Mrizi i Zanave (The Shade of the Fairies) in the village of Fishte, a quiet village in the district of Lezha, has become a popular rural restaurant and guesthouse and a main attraction for local and foreign visitors alike, representing an agribusiness success story and source of inspiration for those in Albania who are looking to a future which doesn’t lose its ties with a great culinary and cultural tradition. The restaurant owner Altin Prenga, a pioneer of Albania’s slow-food movement and credited with taking Albanian food back to basics: fresh, organic farm-to-table produce and meat that celebrates the country’s fertile terrain, says his ideas have been supported by the government’s fiscal incentives. “We have built six rooms and the reason we did so is because as stipulated by the new tourism law we should build a facility with more than five rooms in order to be eligible to benefit a reduced VAT rate to six percent only. Frankly saying the new government’s fiscal package has helped us a lot,” he said.

During his visit to this agritourism business model, Prime Minister Edi Rama awarded Altin the agritourism certificate. “This is not a tourism business in Switzerland, neither in Northern Italy nor in France, but at Mrizi i Zanave in the village of Fishte. This is an example for everyone to see how agritourism is developing and, above all, how the 100 Villages Programme is being materialized,” the Premier said. The latest fiscal incentives have allowed Altin to expand his business and involve many local farmers in his business by providing him with locally-grown fresh produce and then serve them to his customers.

His latest investment is a milk processing plant at the former Lezha prison area. “This used to be a prison, but we have rebuilt it and now a milk processing plant has become operational. As many as 35 families supply us with milk,” Altin said.

Mrizi i Zanave is now a point of reference for whoever plans to build a guesthouse and start a agritourism business. With its fresh, organic farm-to-table produce, service and hospitality, Mrizi i Zanave, a model of agritourism in Albania, has become a must visit destination for every local and foreign tourist who visit Lezha district.