Landscape Valorization and Rural Tourism Development: A Mobile Application for the Promotion of the Lauretana Way in Tuscany Region (Italy)

Europe has in its walkable landscape a pillar of its cultural identity (Steiner et al., 2006) Italy, where the way to Santiago and the way to Jerusalem connect by the via Francigena, assumes a barycentric role in this footprint geography. The Belpaese has a network of 44 routes (Cammini) recognized by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism (MiBACT, 2016) for their historicalcultural interest. Whilst following, in most cases, ancient pilgrimage routes, these itineraries are not strictly related only to religious tourism that has its main motivation in visiting religious sites that have often great artistic and historic value. Similarly, those traditional agricultural and rural landscapes that the routes often intercept are of great value. They can be the main driving force behind the sustainable socio-economic and cultural development of many rural areas. (Makuc, N.: Fostering socio-economic development of rural areas through cultural and religious tourism: innovative solutions for involvement of private sector. Firenze, 4–6 Dicembre 2014.Firenze University Press (2015)). The rural tourism, fostering the discovery of wine and food, agriculture, and typical handicraft, becomes a great potential for a wide range economic development and represents that form of “experiential tourism”. The Iter App provides a tool for reading and gaining experiential knowledge of the landscape of cultural routes, aimed at fostering their landscape valorisation and economic promotion. The case study presented is the Tuscan segment of the ancient Via Lauretana that mainly goes through the Siena countryside. The main output is an application for smartphones and tablets designed to narrate the landscape as well as to provide the practical and experiential exploration of the territory. The app intends to connect insiders and outsiders, architects/actors and users/spectators of the landscape, inhabitants and pilgrims. In this way the experience of the cultural roads could be transformed, for travellers, in an opportunity for a cultural growth and for residents in an economic chance.