Via di Francesco presented as sustainable tourism good practice

Sviluppumbria presented the St. Francis Way at the EU Week of Regions and Cities in Brussels this week. The focus of the presentation was the development of the itinerary as a good practice in regional policy to promote sustainable tourism and economic development in rural areas and villages. Chiara Dall'Aglio, Coordinator for Tourism, Promotion and EU projects, outlined the strategic actions, stakeholder involvement, benefits and lessons learnt over a decade of work, starting from the idea and arriving at the success that the Way has achieved today.

The illustrated talk was organised by Sviluppumbria as an EU Week talk, one of the portfolio of workshops held during the European Week of Regions and Cities. This is a high-profile networking event held Brussels each October that attracts thousands of policy makers and experts in regional and local development from across Europe and beyond.

The St. Francis Way incorporates many elements of successful policy implementation: economic development, social inclusion, public-private engagement, regional innovation and community-led local development. It is listed as a good practice in regional policy, associated with SHARE, the Interreg Europe project led by Sviluppumbria.