Geoheritage Assessment and Potential Geotouristic Enhancement in Mountain Environments: a Test-Site in the Northern Apennines (Italy)

Abstract

This work proposes an integrated methodology to inventory and quantitatively assess the geosites located in a mountain context of northern Apennines. The geological and geomorphological heritage and the historical, cultural, and religious heritage produce a complex cultural landscape. Such a context is expressed sometimes through monumental examples and other times through hidden or invisible points of interest. In particular, the test area is located between the Emilia-Romagna and Toscana regions (high valley of Tiber, Senatello and Marecchia rivers), including part of three protected areas. The choice of these test sites has been addressed also considering that meaningful historical sites and cultural testimonies are widely present, in addition to the geological and geomorphological features. Amongst these sites, we have considered the Mt. Faggiola Castle ruins, where Dante was possibly hosted when exiled from Florence, the St. Francesco route from Rimini to La Verna, the Historical Park of the Gothic Line of Badia Tedalda and the background of one of the most iconic Leonardo da Vinci’s portraits, la Gioconda.

Linking Geoheritage or Geosite Assessment Results with Geotourism Potential and Development: A Literature Review

“…This indicates that geoheritage/geosite assessment is strongly related to geotourism in the aforementioned publications. To be more specific, the absolute majority of these papers discuss the specific values of the assessed geosites in terms of geoconservation, geotourism, and sustainable development, adopting some already defined and widely accepted geosite or geoheritage assessment methods [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52]. A brief overview of the most cited assessment methods is given below.…”

The Aesthetic Value of World Heritage Karst: A Literature Review and Implication for Huangguoshu Scenic Area Outstanding Universal Value

“…Kamarudin (2015) concluded that OUV is applicable to become the foundation of conservation education for the local community in Malaysia by adapting the 10 OUVs based on the authenticity and characteristic of Malaysia [70]. Based on these premises, Veronica, etc., (2022) have developed the inventory and quantitative assessment of seven geosites, aimed to enhance the geotouristic potential of this sector of the northern Apennines and propose a different reading and interpretation of the territorial values, to increase the local tourist attraction by enhancing the geotourism proposal [71]. Over time, WH sites have become established as important tourist destinations, and UNESCO's policy toward WH sites is no longer just about conservation, but now also includes sustainable tourism [72].…”

Educational Potential of Geoheritage: Textbook Localities from the Zagros and the Greater Caucasus

“…Various approaches for the evaluation of the general and educational importance of geoheritage have already been proposed [7,12,[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]. In his seminal work devoted to the Heritage 2023, 6 5982 comprehensive quantitative assessment of geosites, Brilha [7] proposed several criteria for judgments of their educational potential, namely vulnerability, accessibility, use limitations, safety, logistics, density of population, association with other values, scenery, uniqueness, observation conditions, didactic potential, and geological diversity.…”