Adriatico Mare Comune (The Adriatic sea: a shared heritage)

Cervia is a seaside town in the province of Ravenna, famous for its beaches and for its natural protected heritage. The main challenge encountered by the Municipality was to protect and promote the cultural heritage (tangible and intangible) connected to the sea and to the salt production, while fighting against floods, coastal erosion, salt intrusion and subsidence and ensuring navigability of the port throughout the year. By focusing on the identity of the town and enabling community participation, the Municipality managed to implement the vision of the former political Administration set out in the DUP (Single Programming Document foreseen by the law): "to safeguard and preserve the beauty and charm of the city, to make it even more welcoming, attractive and inclusive, capable of creating opportunities and fostering new developments and new energies". The required operational programming documents were developed around this vision and this was also the common thread for all the town's applications to European, National and regional funds. All the projects implemented in town are indeed interconnected and together form the good practice named "Adriatico Mare Comune". Citizens, tourists and tourist operators were the common stakeholders of all projects. Other stakeholders included, based on the individual topics tackled: public authorities, their staffs, sailors, fishermen, students, business categories, cultural and volunteer associations.