European Cultural Routes for Alpine Cultural and Natural Heritage

In December 2013, the Council of the European Union invited the European Commission to elaborate an EU Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP).1 The Commission prepared this strategy in cooperation with the EU Member States, relying on experience attained during the development of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR), the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) and the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR). In November 2015, the Council of the European Union endorsed the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region (European Commission, 2018; EUSALP, 2016; European Committee of the Regions, 2018). Its goal is to achieve economic and social prosperity in the Alpine Region through intensified cooperation on key opportunities and challenges (EUSALP, 2019). Within the framework of the joint programme of the European Union and the Council of Europe,2 the Routes4U programme aims to create synergies between the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe (CRs)3 and the four macro-regional EU Strategies (Adriatic and Ionian, Alpine, Baltic Sea and Danube) and foster regional development and cultural cooperation (enhanced transnational cooperation among local, national and international professionals from the culture and tourism sector in the four macro-regions of the EU). Another joint Routes4U’s objective is social cohesion: the participation of civil society in the protection and promotion of cultural heritage as a resource for sustainable development (Routes4U Project, 2020a; Routes4U Project 2017–2020). Furthermore, the work of the programme is in line with the principles of the Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (Council of Europe, 2005; Council of Europe 2018–2019) and the European Landscape Convention (Council of Europe, 2000). As Stefano Dominioni, Director of the European Institute of Cultural Routes, has stated: “The Cultural Routes Programme fosters regional development through its members at the local and regional level, through sustainable European networks of history, art and landscape worth exploring, particularly in less known destinations. Both these topics and localities fit very well with the mission and activities promoted by the Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) of the European Commission” (Dominioni, 2018).