Mario Cipollone, Alberto Miccadei, Francesco Verrocchio
Consolidamento dell’identità del luogo ed ecoturismo: il blog “Noi Cerrano”
Abstract: Consolidation of the Place Identity and Ecotourism: the Blog “Noi Cerrano”
The Torre del Cerrano Marine Protected Area (MPA) is a fundamental part of a larger system: an indissoluble combination of landscape, nature, history, art and architecture. It has an enormous cultural value to be known, protected and enhanced. For that reason, in the last years, the ambitious proposal of submitting a nomination of the Atri-Cerrano site for the UNESCO World Heritage List was moved. It is known that sustainable tourism has to be linked to the perception of a territorial identity, to the cultural values of a certain place (genius loci). The current globalization is forcing places lose their own identity. The experiment of the blog “Noi Cerrano” begins in order to make a small contribution, communicate values in a dynamic way and motivate the public to feel as a part of a territorial system with its own identity. We can read just in the mission that one of the goals of this blog is to have in the district of Cerrano a “cultural and environmental awareness for a truly sustainable future”. The purpose is to enhance the genius loci of Cerrano by three strategies: to experience the territory, divulge the values of the territory and propose projects compatible with those values. The very blog, intended as a diary, is already a testimony of experiencing the territory, in particular the Torre del Cerrano MPA.
The documentary “Cerrano: Nature revealed” is a tangible example of divulgation. In a way never experienced in the context at issue, natural values – to which most of the local people have never paid enough attention – have been showed, though in their simplicity, arousing general curiosity and identifi cation in the community. Hikes to rediscover scenic views of the sea and the hills, the project of eco-holiday and the reclamation of wildlife corridors are only some of the proposals coming out from the experience of the blog. The Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 is also called “Live in harmony with nature”. This is the goal at which the community of Cerrano should aim, in order to give the territory an added value triggering a virtuous mechanism for sustainable tourism.
Keywords: blog, identity, nature, values, Cerrano.
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