European Projects
2024-2027
The project “DETOUR: Developing Resilient Tourism Ecosystems along Mediterranean Routes” is funded by the European Union through the COSME program.
Having started on 1 November 2024 it has a duration of 3 years and an overall budget of 3 million euros. The project aims to support sustainable and resilient development of the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the tourism sector and thus improve services along the four pilot walking routes – Via Francigena, Lycian way, Sultan’s Trail and mountain routes in Greece. The project enhances SME’s ability to compete, innovate, and grow by taking advantage of funding opportunities and digital tools.
2024-2025
The HIKE project, funded by the EU under the Erasmus+ program, is designed to encourage healthier lifestyles through hiking along European cultural and historical trails. Launching on April 1st, 2024, and spanning 18 months, this initiative is a collaborative effort involving the Culture Routes Society in Türkiye (project leader), the European Association of the Via Francigena Ways, and the Social Co-operative Entreprise Paths of Greece. HIKE, an acronym for HIKing for a healthier lifestylE, merges physical activity with cultural discovery and it includes a series of 3-days long distance hikes are scheduled from September to November 2024, following selected stretches of the Via Francigena in Italy, Via Egnatia in Greece and the Tolerance way in Türkiye.
2021-2028
The Erasmus VET project provides a 122-day mobility for Italian school leavers in the fields of Tourism, Marketing and Business Information Systems, living along the Via Francigena – in the north and south of Italy. The young people will go to France, Spain and Albania to enrich their professional training through participation in internships. The project started in April 2021 and has a duration of 7 years.
2021-2022
Promotion and use of tourism data, focusing on the two major critical issues related to the distribution of flows: seasonality and diversification. In particular, Best Med will carry out actions to direct tourists from coastal areas to inland areas using the Mediterranean network of cultural, religious and landscape routes.
2021-2022
CoHeN is a strategic project that aims to promote cultural tourism through the valorization of the Adriatic-Ionian coastal routes of historical and contemporary buildings, their natural environment and related economic and cultural activities.
2021-2022
“TheRoute_Net – Thematic Routes and Networks” aims at enhancing cultural and thematic itineraries and historical routes in Italian Apulia and Greece. In Apulia the project restores 8 public buildings to create the first network of hostels along the Via Francigena of the South and the historical routes of Apulia, developing a accommodation system and related services for walkers and tourists.
2021-2023
«Promotion of rural museums and heritage sites in the vicinity of European pilgrimage routes»: the rurAllure action aims to leverage the state-of-the-art in information technologies in order to promote rural museums and heritage sites in the vicinity of major European pilgrimage routes. The goal is to foster symbiosis between the rural environment and the pilgrimage routes to enrich the cultural experience of the pilgrimage by the vast cultural heritage of rural areas that most often goes unnoticed. The project started in January 2021 and has a duration of 3 years.
Erasmus+ FORREs.T. 2.0
2020-2022
«FORREs.T. 2.0 – FOsteR an euRopEan identity through the Trainees mobility»: the project foresees 62 days of mobility for 100 Italian graduates from Tourism, Marketing and Corporate Information Systems sectors residing along the Via Francigena – in northern and southern Italy. The graduates will travel to France (40), the United Kingdom (20) and Spain (40) to obtain their international work experience. The project started in October 2020 and has a duration of 24 months.
Erasmus+ FORREs.T.
2019-2021
«FORREsT: new skills FOR expeRiEntial Tourism»: the European Association of the Via Francigena Ways has been awarded the Erasmus+ tender. 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 project started in September 2019 and has a duration of 24 months.
2019
Via Francigena in the Alpine macro-region: The European Association of the Via Francigena Ways contributes to the Alpine macro-region development via the Routes4U project. The project submitted by the EAVF is focused on the diffusion of the governance system and of the best practices of the Via Francigena. It aims to facilitate the replicability and capacity building in the entire Alpine macro-region and to ensure the valorization of the environment and sustainability. The project started in June 2019 and has a duration of 6 months.
2019
A European project led by Culture Routes Society (CRS), a non-governmental organization from Turkey which associated with the EAVF and Greek Trace Your Eco. Its main objective is to create a new cultural route – Via Eurasia, an itinerary from Turkey to Italy. The project also focuses on development of strong partnerships and intercultural dialogue among the partners and local municipalities along the proposed cultural route starting in Puglia, crossing Albania, Northern Macedonia and Greece, to Turkey. International cooperation and collaboration with international organizations are key principles of the present activity. Duration: 12 months.
Digital Cultural Heritage
2015
Topology and topography of cultural routes. Case study of the Via Francigena, project promoted by University of Lille and EAVF. It is focused on the analysis of the cultural heritage of the route, especially in France and Switzerland. Project financed by the University of Lille in 2015. Duration : 12 months.
2016
Preparation of a European Cultural Route between Europe and Turkey, co-funded in 2016 by the EU and Turkey in the framework of the Programme “Civil Society Dialogue between EU and Turkey – IV Regional Policy and Coordination of Structural Instruments”. Overall objectives: Transferring of European good practices on the Via Francigena development and transnational cultural routes ; facilitating dialogue among civil society organizations in Turkey and in Europe; integrating European and Turkish approaches to develop the Via Francigena from Italy toward Turkey; informing and assisting municipalities in Turkey and Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey. Duration: 12 months.
2016-2017
Via Romea Francigena: an innovative transnational cycling tourism product, co-funded in 2016 in the frmework of the COSME Programme, Call: “Supporting Competitive and Sustainable Growth in the Tourism Sector – COS-TOUR-2015-3-04”; Theme: Diversifying the EU tourism offer and products – Promoting transnational thematic tourism products. General Objectives: Diversification of the tourism offer of the destination Europe through the development of a transnational cycle itinerary Eurovelo 5 – Via Romea Francigena (EV5-VRF), as an innovative product for sport tourism and a healthy lifestyle while enhancing the European common cultural heritage along the Via Romea Francigena. Project duration: 18 months.
2012
Coordinated by the EAVF the project was co-funded in 2012, within the framework of the Preparatory Action “Sustainable Tourism”. The project strengthened cooperation on the international scale among the public and private actors involved at different levels in the enhancement of the cultural-tourist routes of the Via Francigena while fostering dialogue and exchange with other the European Cultural Routes.
CERTO
2012-2013
Cultural European Routes: Tools for a coordinated communication & marketing strategy, co-funded in 2012 by the European Commission – Enterprise and Industry Direction General in the framework of the CIP Programme. The project aimed at creating a shared and coordinated marketing and communication strategy for cultural tourism initiatives along European cultural routes. Duration : 18 months.
