A Heritage Interpretation-Based Itinerary to Enhance Tourist Use of Traditional Rural Buildings

Abstract

Abstract:The study describes the planning strategy for a tourist itinerary in rural areas located in South-Eastern Sicily which aimed at promoting cultural rural heritage and diversifying the tourist offer. The planning of the tourist itinerary occurred within an appropriate heritage interpretation strategy as a working method which could facilitate the understanding and social use of the heritage sites located along the itinerary. The tourist itinerary combined significant territory potential such as traditional rural buildings and enogastronomy. It included a starting point; which is a heritage site and an already well known "tourist attraction", and several other tourist resources selected on the basis of the information derived from the analysis of the profile of the average visitor to the area. An interpretation center, which was located at the heritage site, and several interpretation media placed at each stopping point included in the itinerary supported the tourists during their trip. By promoting traditional rural buildings and enogastronomy, the tourist itinerary represents a significant opportunity for rural diversification and, therefore, can contribute to achieving sustainable socio-economic development of rural areas.

Sustainable Development of Rural Tourism in An Giang Province, Vietnam

“…The positive attitude depends on the satisfaction level in terms of destination image [39,40]; environment, famous places, travel costs, climate [49]; territories, personal services and human factors [50], etc. Besides, Prideaux [51] and Leanza et al [52] pointed out that cultural heritage is a destination attraction's uniqueness, which is extremely important in the tourism industry [53,54]; therefore, it plays vital roles in attracting visitors and affecting their revisit intention [55]. In addition, the interpretation of heritage is critical to stimulate visitors to enjoy new knowledge and positive attitudes towards the heritage [52,54]; thus, it is also a significant element affecting the intention [56].…”

Rural Tourism Accommodation Prices by Land Use-Based Hedonic Approach: First Results from the Case Study of the Self-Catering Cottages in Asturias

“…In this regard, the studies of Prideaux [14], Porto et al [15], De Montis et al [16], and Leanza et al [17] should be noted as they analyze the viability of recuperating rural buildings for use in tourism. Prideaux [14] analyses the viability of a rural heritage tourism development programme in the Australian Queensland Heritage Trails Network.…”

“…To achieve this object, he compares the project selection criteria adopted by the Queensland Heritage Trails Network with the community consultative process used to establish the feasibility of a Rural Heritage Interpretation Centre proposed for Gatton Shire in southeast Queensland. Porto et al [15] and Leanza et al [17] design a planning strategy for a tourist itinerary located in rural areas of southeastern Sicily. The Donnafugata Castle is chosen as a specific heritage site, and it connects several heritage attractions located in the rural area surrounding the castle.…”

Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Nets for Strengthening Lava Stone Masonries in Historical Buildings

“…Since the tested masonries are quite recurrent in coeval buildings, especially in the eastern part of Sicily [16], the results are very useful for achieving improvement of the seismic behavior of historical buildings. Therefore, some research studies are directed towards the use of contemporary building materials and techniques (e.g., base isolation, energy dissipation, shape-memory alloy devices, and FRP materials) that could be acceptable for reducing the seismic vulnerability of historical buildings if philologically correct, i.e., if it produces compatible and reversible building interventions.…”

“…Since the tested masonries are quite recurrent in coeval buildings, especially in the eastern part of Sicily [16], the results are very useful for achieving improvement of the seismic behavior of historical buildings. …”