Enhancing underground sites: the proposal relaunched by the BMTA in Paestum

Listen to the audio version of the article

Enhancing underground archeology in Italy: caves, crypts, catacombs, tunnels, labyrinths, places full of charm and history, which allow emotional and sustainable paths and tell the stone and its mysteries, life under the noise of everyday life. The project – which takes up the “Catacombs of Italy” project, launched in 2018 by Cardinal Ravasi with the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archeology – was discussed in the Focus on Underground Archeology which was held as part of the XXIV Scholarship Mediterranea of ​​the Archaeological Tourism of Paestum which this year is full of visitors.

Underground to be relaunched

A heritage of great value, sometimes overlooked, which meets the growing demand for experiential tourism. Consider that, out of 1,154 Unesco sites, 20% (221) are both natural and artificial caves and cavities (mining, worship, hydraulic, transit, warfare, civil settlements). Natural ones are over 37 thousand in Italy. The largest number of natural cavities, in relation to the size of the territory, is in Friuli Venezia Giulia, the greatest number of all is in Veneto, the largest are in Tuscany. Campania also has it: in Campania there are 1,315 natural caves, over 70% (935) in the province of Salerno; the largest is the Castelcivita cave. Of the artificial ones, 96, the large majority, are in the province of Naples where industrial activity is most important.

Pasquale Iacobone, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archeology, reported on the five editions of the Days of the Catacombs, 1,800 years after the death of Pope Callisto (“the inventor of the catacombs”) and 200 years after the birth of the archaeologist Giovanni Battista De Rossi.

Cultural tourism, 8.3 million visitors a year in the South

The cultural offer in the South attracts 8.3 million visitors a year, equal to 8% of the national total. As part of the conference, the research curated by SRM Studi e Ricerche per il Mezzogiorno of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group was presented (anticipated by Sole 24 Ore Sud on 14 October). From this it emerges that the number of people who visit the places of culture of which the South is rich is still very limited. “Today’s tourist is used to traveling, is informed and prefers short stays, but full of experience – said Salvio Capasso, head of the Enterprise and Territory service of Srm – The tourist who goes to the South goes there mainly for the sea, then search for museums. In northern destinations, one arrives to visit the museum ». For Srm, Campania stands out in the tourist scenario of the South, which is third in Italy for visitors, after Tuscany and Lazio, but is sixth for the number of visitors in the cities of art.

The candidacy of the Appia Antica as a Unesco site has been presented

The candidacy started last May. But it was re-presented on the occasion of the BMTA held in Paestum until October 30th. The Via Appia Antica, the first and most important of the great roads built by the ancient Romans, also known as “Regina Viarum”, is the first candidacy for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List promoted and coordinated directly by the ministry of Culture, from the UNESCO Office of the General Secretariat. An unprecedented serial project: 4 Regions, 73 Municipalities, 15 Parks, 12 between Metropolitan Cities and Provinces, 25 Universities, 28 offices of the same ministry, as well as numerous territorial communities, joined together to protect, enhance and promote the candidacy of this path , which develops almost entirely in Southern Italy.