current situation of the symmetrical shock caused by Covid 19. The travel ban seems to be the right moment to speed up reorganisation of a territorial offer able to satisfy the demand for sustainability to which the need for security has been added. This research project aims to define the strategic planning of food and wine tourism in Basilicata, a rural region of southern Italy, contributing to the growth of the local economy in a sustainable way. This aim can be achieved by creating a food and wine tourism ecosystem for Basilicata (as the initial phase of a wider strategic plan) which will be a step towards creating a food and wine tourism product that is sufficiently competitive and sustainable to satisfy the current demands of the tourism market.