The meeting, coordinated by the region of Tuscany, took place the 23rd September during the Salone Mondiale del Turismo of the UNESCO cities and sites of Siena.
The representatives of Valle d’Aosta, Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany and Lazio met in Siena for an opportunity for dialogue regarding the activities linked to the enhancement of the route. We are dealing with the finalised action of the candidacy of Sigeric’s route as a World Heritage Site.
Following the agreement approved by the 7 regions on the 3rd March, the technical working group was launched (24th July) entrusting the coordination of the activities for the preparation of the analysis and preliminary study of the candidacy to the European Association of the Vie Francigena. The scientific description has been entrusted to Professor Paola Falini.
The prepared programme foresees different operative phases: history and development of the walks of the European Francigena; description of historical-cultural values in the network of the Francigena in Italy; identification and description of the assets proposed; justification of registration criteria; comparative analysis with other walks; protection and management; management plan.
This candidacy represents a challenge that sees the different regions working together with a single objective. We will try to find the best balance between the cultural component and the link of the Via Francigena’s values with the touristic component, underlines the Vice-President of the region of Tuscany, Monica Barni.
The communal objective is preparing the document to enrol the Italian tract of the Via Francigena in the UNESCO list by the end of March 2018. As for the transnational scope, the Francigena route will inspect the opening towards Switzerland, France and England in order that the other countries can be included in the next steps, underlining the European scope of the Association.
“The European Association of the Vie Francigene has generated much enthusiasm and certainty for this proposal of collaboration on the study of the feasibility of candidacy. After having obtained the certification of Cultural Route of the Council of Europe, the certification of UNESCO heritage would be a great leap for the reputation and visibility of the areas along the Via Francigena supporting a greater awareness and utility of the route”, concluded the President, Massimo Tedeschi.
Luca Bruschi