Synergy and coherence through collective action: Some insights from wine routes in Tuscany

A wine route can be seen as a network established around the theme of wine. The impressive economic impact that the establishment of the Costa degli E truschi wine route has had on the farms involved is traced back in this art icle to the collective action that produces synergies and coherence. Synerg ies can be defined as linkages between two or more entities, whose joint ef fort produces quantitatively and qualitatively higher effects than those pr oduced by the efforts of the same entities alone. Coherence is a duality be longing to the elements that constitute the context of action in successful rural development practices: natural and man-made environment, social netw orks, and symbolic systems. The process of creating coherence is not withou t conflict, and the article contends that the establishment of coherence ne eds a hegemonic strategy that involves all sources of empowerment and parti cularly cultural codes.