Category: blog

Earthquake, human and urban landscape is the first article in Quaderno 16 “Human landscapes, urban landscapes” available from this link in July

On 30 October 2016 at 7:40 a magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck Norcia and the surrounding areas. A much stronger shock than the one that only a few days earlier (August 24) had hit the same area, destroying Amatrice. In those hours of August 24, Central Italy saw entire inhabited areas razed to the ground and suffered considerable losses both in terms of human lives and of buildings and places full of art.

The relief efforts started immediately as did the promise of reconstruction and reorganization of the territory. To date, entire areas still see the damage of the earthquake and the reconstruction works have not been completed.

The 2016 earthquake: the damages

The town of Norcia has suffered serious damage to its artistic and cultural heritage, its symbol is the Basilica of San Benedetto. Some hamlets such as San Pellegrino, Campi di Norcia and Castelluccio di Norcia have been almost destroyed.

The slow rebuilding

The aid machine was set in motion from the very first hours. A great deployment of civil and military protection means intervening to bring aid and secure the areas devastated by the main shocks and subsequent aftershocks […]

How the territory has changed

The earthquakes in 2016 produced numerous changes to the morphology of the territory. The earthquake produced a variation of the soil that affects an area of over one thousand square kilometres, the area of Norcia underwent a shift towards the west, with surface faults reaching up to 180 centimetres. In some areas the hilly or mountainous level has decreased, and the watercourses have undergone variations. The opening and closing of natural springs have also caused a change in the economies that revolve around these water sources.

The territory has changed because of the damages and because of reconstruction. The surface occupied by houses has significantly increased up to doubling in various areas. This to the detriment of the green areas around Norcia that were once the pride of the area […]

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Thanks to il prato publishing house

The restart after the pandemic

Revenge Tourism or…forget tourism ? The restart after the pandemic by Fabio Casilli is the second article of Quaderno 15 “Tourism between revenge and regeneration” available in May from this link

Tourism in recent years, i.e. from the end of 2019 to today, has undergone a real tsunami that has profoundly changed the way of “doing” tourism, both by those who use it as a tourist/traveller, whose needs have radically changed, and by tourist operators

Indeed, “before” health safety did not even appear among the top twenty selection criteria.

Beyond the devastating effects of the pandemic, the seriousness of Covid as a disease, its spread around the world at a speed and ease unimaginable until then, there were important and no less serious terrible and important effects from a psychological point of view.[…]

Tourism has restarted very slowly, but inexorably.

After a long time locked up and repressed, people have developed a will to move, travel, like never before.

The need to find a “normal” life has pushed the desire to go out to excess.

This phenomenon of almost spasmodic desire to travel has been given a name that explains very well the state of mind we all had when we were able to do it again: revenge tourism

Continue reading here

Urban regeneration, sociability, and tourism by Fabrizia Greta Silvestri is the first article of Quaderno 15 “Tourism between revenge and regeneration” available in May from this link

“During my visit to Paris for COP21 last December, I really wanted to visit La Recyclerie before going to Bourget. Their approach is entirely ecological and demonstrates that the economy and the environment can go hand in hand”. (DEBORA O.RAPHAEL, Director of the Environment of the city of San Francisco)

I have always believed in recycling as an opportunity not to pollute our planet but also to give new life to something that was no longer used. Perhaps as I grew up with a seamstress grandmother at home, since I was a child, I have had the habit of wearing clothes created from “old” customers’ clothes. This made me proud because nobody had clothes like mine!

In 2021, during my first post Pandemic trip to Paris, a friend introduced me to a place that has become my refuge every time I go back. La Recyclerie: it could not have had a more suitable name for the post-COVID period we were going through.

Continue reading Urban regeneration, sociability, and tourism here

“Music culture and tourism” by Chiara Pegge is the third article of our Quaderno 14

The phenomenon of Tourism and, probably, the word tourism derive from the long journey undertaken by the young European aristocrats in the eighteenth century, the so -called “Grand Tour”. Goethe, Stendhal, Burney are some of the most famous names that left significant evidence in Italy, the “Bel Paese”.

The Grand Tour was a cultural journey during which the knowledge of the travelers was deepened. The printed books on this experience can be considered a sort of tourist guides. Today the methods of experiencing many events have changed considerably with the advent of technology, especially in the past three years.

Continue reading “Music, culture and tourism” here

Thanks to “il prato – publishing house“

“Digital maps, inclusion and tourism” is the second article of Quaderno 14

Social inclusion, environmental sustainability, territory, and digital services can be combined in many, different ways.

Social inclusion and environmental sustainability are elements that are often viewed with suspicion or annoyance by commercial activities. In fact the first word that is often associated with these is “costs”, and the second “enforcement”. “Making a place Inclusive, Accessible and Sustainable means spending, but I have to do it because it’s the law”.

Therefore I have started to write this article as an  itinerary through a sequence of keywords linked together by a logical sequence.

Continue reading “Digital maps,inclusion and tourism ” here

Thanks to Il prato -publishing house

Tourist or temporary citizen? By Lucia Ammendolia

According to the latest international tourist trends, the most popular sector today is related to non-hospitality activities: B&Bs, holiday homes and apartments.

The context in which this socio-cultural evolution develops is also the one in which a new concept of enjoying tourism is taking shape.

The request is about an all-round experience, in which the traveler begins to discover the places, to calmly observe what is around him/her. A real journey for an active, proactive traveler, who cares about what he/she hears, what he/she tastes, what excites him/her. A tourist who is dramatically different from a “one- day – on – a -run” tourist.

An experience that is not foreseen in organized trips, with scheduled itineraries and daredevils, in which the visits are races to be able to see most of the things in the shortest possible time, without any interaction with “the locals”.

Continue reading “Tourist or temporary citizen” here

“Tourist or traveler” introduction to Quaderno 14

There is a quote taken from a book that I love – The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles – saying:

“We’re probably the first tourists they’ve had since the war.

Tunner, we’re not tourists. We’re travelers.
Oh. What’s the difference?
A tourist is someone who thinks about going home the moment they arrive, Tunner.
Whereas a traveler might not come back at all.”

The novel is not a novel on tourism, for sure, but the point is: what do we want to be? A tourist or a traveller? What do we want to learn from our travelling?

Continue reading on the Italian version

Tea at 5 in villa in Zero Branco near Treviso! We will finally be in person in the amazing setting of Villa Guidini and its park.

The event will have many facets, will involve multiple protagonists and is part of the ASviS 2022 Festival.

The central theme is linked to sustainable tourism and the (re) launch of the territory also from a tourist point of view, there will be an exhibition dedicated to violence against women and activities to involve citizens.

The program

Tea at 5 in villa is divided into four parts:

• A workshop on sustainable and inclusive tourism. The workshop will be in italian
• “From women for women” photographic exhibition by Raffaella Bordini
• Experience the joy of cycling with special bicycles with Re-Moove
• Let’s work together in the park of Villa Guidini: Special bicycles experience with Re-Moove, Mapping and photo spheres activities with Progetto Re-Cycle

For more information on the program see the Italian section

Bolognola and its trails were “a discovery” (for us) on April 21, 2018.

We went up to Pintura, and the first things that struck us were the view of the sea, and the numerous trails that radiate out to cross the Sibillini Mountains.

A beautiful area that was already in the reconstruction phase after the earthquake. The Municipality was thinking about how to relaunch the area, starting precisely from its characteristics.

The second thing that struck us is a signal, located in the village square, which shows all the “Mountain Bike Excursions”.

When we asked if we could have the itineraries in a Digital Map, accessible by mobile, we were told that yes, all the paths could be downloaded “in PDF format”.

Why a digital map?

From there, a collaboration process began with the Municipality of Bolognola, with the aim of being able to transfer information into a real navigation App, Google Maps.  Maps allows you to use your mobile phone not only to reach the place where you can start hiking (Bolognola) but also to be able to carry out your hiking  with an application that made additional information immediately available to the user:

• Length of the route, travel time, altitude. This is fundamental information for all hikers, as it allows you to make a preliminary assessment to decide whether it is a trail suitable for you or not

• Points of Interest along the route, whether it is natural attractions (waterfalls, panoramic points) or places of refreshment (Refuges), with the possibility of consulting the contributions (photos and reviews) of those who have visited them before you.

• Position in the trail, accessible even in case of lack of internet connection, which allows you to always know where you are, in case you have deviated from the trail and want to know how to return to the correct position.

• Ability to change your route, perhaps to reach a new destination.

This is simple information, sufficient for those who want to take a safe walk in an area like Bolognola.

The process took shape in June 2022, through a program that allows Organizations and Associations to become partners of Google Maps and to insert their own cartographic information within the App. Bolognola and its trails have finally become digitally accessible

We will talk about this in person from Bolognola next October, during our Tea at 5 included in ASviS 2022 Festival for sustainability