The proposal to create greenways networks for the enhancement of more or less vast areas is of great importance to territory planning. The paths, which are overlaid on pre-existing linear patterns, promote the development of endogenous resources and facilitate direct learning of the territory's historical, cultural, environmental and landscaping assets. Rural areas can be strongly influenced by setting up a greenways network, as their use not only promotes the exchange of knowledge between users and inhabitants, but also encourages the enjoyment of various areas (agricultural landscapes, scattered cultural heritage, protected environments) that would otherwise be inaccessible due to their distance from the traditional routes. Altogether, this favours the introduction of economic activities based on their typical characteristics. This work identifies the appropriate road infrastructure, available in the former Province of Syracuse (East Sicily), for building greenways networks that will best contribute to the valorisation of their surrounding territory. This work assigns great importance to landscape features as factors of tourist and cultural attraction. We have used the multi-criteria analysis associated with geographic information system (GIS). We have weighed and mapped numerous indicators to define the territory's infrastructural, landscape, cultural, and tourist resources, meaning those able to increase the use of the territory and/or that determine attractiveness for the population. The GIS analysis allowed us to develop numerous intermediate maps, whose information helped us to draw up the final map illustrating the suitability of the existing infrastructures that could be useful while planning of a greenway network. Such infrastructures could be the subject of specific plans or detailed projects aimed at enhancing the pre-existing resources of a rural territory. This study, although referring to a defined territory, is methodologically valid in a general sense and can be used in various contexts.

Nowadays, in many countries around the world, abandoned railways are considered as important resources that can be recovered and converted into greenways, thanks to their specific adaptability to this function. With its about 1000 km of dismantled lines, Sicily is the Italian region where the abandonment of railways is more evident. Nevertheless, to the present day, only about 20 km have been converted in greenways. As a recovery action requires large investments, it is necessary to determine a priority list based on the actual suitability of a track to be converted. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to define and apply a methodology, based on multi-criteria analysis associated with geographical information system (GIS), for the assessment of different suitability degrees of an abandoned railway to be converted in greenway for agro-touristic and cultural use of the land. The work was developed on two abandoned railway lines, sited in the province of Syracuse, embedded in landscapes of great value thanks to the existence of natural areas and cultural heritage. The applied method attributes great importance to the quality of the landscape that is considered in the same way as the intrinsic characteristics of the track. Several indicators were weighed and spatially mapped to describe the local resources at the margin of the track and the characteristics of the stretches of the two lines. The GIS analysis allowed obtaining various intermediate maps containing the necessary information for drawing the ultimate maps, which showed the suitability of each line to be converted in greenway. The results showed that the suitability level depends on the specific characteristics of the railroad and its marginal values, as well as on the quality of the landscape and the development opportunities that it offers. The creation of greenways can thus become a support to make easier the integration between the landscape and the growing demands of land, economic and tourist development, while maintaining intact the rural land and favoring its connection with the urban centers. The study, although referred to specific territorial areas, is generally valid from a methodological point of view and can be applied in other contexts.

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