
ITINERA ROMANICA+ project
ITINERA ROMANICA + is a cross-border project between Italy and France that promotes the Romanesque cultural heritage diffused in the five regions of the cooperation area, Tuscany, Liguria, Sardinia, Corsica and PACA, through the creation of connecting routes between accessible Romanesque sites and the development of joint actions of protection, promotion and enhancement.
The project is included among the 28 projects funded by the III Call for Proposals of the Interreg Italy-France Maritime Program and started in May 2019, on the occasion of the launch event held in Vorno, Capannori (LU).
The main objective of the project is to promote the minor Romanesque heritage spread in the five regions as churches, parishes and monasteries of rural and peripheral areas; it follows and develops previous initiatives such as the ITERR-COST project that since 2008 had identified the Pisan Romanesque as a common architectural language of the area and mapped the most relevant sites in Tuscany, Sardinia and Corsica.
The present project, which will last until 2022, has the ambition to create an integrated offer of 13 Romanesque Itineraries of the upper Tyrrhenian to be jointly promoted in Italy and France, integrating already existing routes and above all improving the accessibility of Romanesque sites. Within the project, great importance is given to two themes: the physical and virtual accessibility of the historical and cultural heritage, so that it is really usable by the greatest number of users, including people with motor or sensory disabilities, and the involvement of local communities in the heritage promotion process. Associations, groups of citizens and local businesses are in fact the key players to promote the respect and value of cultural assets and to guarantee the sustainability of the actions undertaken over time, and are therefore invited to participate actively in the various project activities.
The main results of the project, in short:• Laboratories and Days of the Romanesque, in every territory;
- the Manifesto of Romanesque Itineraries, a programmatic document for the management of the Routes;
- the cross-border association Itinera Romanica+, a body responsible for coordination;
- the integrated offer “Romanesque Itineraries of the Upper Tyrrhenian Sea”, 13 itineraries between Tuscany, Sardinia, Liguria, Corsica and PACA;
- the App “Itinera Romanica+” to access itineraries from mobile devices;
- the “IR Access” prototype, innovative instrumentation for the autonomous mobility of people with disabilities on open air routes.
The ITINERA ROMANICA + partnership is made up of public and private bodies of the five regions, selected for the skills and experience relevant to the subject in question, for their broad territorial representation, able to reach the territories in a capillary manner, and from a perspective of virtuous collaboration between public and private.