The bond between men and Mother Nature is at the core of geographical and academical debates in recent decades. The absolute need for a transition towards a sustainable society characterized by “eco-friendly” solutions is evident and its implementation needs to include all the objectives envisaged by the UN Agenda 2030. Among them a more sustainable tourism, promoting culture and identity also with a view to non-pauperization and awareness-raising of topical resources is envisaged. Under such conceptual scenario the present proposal aims to develop an analysis of the context of the Lower Aosta Valley which, through a series of recently born projects, has been oriented towards an alternative tourist proposal with compared to the great mountaineering destinations, with a vision characterized by foresight and long-term sustainability. Following a planning process pertaining to the PNRR and through the collaboration and concertation of several local actors, the research has its roots in a renewed dialectic with the territory, transiting from the dimension of industrial decline, which has characterized its last decades, towards a Nature & Culture vocation. This proposal focuses on a new life for local contexts and a tourist dynamic characterized by soft mobility, focused on slow rhythms, inclusiveness, seasonal adjustment, capable of operating on two fronts: on the one hand, becoming a valid alternative to forms of alpine tourism with a sport-skiing imprint which, with the worsening effects of global warming, is experiencing increasingly uncertain and potentially critical seasons; on the other hand becoming a magnetic pole for the growing population segments which, with the pandemic crisis, has begun to positively revaluate the so-called slow and proximity tourism. The revaluation of the low and medium mountain paths appears as a defining proposal for a new dialogue between Society and Nature._x000D_

Anna Maria Pioletti; Massimiliano Fissore
Università della Valle d’Aosta

 
ID Abstract: 689