The Old Zone of Chișinău Has Always Had a Story — Now It Has a Route

URBAN PILOT STORY  |  CHIȘINĂU, REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

The Old Zone of Chișinău Has Always Had a Story — Now It Has a Route

How local artisans, cooks and cultural storytellers are turning a familiar neighbourhood into a visitor experience shaped by the people who live there.

Following the launch of the People Powered Tourism pilot action series, Chișinău is showing what people-powered tourism can look like on the ground: not a new attraction built from scratch, but a visitor experience created from the people, skills and stories already rooted in a place.

A city waiting to be rediscovered

For many visitors, a stay in Chișinău is brief and follows the city’s best-known landmarks: the cathedral, Central Park and the Stephen the Great monument. They may spend only a few hours in the city before moving on, with little opportunity to form a deeper connection with local life — or to leave meaningful economic value within the community.

Yet in the quiet streets of the Old Zone, an extraordinary network of local knowledge and creativity has been there all along: the Grimovici family’s ceramics workshop; Mariana Zabrian’s traditional dessert-making at Café Babă Neagră; the stories of urban historian Ion Ștefaniță; and the hospitality of local restaurants and cultural practitioners. Many of these people and places remained unknown to visitors — and sometimes even to residents living only a few streets away.

The pilot brings together local heritage, food traditions, craftsmanship and personal stories from Chișinău’s Old Zone. Photo montage: Chișinău City Hall.

Mapping what was already there

The pilot team’s answer was deliberately simple: before creating anything new, they would map what already existed. Together with heritage expert Ion Ștefaniță, they walked the streets, visited workshops, knocked on doors and asked local businesses and cultural practitioners whether they would welcome visitors not simply as customers, but as guests. Almost everyone said yes — they had simply never been asked.

The first decisive step was a mapping workshop in December 2025. Residents, artisans, business owners and cultural professionals gathered around the same table to identify the neighbourhood’s assets and imagine how they could become part of one coherent experience. What emerged was more than a tourist map: it was a shared portrait of a community beginning to recognise the value of its own stories.

Residents, local professionals and project representatives co-design the route during the mapping process. Photo: Chișinău City Hall.

The route then took shape through conversations and practical offers. Ruslan and Carolina Grimovici proposed a hands-on ceramics workshop. Mariana Zabrian suggested teaching visitors how to prepare the iconic Moldovan dessert Cușma lui Guguță. Ion Ștefaniță wove the archaeological layers and the hidden history of Chișinău into the walk, while Restaurant Sălcioara agreed to host the closing meal. Each participant contributed one part of the experience; together, they made it whole.

Hands-on workshops, local food and hidden heritage transform the route into a shared experience rather than a conventional city tour. Photo montage: Chișinău City Hall.

From an idea to a lived experience

On 12 March 2026, the route met its first users. A group of 15 students from Moldova State University’s Faculty of Economic Sciences walked through the Old Zone as visitors: making ceramics, exploring hidden heritage with Ion Ștefaniță, preparing Cușma lui Guguță and sharing a traditional lunch at Sălcioara. The city they had grown up in suddenly felt different — closer, richer and full of places they had never entered before.

The first student group validates the community-based route in Chișinău’s Old Zone. Photo: Chișinău City Hall / People Powered Tourism.

“I was born in Chișinău and I had never been to this ceramics workshop. It is three streets from where I grew up. This is the best experience that I’ve had in my life!”
— Sorin Botnaru, pilot participant

The team also organised a dedicated info trip for professional travel guides, ANTRIM and the National Tourism Office. They tested every stop, asked practical questions and offered honest feedback — providing the professional perspective needed to refine the route and helping it gain visibility beyond the pilot group.

Early evidence of progress

Questionnaire responses from the pilot participants provide encouraging early evidence that the route addresses the original challenge: creating a deeper connection with the city while ensuring that tourism benefits reach local people.

•      More than 80% said they would pay for the experience — and would pay extra for the interactive workshops.

•      100% believed that the visit directly supported the local economy.

•      73.3% said they would be willing to purchase handmade products from the artisans they met.

These findings suggest that the route can do more than extend the time visitors spend in Chișinău. By connecting participants directly with local hosts, it can create new income opportunities, encourage the purchase of locally made products and strengthen pride in the cultural assets of the Old Zone.

A route designed to last

The route’s strongest foundation is that its essential elements are not temporary project creations. The artisans, the café, the historian and the restaurant were part of the neighbourhood before the pilot began — and they will remain after the project ends.

Chișinău City Hall is now working to integrate the route as a permanently bookable tourism product on visit.chisinau.md and Moldova’s official tourism portal. Ion Ștefaniță has expressed his commitment to continuing as the route’s lead guide, while the format also offers clear potential for inclusion in travel agencies’ portfolios.

If this model becomes part of Chișinău’s permanent tourism offer, it could provide a reliable way for a small but important community of artisans, cooks and cultural professionals to earn from what they know and love. Just as importantly, it could help the city tell its story differently: not as a place still becoming something, but as a place that already is something extraordinary.

The Old Zone of Chișinău did not need a new story. It needed a route that would allow the people carrying its stories to be seen, connected and visited.