(by Paola Mansi, Aidr partner and AgID staff offices) The commitment of the European Union towards our country in the next six years (2021-2026), therefore, is equal to approximately 210 billion euros, which even reaches 310 billion billions if the budget planning for the five-year period 2021-26 is also considered. It is the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), the dossier that Italy will have to present in Brussels by the end of April to obtain the necessary funds for the post-pandemic recovery.
A second Marshall Plan - as it has been defined by many - and an unprecedented commitment. A great opportunity for the development of the country in the near future, which calls the Italians to a collective and urgent effort.
The first mission, dedicated to the theme "Digitization, innovation, competitiveness and culture", aims to modernize the country, embracing the digital revolution both in the public administration and in its production system, providing for the necessary system reforms - that of Justice and the completion of that of the Public Administration - and, finally, investing in the sectors that most characterize Italy and define its image in the world: Tourism and Culture.
The theme of tourism recurs often - already associated with the 2020 summer season and today also with the uncertainty of the restart and the closure of the ski sector - and is always topical: not only for the considerable value of the cultural and landscape heritage, recognized all over the world , but also and above all for the crisis of an entire sector, which perhaps most of all has paid and is paying the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It is no coincidence that Prime Minister Draghi himself strongly declared, on the occasion of his speech to the Senate, that tourism must be a fundamental value to be developed and protected: «After the pandemic some will not reopen, but tourism will reopen. Investing in tourism, supporting it, does not mean throwing money away. Because that money will come back ». The premier, however, also underlined the importance of change: «Some growth models will have to change. For example, the tourism model, an activity that before the pandemic represented 14% of our total economic activities. Companies and workers in that sector must be helped to emerge from the disaster created by the pandemic. But without forgetting that our tourism will have a future if we do not forget that it thrives on our ability to preserve, that is, at least not waste, cities of art, places and traditions that successive generations over many centuries have been able to preserve and have handed down to us ".
Statements that leave us hopeful.
In the case of the tourism-cultural sector, not only a real support intervention is necessary, but also a vision, a development strategy, an idea of expansion to strengthen our industry.
Certainly, the sums dedicated and included in the plan are not enough, considering that tourism and culture are two lines of intervention, albeit interconnected, in any case different. At the moment, it is at least important to create synergy between the macro actors involved in the supply chain and to concentrate efforts on development projects that mainly aim at creating a synthesis between innovation, green and cultural heritage.
What is the recovery in pills under the item "Tourism and Culture 4.0"
The plan aims at objectives linked mainly to a modernization of cultural heritage, both in terms of accessibility and use, dividing the interventions into three main areas: “Cultural heritage for the EU Next Generation”; "Minor Sites, Rural Areas and Peripheries"; and “Tourism and Culture 4.0”.
"Cultural heritage for the EU Next Generation"
The first area of intervention of the line of action consists in the strengthening of the Strategic Plan for Major Tourist-Cultural Attractors, which provides for investment in the regeneration of cultural and urban heritage in some of the main Italian cities. It is a question of providing for the restoration and re-functionalization of complexes of high historical-architectural and testimonial value with the aim of increasing the attractiveness, functionality and enhancement of the sites and to stimulate digital platforms and strategies, both for access and for the organization and increase of the Italian cultural heritage.
A trance of funds from this chapter are then destined for the creation of digital platforms and strategies for accessing cultural heritage, to increase, organize and integrate the immense digital heritage produced over the years by archives, libraries, museums and in general. from places of culture, to allow citizens and operators new experiences of use and to improve the offer of services.
The implementation of a strategic plan for the elimination of the sense-perceptive, cultural and cognitive architectural barriers (PEBA) and of widespread use in Italian cultural sites and the creation of an information system for the quality of the use of the cultural heritage to be part of people with specific needs. Training activities will also be carried out on the themes of use extended to the heritage of professionals in the sector.
An important investment area is also envisaged, “Caput Mundi”, with which we want to define an innovative process for the enhancement of the archaeological, cultural and tourist heritage of Rome using the opportunity offered by the next Jubilee of 2025.
"Minor Sites, Rural Areas and Suburbs"
The second area of intervention provides targeted actions for small historic and rural villages with a National Villages Plan. Therefore, specific urban regeneration projects, based on culture, focused on local communities, must be defined, with the aim of supporting the creation and strengthening of the offer of cultural and creative activities, favoring the rebirth of ancient agricultural structures and traditional crafts ( for example crafts).
The activation of entrepreneurial and commercial initiatives will be supported, including new forms of accommodation such as widespread hospitality and widespread hotel, for the revitalization of the socio-economic fabric of the places, counteracting the depopulation of the territories and favoring the conservation of the landscape and traditions. and redeveloping rural and historic buildings.
To spread cultural and creative activities and strengthen the social fabric, we will invest in the redevelopment of identity places, suburbs, parks and historic gardens, supporting participatory projects of culturally based urban regeneration, focused on local communities that will see municipal administrations as protagonists, with the in order to support the creation and enhancement of the offer of cultural and creative activities. There are also plans for redevelopment of public real estate intended for social and cultural, educational services, in degraded and / or unused conditions.
Together with the enhancement of identifying places, great attention will be paid to the environment through the redevelopment of historic parks and gardens: for the first time in a systematic way, investments are planned to carry out maintenance, management and public use.
"Tourism and Culture 4.0"
Finally, Tourism and Culture 4.0 aims to promote the interaction between school, university, business and places of culture, on the basis of local strategies of intelligent specialization also thanks to the networking between creative and artisanal businesses with specialized training and coaching.
Funds are foreseen to support cultural operators in the green and digital transition, with interventions to favor cultural demand and participation, encouraging the technological transition of cultural operators and the active participation of citizens; improve the ecosystem in which the cultural and creative sectors operate, supporting the integration between creative hubs and the territory through technological innovation.
The action includes redevelopment and modernization interventions of companies operating in the tourism sector to enhance their level of digitization; promote innovative models of work organization also through the development of networks and other forms of aggregation; develop the skills, digital and non-digital, of the operators in the sector by promoting access to qualified training.
Finally, "Paths in History" is a profound action that wants to involve the whole territory by introducing a new way of enjoying the heritage. This is the so-called "slow tourism", a way of traveling and managing visitor flows that opens up to the enhancement of new territories, in terms of sustainability and authenticity, also thanks to the creation and offer of paths, cycle paths, routes railways, rediscovery of archaeological areas.
