ACARBIO closed the year with a RESCUE dissemination event on the 18th of December, in Tramonti, to share the concept and the outcomes of the project with the local organizations and citizens. The RESCUE project has been an ongoing international Erasmus+ program with participating organizations from France, Greece, Italy, and Romania. With the aim of rescuing abandoned public spaces and training local stakeholders on how to make changes in their communities, the project has realized many diversified results. The new functionality of these places is just the surface of what this initiative had an impact on. Involving local actors in the process meant that now they have a personal connection to the cause and the network to continue taking care of the ambiance of their community. This ownership will help them to create a change in the long term, bringing alive the legacy of the RESCUE project. With a new Resource Book, all this information can be found in one place summarized and categorized. To help the effectiveness of the dissemination, the book is available in all the languages of the participating organizations (French, Greek, Italian, and Hungarian) and also in an interactive form.
One of the public places of the Amalfi Coast rescued by ACARBIO is the pathway of Eleonora d’Aragona, starting from Corsano, Tramonti reaching up to the breathtaking view of the top of the mountain where the cemetery is located and from where you can look down to the whole valley surrounded by the Monti Lattari all the way to the sea. In 2021 and 2022 the rescuing team researched the history of the place, made interviews with neighbors and local stakeholders, cleaned the path of waste, and created signage that can show the direction for the hikers. On this cleaned path we held the dissemination event for interested locals such as cultural associations, tourism actors (e. g. hiking guides), educators, administration, citizens, and passionates.
Sunday morning we met outside the office of ACARBIO, and had a few conversations and introductions both about the event and the participating experts. Then slowly started to walk up the path: the sun was shining, and people were smiling meanwhile we were climbing the mountain asking questions and giving insights on nature, landscape, and other specifics about the surrounding. Though we presented the restoration work, historical research, and the hiking value of the path, the group also interacted with each other all along the way without us facilitating the discussions.
Finally, at the end of the event we visited the local cultural association, Paranza ro Tramuntan, where we first regained our energy with lunch and some sweets then learned about local ancient bread-making and folklore music. We also took this opportunity to present the other RESCUE places, the guide, and the resource book.
It was a day of admiring local nature and culture through learning more about their hidden details and to be honest, it wasn’t hard to enjoy the event with the weather and a group of people like this.