24 March 2013

CreativeCH Interview: Tuscany Showcase

Franco Niccolucci, Manager of the CreativeCH's Tuscany showcase

Interview with Franco Niccolucci, manager of the CreativeCH showcase in Tuscany

In a nutshell, what is the concept of your showcase?

The idea is to promote less known cultural itineraries. In Tuscany there is a rich patrimony, outside of the most frequented routes, which is often shadowed by the major destinations.
The showcase will combine cultural heritage with nature and the valorisation of local products, in two locations. 
One is in Northern Tuscany in the Carmignano area, and the itineraries lead across woods on hills. They will touch two Etruscan necropolises with an overall walk of some 10 hours, which can be broken into chunks of 4-5 hours each. Participants will reach the starting points by themselves or using public transport, and then will walk along paths and country routes departing from there, or ride a mountain bicycle. Here horse riding is not well developed yet, but the routes are suitable for horses as well. Along the road there are medieval churches and an abbey. It is possible to interrupt the walk at some points and easily reach a road where a public minibus can be booked to pick up the tourists and bring them back to the starting point.
The other location is in Southern Tuscany, in the Maremma near Grosseto, also an Etruscan land. The area is well developed as a popular seaside tourist destination, but people rarely go in the interior. The routes will lead from the coast to two main places where there are important Etruscan and Roman remains. Most parts of the itineraries are across the countryside and are suitable for walking, cycling or horse riding, here well developed and offered to tourists. Public transportation or private cars will be used to arrive to the starting/ending points. Also here, the walking time is about half a day.

What are special or innovative features of your showcase?

One innovative feature is the creation of an app for smartphones and tables to be used as a guide along the road. The app will be similar for both locations, and is the first step towards a platform to be potentially used elsewhere.
The Grosseto routes will be advertised with a big event in July, in the framework of an initiative called “The Archaeology Nights” and spanning over all Tuscany. Our event will consist in the re-enactment of Etruscan trade, with a carriage departing from the coast and arriving to the two selected villages where a market will be organized, with activities for kids and for adults. There will be refreshment stands along the way and in the villages promoting local products and agritourism offers.
A Carmignano launch event is also being planned.

How do you involve local organisations, students or other participants?

For Carmignano we had already meetings with the local municipality and the local archaeological museum. Through the municipality (it is a small village) it will be easy to get in touch with local groups and businesses like small restaurants, country lodging and so on.
For Grosseto we are collaborating with the two local museum directors and through them with all the involved local authorities. They are very active in educational programs and will involve local schools. There is also a local archaeological association, which is in charge of the historical re-enactment.
For both, we avail of the collaboration with the regional association of local archaeological museums AMAT.

What are your experiences and lessons learned as yet?

So far we have noticed a lot of enthusiasm for the initiative by the local institutions we are collaborating with. However, it is sometimes not easy to plan the preliminary activities because the network of collaborations (local museums, municipalities, provinces, the regional government, associations, etc.) is complex. This was not unexpected, but we are confident to comply with the project schedule.
Another issue concerns reconnaissance of the itineraries and the necessary visual documentation for the mobile app. In Carmignano there was snow until a few days ago, and in Maremma the recent heavy rains flooded the countryside, making it rather difficult to walk on paths and dirt roads, alternative to the main hard-surfaced ones. So we are a little behind schedule as regards taking photographs.

How will you know that the showcase has been successful?

We will monitor downloads of the app and participation in the events. This will provide quantitative indicators. We will also check if after one year there will be any improvement in tourism for the involved destinations.