European Places of the Spirit
The project main objective is the creation of a European network of areas and regions that are rich in spiritual and cultural traditions and heritage. The network will link together territories in Umbria (Italy), a region known as the ‘land of Saints’ for its stunning religious heritage, Marche (Italy), whose concentration of ‘sacred place’ is one of the highest in the Country and where there is one of the richest Romanic religious heritage in Europe; North-East Region (Romania), a region famous for the painted monasteries of Bucovina dating back to XV-XVI Century and Thessalia (Greece), where, in the XIV Century, the famous meteorisa monastiria (monasteries built on top of pinnacles) were built and developed. The project will develop activities in order to achieve two broad aims: - awareness-raising among local populations about their own cultural heritage seen as a cornerstone of regional and national identity, through dissemination of information, - attraction of qualified tourist flows to the regions involved, through the creation of ‘packages’ focused on the spiritual and cultural aspects of these areas of Europe and linked together through a thematic network called ‘European Places of the Spirit’. The network, supported by IT instruments, will be able to offer tourists looking for a spiritual destination all the necessary information, along with the links to the partner countries that could offer a similar travelling experience.