Under the leadership of the Italian Union, the 4th Steering Committee of PRIMIS took place online, a strategic project funded by the Interreg VA Italy-Slovenia program, whose objective is the enhancement of the linguistic, cultural and natural heritage of indigenous communities (the national Slovenian in Italy and Italian in Slovenia as well as the linguistic communities of Cimbri, Ladin, Friulian), the change in the perception of multicultural and multilingual identity, the promotion of the cross-border territory and the increase in tourist demand.
It was an opportunity for the Italian-Slovenian partnership to make the point of the implementation of the administrative and financial management of PRIMIS, and of the ongoing activities, just over half of the project's duration (36 months).
The interest was initially focused on the activities coordinated by the Directorate for International Relations, Communication and SISTAR of the Veneto Region, with the contribution of the CST Comelico Foundation and Vegal, which are in a state of greater progress, relating to the mapping of tangible and intangible heritage of indigenous communities in the program area and the creation of guidelines for the establishment of the 50 POIs (Points of Interest), whose identification is nearing completion. This will lead to the identification of a series of historical-tourist routes that will be characterized according to the following categories: history; art, literature and science; crafts, traditions; territory and architecture; food and wine. The results produced will be uploaded to the platform that the Veneto Region is preparing, starting with the software that will be used.
The Veneto Region is also in charge of coordinating the creation of four multimedia centres, spaces that will serve to disseminate knowledge of the territory through interactive multimedia paths. The location of the 4 centres has already been decided and the renovation works are currently underway, albeit at a different level of completion, still allowing their completion by 2021. In Santo Stefano di Comelico (Veneto) the centre will be located in the town hall, in Bibione (Veneto) in the lighthouse at the mouth of the Tagliamento river, in Trieste in the Narodni Dom recently returned to the Slovenian community and in Koper in the Palazzo Gravisi Buttorai, seat of the Italian Union.
The latter, in Koper, also represents a significant investment within the project made by the Italian Union, since the building requires extensive reconstruction after having also undergone a phase of archaeological excavations that brought to light late Roman and medieval finds. The tender for its restoration was just published.
The education and training activities of Turistično Gostinska Zbornica Slovenije are in progress even if they have suffered the pandemic crisis. The selection and training for the Young Cultural Ambassadors (14 already identified according to specific criteria) is almost complete, while the planned training workshops for tour leaders and schools will take place in the coming months, compatibly with the normalization of the situation.
The partner ATS Projekt, responsible for the activities related to the tourist attraction of the cultural, linguistic and natural heritage of the indigenous communities, presented the scheme of the actions that will be launched once the identification of the POIs has been completed, starting from the definition of the tourist itineraries to the realization tourist packages that will be offered at trade fairs and tourist agencies. The challenge is to present the entire territory as a single tourist destination that suggest various offers. In this regard, it is expected to be able to act concretely during 2021, pandemic crisis allowing, by participating both in presence and virtually in a series of fairs and festivals in order to promote the products made, as well as through the organization of thematic traveling exhibitions and events, which should preferably be held in the warmer seasons.
In conclusion, the importance of continued promotion and dissemination of the project and its actions in the area was emphasized, for which the Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region Department for Culture and Sports is in charge, through the use of communication tools (website, social profiles, newsletter) provided by the project.
Operation co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund
