On 27 – 29 January 2022 the University of Padua hosts researchers, universities and institutions from all over Europe to conduct the rurAllure General Meeting. The meeting will be focused on new strategies in sustainable tourism in the post-Covid time via the promotion of rural heritage located along the European pilgrimage and cultural routes.

Walkers and cyclers are an important target for the tourism sector, especially now – given the growing interest in outdoor activities. In turn, the areas around the pilgrimage routes are ideal places to create new cultural and natural experiences and provide benefits to local communities.

The participants of the meeting will discuss project’s progress and next stages of development of the four pilots. From the literary heritage along the Camino de Santiago to the thermal sites of Etruscan and Roman origins along the three routes to Rome (Via Francigena, Romea Germanica and Strata), passing through the ethnographic heritage on the Scandinavian Way of Sant Olav, up to the naturalistic richness that a pilgrim can discover along the Way of Mary, which crosses Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

The combination of thermal heritage and pilgrimage routes in Italy provides a win- win situation for the promotion of sustainable tourism and creation of new tourism experiences.

Thermal water is naturally present along the Via Francigena and the Via Romea Stata.

As for instance Terme di Montegrotto, the Venetian site known for its millenary spa treatments traditions, and the Euganean spas, which mineral water have extraordinary therapeutic properties, are located along the Stata route next to Padua. They will be explored by the rurAllure partners on the technical visit.

Thermal heritage and pilgrimage routes are the main research topic by the universities of Padua, Bologna, IUAV Venice and UAM Madrid together with the European Association of the Via Francigena and the Fondazione Homo Viator.