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A label to promote heritage trails and support local rural authorities: “I Chjassi di a Memoria"
Published on 12 April 2021
France
This is the good practice's implementation level. It can be national, regional or local.
About this good practice
This involves labeling routes intended to showcase the emblematic heritage of rural villages located in the mountains and thereby strengthen the local identity, in particular for the use of the Corsican language. The Corsican Environmental Office provides financial support for feasibility studies, restoration work on trails and built heritage as well as for equipping sites with interpretation tools (signage, digital media, etc. .) and their digitalization on a dedicated website with in particular the realization of virtual tours of the sites. Development operations cover a transversal dimension since they call on history, myths as well as lifestyles, techniques and materials or even the quality of the landscapes, in order to strengthen or even create the attractiveness of the territories in which they are established. The proposed itineraries are developed in situ with a qualitative treatment of the places and methodical work is undertaken on the paths. A staging of remarkable sites and elements is imagined and integrated through ad hoc arrangements and an original interpretation system. The municipalities that support these routes are for the most part rural municipalities, small in size. The aim is to draw curls, accessible to the greatest number whatever the season. Signage and interpretation make them identifiable and in fact associated with each other.
Resources needed
For this but also to instruct all the procedures (assembly and follow-up), 2 people are mobilized: one for the instruction of the files and the control of the label; the other for monitoring trail maintenance and entertainment.
Evidence of success
Nearly 49,163 people walked the 13 equipped trails. Qualitatively, the positive feedback and the strong involvement of political authorities and local populations reinforce the continuity of this practice in the future: The improvement in attendance has benefited both businesses in rural villages which have had more customers and in artisans from the region who worked on the trails. This has therefore generated indirect employment via affected economic activities.
Potential for learning or transfer
It is an easily transposable device. Indeed, once the territory is structured, that it has an emblematic vernacular heritage revealing a culture and a history, then the discovery circuits can be set up and fulfill their function of valuation and development.
The point of difficulty in transferring the practice lies in the control of the land, that is to say if the land is owned by another entity. This implies upstream and reinforced dialogue with more players. For Corsica, whose land is held by multiple private and public actors, agreements have been established to overcome this difficulty.
The point of difficulty in transferring the practice lies in the control of the land, that is to say if the land is owned by another entity. This implies upstream and reinforced dialogue with more players. For Corsica, whose land is held by multiple private and public actors, agreements have been established to overcome this difficulty.
Further information
Website
Good practice owner
You can contact the good practice owner below for more detailed information.
Organisation
Ambient office of Corsica
France
Contact
Chargée des relations internationales et programmes européens