Routes4U is the name chosen for an important project promoted by the European Commission (DG Regio) and the European Institute for Cultural Routes (EICR).
The project is focused on the development of valorizing actions aimed at the four European macro-regions: Alpine, Adriatic Ionian, Danube and Baltic Sea. The project aims to underscore the contribution of the Council of Europe Cultural Routes to local development, cultural cooperation and social cohesion in those areas, which include 27 coun tries and 340 million people.
The EAVF, reference point at a European level with regards to the management, vision and governance of cultural routes, has successfully taken part in the call for proposals about the Alpine macro-region since seven (Bourgogne/Franche-Comté; Vaud; Valais; Aosta Valley; Piedmont; Lombardy; Liguria) out of the thirteen regions of the Via Francigena are included in it and are therefore the backbone of the development of the Via on a European scale.
The project submitted by the EAVF is focused on the diffusion of the governance system and of the “best practices” of the Via so as to facilitate the replicability in the whole macro-region and ensure the valorization of the alpine environment and of its values. Among the actions proposed, we want to mention the positioning of informative signs in strategic points of the macro-region crossed by the Via, a larger involvement of private players operating along the Via Francigena (hostels, hotels, bars, restaurants, etc. …), the development of affiliate programmes in relation to the pilgrim passport and the involvement of tour operators in order to create thematic package tours of the Via in the macro-region.
The project will also help to increase the number of active participants among local institutions with regard to actions and project planning; this will result in improved knowledge of the Via Francigena in the relevant areas as well as in the interconnection with projects that are already being carried out in the alpine macro-region.
The video interview with Sami Tawfik (EAVF Project Manager) made during the Routes4U meeting in Bard (Credit: Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe programme): https://youtu.be/6gKpXlSIHo0
The article is taken from the latest issue of the official AEVF magazine “Via Francigena”. The magazine, published by Studio Guidotti, will be consulted free of charge online at www.rivistaviafrancigena.it and can be purchased online. Lots of news, information and interviews to read at a slow pace in English, French and Italian.
