How to learn the art of an ancient salami in Vibo Valentia, home of N'duja. Know the concrete solidarity at the Social Farm of Monte Pacini in the Marche. Walking among ancient books, in Catania. Discover places, traces and memories of the First World War in the Sesto Dolomites, in South Tyrol ... .. and so on walking. They are some of the walks scheduled for this weekend, 26 and 27 September, for the European Heritage Days, organized by the Council of Europe in collaboration with the European Union.
Heritage Days were promoted for the first time in 1991 to emphasize each year the importance of European cultural heritage and its historical, artistic and identity value. The project of Heritage Walks. Not simple and obvious guided tours, but rather itineraries that lead to the discovery of the territory through the eyes and voices of those who experience it more closely. As if to say that we are not the ones to tell it but that the territory tells itself.
Appointment this weekend, strolling around Italy
112 Walks have been organized this year, despite the difficulties related to the Coronavirus pandemic. And, in compliance with all the health indications that characterize these difficult times, most of the Italian regions but also three European locations: in Spain in Barcelona, in Slovakia in the High Tatra National Park and in Poland in the small village of Lanckorona. What is the charm and the added value of these experiences? Since they are made by inhabitants, associations and institutions linked to the territory, they allow a more direct and profound understanding of its cultural heritage. How many times, visiting a city or a particular place, have we said to ourselves: “We should be accompanied by someone who lives there”? Here, this is it the purpose of the Heritage Walks, to bring the visitor to know that specific territory accompanied by those who live it in everyday life.
By cultural heritage we mean culture at 360 degrees, and the walks organized this year are proof of this. It ranges from the Mediterranean diet, to archeology, to the environment, passing through museums, exhibitions, woods and also focusing attention on objects or situations, tales, stories that characterize or are a symbol of a specific territory. Here are some pills of this rich proposal, walking up and down Italy. In Abruzzo we will go to the discovery of the town of Bomba and the archaeological area of Monte Pallano. Appointment in Basilicata for a visit to the Quaroni Theater in Matera and in Molise to the Doge's Palace in Petacciato. In Lazio you will be able to learn how to make cheese and discover the Prenestini Mountains while in the historic center of Brescia you will remember the places of the Ten Days. The Unesco Club of Palmi organizes a walk to listen to the Villa Pietrosa of Leonida and Albertina Répaci at sunset on the sea of myths.
Discovering the Mediterranean diet in Cilento and the centuries-old olive trees of Puglia
Everyone at the table in Campania to learn the Mediterranean diet in its homeland, Cilento. How not to take a walk in Tuscany to get to know the city of Siena and the Chianti Senese? From wine to oil, in Puglia we go to the discovery of the patriarch trees and centuries-old olive trees of Salento while in the Marche, still gastronomy, in Rocca Madre we learn bread made with ancient wheat. In Umbria the suggestion is to go and get to know the lignite mine of Pietrafitta, a walk dedicated to industrial archeology.
In Cervia, in Emilia Romagna, visit the Ecomuseum of salt and sea talking about lighthouses and lanterns on the way home. In Sicily a circuit of resilience, churches and landscape between tradition, faith and culture in the small town of Valverde. There are many walks in Veneto, we remember the one to the places of the childhood of Pope Sarto in San Pio X, in the province of Treviso. Where in Friuli take us the Heritage Walks? We choose the hiking route between walls, mule tracks, meadows, pastures and old rural buildings on the limestone hills of Stevenà di Caneva in the Pordenone area.
Learning for life is the theme of this year's Heritage Walks
The Heritage Walks were organized in collaboration with the Mibact (Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism) and the Italian Federation for Unesco Clubs. In addition to Europe Direct Venezia Veneto, the regional Ecomuseums, WIGWAM Italia, Federculture and the Municipality of Venice have accepted the invitation of Luisella Pavan-Woolfe, director of the only Italian office of the Council of Europe based in Venice. "Learning for life" is the theme chosen for this edition of the European Heritage Days which wants to emphasize the importance of transmitting information, skills and knowledge to the new generations. That traditional knowledge that today is confronted daily with the challenges of modern technology, without losing the need for its value.
Here the calendar of all the Heritage Walks in Italy, region by region.
