“The Vie Francigene in Puglia, from vision to opportunity for a sustainable territorial development” is the title of the dissertation discussed by Alessandro Caterino in the month of July, at the University of Bologna. The dissertation is focused on the Via Francigena in Puglia and on the governance of the project: an example of good practice, which sees the Puglia, through the Via Francigena, at the centre of an international project, tied to the sustainable territorial development.Abstract
The Via Francigena, Cultural Itinerary of the Council of Europe, is the ancient road, which during the Middle Ages connected Canterbury to Rome and to the harbours of Puglia. It has been recently re-discovered and made completely accessible in its 1800 kilometres from Canterbury to Rome. In the year of walks, it s becoming more and more significant the perspective of promoting and making it accessible until the territories of Salento.
Between the regions of Southern Italy, Puglia is crossed by more than 400 kilometres of the Via Francigena, which develops around two ancient roman roads, the Ancient Regina Viarum Appia and the following Appia Traiana. Therefore, it creates a stack of roads, which is possible to name with the plural Vie Francigene. It is a lattice of roads, a road system which connects the territories of Puglia, from the sub-Apennine dauno area to the peninsula of Salento. It also connects the entire Puglia on one side with the rest of Italy by land, and on the other side with Albania, Greece, Turkey and the Mediterranean basin until the Holy Land by sea.
An empirical analysis has been implemented on two fronts, in order to understand if and how the development of the Francigena walk, within a perspective of collaboration between public and private subjects, may represent also in Puglia a chance of territorial development within the crossed territories and in order to examine the perception of the same territories compared to the potential of the Via Francigena. On the one hand, the administrators of the Municipalities of Puglia, which are crossed by the Francigena, have been called to contribute and have been asked to express their own vision of the walk and of the perception of it. On the other hand, the accommodating buildings which are located along the path or nearby have been consulted, in order to examine their willingness to open up to the walkers and wanderers, arranging an offer dedicated to them.
Biography
Alessandro Caterino is a young student from Andria, who graduated with honours in Economy of Tourism at the University of Bologna – Rimini Campus, in July 2016. During his years of study, he did an internship at the European Institute of Cultural Routes in Luxembourg (EICR) and another one at EHTTA, the European Historic Thermal Towns Association, within the Department of Tourism and Thermalism of the City of Ourense in the Spanish region of Galicia. Moreover, he did a part-time collaboration, within the vice-presidency of Rimini, at the Economy school and from December 2015 he works with the staff of the European Association of the Vie Francigene, which he supported during the organisation of the international conference “Via Francigena, Via of Peace”
Further details: alessandro.caterino@viefrancigene.org
