Promo - published on 03 November 2023
Source: press office Association for the Heritage of the Prosecco Hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene
Valdobbiadene, 30 October 2023-The first edition of “Narratori della Bellezza” (Narrators of Beauty), the project created and presented by the Association for the Heritage of the Prosecco Hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, ended with great success and with the awarding of certificates of attendance signed by the President of the Veneto Region, Luca Zaia, which was then selected by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre – one of 4 Italian projects and 76 in the world – to be part of the World Heritage Volunteers (WHV) 2023, the programme managed by Better World that aims to raise awareness and strengthen the involvement of young people, locally and globally, on the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage.
The focus of the project, which saw the Veneto Region, Savno, and Coldiretti Treviso as partners in the initiative, was the training of Narrators of Beauty, who – in a training course running from June to September 2023 – acquired skills on the valorisation of UNESCO heritages, in particular on the identity elements of the Prosecco Hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene – landscape, history, art, culture, and food and wine.
We are really proud of the success of this project, which we hope will become a best practice at the European level since we have already been asked by other UNESCO Sites for its organisation and purpose, – comments Marina Montedoro, President of the Association for the Heritage of the Prosecco Hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene. Educating future generations and passing on to them the knowledge and love for our territory is one of the primary objectives for the preservation and enhancement of a UNESCO Site. Only with this sense of belonging can the artistic, historical, natural and gastronomic excellence that we possess really be protected and promoted. With the “Narrators of Beauty” project, the young people who followed the course have acquired skills that they will be able to spend in any professional career they decide to undertake, becoming reference points, spokesmen and guardians of their World Heritage territory.
The skills acquired by the volunteers were many – some of the training modules tested in the project will then be translated into English and proposed to other World Heritage sites for the training of young volunteers – in particular oriented to the work of the territorial promoter and to tourist reception and hospitality, and the result, created by the young people, was projects for the enhancement of the territory centred on experiential tours able to meet the needs of different tourists, both in terms of target and holiday idea.
The Narrators of Beauty, – comments Francesco Volpini, director and coordinator of the World Heritage Volunteers project, – represent an innovative approach in the context of the World Heritage Volunteers initiative: an example of training and participation of young people in the valorisation of the territory and its universal values that will inspire the work of many organisations and volunteers in other parts of Italy and the world, officially enrolling the young people of the Prosecco Hills among the pioneering leaders in the protection and promotion of the cultural heritage of humanity. The training activity for the 13 young people was organised by Coldiretti Treviso through its accredited training body and coordinated by Coldiretti Veneto.The course, which started in June of this year, included a mixed delivery, online and in-presence, at the ‘Cerletti’ Oenological School of Conegliano, with outings in nature along the paths of the UNESCO area and with practical parts related to the themes developed during the educational itinerary.
Translated by Cecilia Flaccavento
Intern at the Chamber of Commerce of Treviso – Belluno|Dolomites
