Between the Enhancement of Heritage and Geotourism: Sustainable Approaches for the Regeneration of Geoparks UNESCO

The research stems from the desire to understand the importance of natural and cultural heritage within the processes of enhancing and regenerating a territory, highlighting how sustainable tourism can serve as a catalyst for designing, planning, and defining intervention strategies aimed at local development. Within UNESCO heritage sites, these territorial policies are highly focused on, particularly in Geoparks. Arising from grassroots management needs, the heritage of Geoparks is not strictly associated with geological heritage but is valued according to its relationships with natural, cultural, and intangible heritage. To identify the most virtuous and effective management strategies related to tourism, an initial analysis was conducted on European UNESCO Geoparks. Five Geoparks were selected, followed by a comparative assessment with quantitative evaluations of the results obtained. The same approach was applied to understand the dynamics of Geoparks in Italy, specifically analyzing the Madonie Geopark in Sicily and the Sesia Val Grande Park in Piedmont. In comparing them with European countries, the latent potential of Italy’s rural built heritage emerged. The discovery of residual quality elements could lead to the implementation of the action plan through the recovery of these architectures for tourism purposes.