Vaison-la-Romaine: the historical legacy in the development strategies

The expansion of the culture of the Roman Empire beyond the Alps has left significant traces of his passage on the territory of Southern France. Evidences of considerable interest that embrace not only archeology, but also the religious sphere. They give rise, especially in the Middle Ages, the proliferation of congregations and, consequently, churches, monasteries, cathedrals, around which they have developed the current concentric. The attention has been focused on Vaison-la-Romaine for its peculiarity to possess within itself the distinctive characters, perfectly preserved in the various historical phases. It is observed that in Vaison, in the alternation of periods, each of these hasn’t devastated the previous one, so in the eyes of the visitor today, the city is clearly divided into three parts: the matrix of Roman , medieval era and the modern . The richness of the cultural heritage has favored the tourist aspect triggering processes of conservation, promotion and communication, involving in this process the settled community and indirectly the entire territory. With a view to sustainability based on local resources, we can say that Vaison-la-Romaine is a clear example of how the cultural and historical heritage lives in symbiosis with the city today. The survival of each of the periods is linked to the existence of the other, in a dynamic that generates large-scale benefits.