On 15 October 2019, the two-year transnational mobility project “FORREsT: new skills FOR expeRiEntial Tourism” was presented at the council chamber of the Fidenza townhall as part of the European ERASMUS + program aimed at 70 young graduates in tourism and marketing.

The European Association of the Via Francigena Ways (EAVF) has been awarded a tender, among 359 candidates, and is the leader of a consortium that includes eleven schools in Valle d’Aosta, Piedmont, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Lazio, Tuscany Region, Tourist Promotion Company of the province of Turin, Italian Association of Youth Hotels and Radio Francigena. Technical partner of the project is Euro Glocal s.r.l.

The project foresees 62 days of mobility of 70 Italian graduates from Tourism, Marketing and Corporate Information Systems sectors to travel to France, the United Kingdom and Spain (25 students to France, 20 students to the United Kingdom and 25 – to Spain), to enrich their professional training through international work experiences.

The entire project has a duration of two years 2 years and foresees the departure of the newly graduated young people between January 2020 and January 2021. The internships are intended for graduates within one year of acquiring the degree. The experience consists of a training and work experience at a company or training institution in another country participating in the program.

The internship is an integral part of the vocational training course and aims to create a link between training and the acquisition of professional skills useful for the labour market. Young people will have an opportunity to carry out this training thanks to a scholarship.

The project was presented by Luca Bruschi, director of the European Association of the Via Francigena Ways (EAVF), and by Angelo Morrone of Euro Glocal.

EAVF President Massimo Tedeschi, present at the meeting, underlined the importance of the project which focuses on the skills of young people – future professionals of the Via Francigena, who will enhance cultural and tourism opportunities of the European cultural route.

This project connects the educational institutions along the Via Francigena to offer an interesting training opportunity in the field of tourism and management. Young people and schools will be the real protagonists of the project that is part of an international trend of strong development of experiential and sustainable tourism.

In the coming weeks specific info-day will be held in schools, info points will be established in schools; in addition, the final list of participants of the programme will be published. More information will be available on www.viefrancigene.org.