The European Pilgrimage Routes for promoting sustainable and quality tourism in rural areas

The first International Conference on Pilgrimage Routes took place December 4 to 6, 2014. “The European Pilgrimage Routes for promoting sustainable and quality tourism in rural areas” was organized by: Department of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Systems (GESAAF) - University of Firenze in collaboration with the Tuscany Region, the Department for Life Quality Studies (QUVI) and Department of Agricultural Sciences (DipSA) - University of Bologna, the Italian Association of Agricultural Engineering (AIIA) and the European Association of the Via Francigena (AEVF). The Conference was held in the historic center of Florence involving 150 experts from 18 countries and was divided into two-day meetings with presentations of important exponents of the sector and a day of technical tour to Monteriggioni, dedicated to the Via Francigena in Tuscany. During the Conference numerous interventions were kept in the two parallel sessions for the five areas of discussion: conservation and evolution of the landscape along the routes; life quality and social impact; tourism and local development; sustainability in the rural areas; tools and methods for building a tourist attraction. The book has been edited by Matteo Barbari and Gianluca Bambi. M. Barbari, head of the Department of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Systems, University of Florence, is the author of over 200 publications; Gianluca Bambi, is the author of over 30 publications on the structures and infrastructures for rural tourism.