From the Dolomites to Sannio, the week of discovery of the Unesco Heritage with Italia Nostra

Tomorrow, Saturday 10 May to Sunday 18 May, the Unesco Cultural Heritage Week of Italia Nostra returns, now in its fifth edition. The campaign involves territorial sections throughout the country - from the Eastern Alps to the Tyrrhenian Sea, from the Apennines to the Adriatic Sea - in a widespread, active and participatory reflection on the value of our heritage and its necessary protection.

The theme chosen for this edition is highly topical and important: “The tangible and intangible heritage recognized by UNESCO. What protection and enhancement?”. In a historical moment in which cultural heritage is increasingly exposed to threats such as mass tourism, climate change and the scarcity of resources for maintenance, Italia Nostra invites citizens, administrators and students to question the fate of the places and traditions that make Italy the nation with the highest number of UNESCO recognitions in the world: 59 sites of tangible cultural heritage and 16 sites of intangible cultural heritage.

The challenge of overcrowding

“The Cultural Heritage Week - underlines the national president of Italia Nostra, Edoardo Croci, represents a precious opportunity to relaunch attention on the need to protect and enhance not only the monumental sites, but also that “intangible” heritage - made up of celebrations, rites, practices and knowledge - which contributes in a decisive way to the cultural identity of our territories. The active participation of the Sections has been, as always, crucial to strengthen, at a local level, the bond between communities and heritage”.

This year's program bears witness to the richness and complexity of Italy's heritage, expressed in a wide variety of themes. Among the material assets, initiatives dedicated to military architecture are highlighted, as in the case of Bergamo, where the heritage walk highlights the circuit of the Walls, the complex of the Castle of San Vigilio and its annexed structures - part of the Venetian defensive works of the 16th and 17th centuries, now a UNESCO site. In Forlì, attention is instead turned to the heritage of industrial archaeology, with a conference and a photographic exhibition dedicated to the former Eridania sugar factory, a symbol of the productive memory of the 20th century and now at the center of a delicate moment of transition between abandonment and the possibility of public regeneration. The area, recently acquired by the Municipality, preserves significant architectural and environmental testimonies, intertwining the demands of historical conservation with those of urban biodiversity, also in homage to the figure of Pietro Zangheri, naturalist and co-founder of the Forlì section of Italia Nostra.

Initiatives on the Pale Mountains

Still on the front of cultural landscapes recognized by UNESCO, we highlight the initiatives dedicated to the Dolomites, recognized as a natural heritage site since 2009, today increasingly exposed to processes of overtourism and urbanization of mountain areas. The joint conferences promoted by the sections of Belluno, Trento and Bolzano represent a moment of collective reflection on the need for effective governance of the territory.

Among the religious assets, the initiative of the Melilli section (Syracuse) stands out, dedicated to the ceiling painted in 1759 by Olivio Sozzi in the Church of San Sebastiano, one of the masterpieces of eighteenth-century Sicily and already included in the Red List of Italia Nostra. Alongside the tangible heritage, there is also ample space for the intangible expressions of culture: from transhumance, an ancient pastoral practice recognized in 2019 as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, to popular festivals, rites and knowledge transmitted over time.

Particularly significant, in this sense, is the initiative of the Chieti section which, within the “Maggio teatino”, proposes a conference dedicated to the Presentosa – a traditional filigree medallion symbolizing love and belonging, linked to transhumance and the social practices of the Abruzzo-Molise Apennines – and a street festival animated by popular songs and dances, to restore value to a living, identity-based and intergenerational tradition. The memory of the association battles, such as the one recalled in Lanciano, is intertwined with the present, underlining the civic commitment to the protection of cultural diversity and the transmission of local knowledge.

From Agro Pontino to Sannio

Great attention is also paid to the minor and widespread heritage, often overlooked by large tourist flows but rich in historical, artistic, landscape and social value. This is the case of the Ponte Rotto on the Tammaro river, protagonist of a heritage walk organized by the Matese Alto Tammaro section: a Roman or late-Roman artifact, linked to the network of sheep tracks and important historical episodes such as the deportation of the Apuan Ligurians in the 2nd century BC, deported to Sannio from the Luni area. The area also preserves remains of ancient hydraulic works in stone, evidence of rural ingenuity and the relationship between man and the river landscape.

In Jesi, the Palazzo Carotti Honorati is the subject of a conference aimed at promoting the recovery of an extraordinary example of noble architecture, decorated in the eighteenth century by artists such as Domenico Valeri, Torregiani and Piastrini. Finally, in Latina, educational activities with schools along the Pontine stretch of the Appian Way – historically excluded from UNESCO recognition – enhance a linear route that crosses the Agro Pontino, among archaeological evidence, traces of reclamation and hydraulic regulation works, to rediscover with students the importance of this Roman artery both on an engineering and historical-cultural level.

The seventieth anniversary of the association

Cultural Heritage Week 2025 is part of the calendar of celebrations for the 70th anniversary of Italia Nostra and reaffirms the role of the Association as an active and widespread player in the defense of the landscape, collective memory and identity of the territories, reiterating the importance of informed and responsible civic participation for the construction of a more equitable and sustainable future.