Cultural sites and livable spaces: a case of intangible resources sustainable enhancement

The cultural heritage in Italy is characterized by many differences concerning landscapes and cultures and, for this reason, its safeguarding and enhancing need ad hoc methods and database capable to identify both tangible and intangible aspects of involved places. Many sites, for their outstanding beauty, have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites, requiring a more accurate enhancement, capable to meet both current visitor’s demands and sustainable preservation. Indeed, nowadays the visitor's demand is increasingly changing – also due the pandemic period and different kinds of risks - requiring an adaptation of the offer at different level: namely local, regional and national. Furthermore, many Unesco sites present more than one specialization such as Pompeii with both archaeological and religious tourism, or the Dolomites, with ecological, sport and food tourism. Other opportunities for visits are constituted by the great events, such as the Universal Exhibitions and the Olympic Games, which offer a reason to visit for a certain period of time and open up to the visitor further possibilities to enjoy the cultural attractions that the place owns. Finally, tourist guides organize personalized itineraries, increasing the possibilities of visits and the occasions to get to know the places in their many keys of interpretation. In Italy, there is the largest number of UNESCO WHS in the world: in 2021 the list include 58 properties of which 53 are cultural and 5 are natural. Since October 17, 2003, the UNESCO General Conference has expanded this list by creating the list of oral and intangible heritage, with "the aim of safeguarding these masterpieces to prevent their disappearance, preserving the extraordinary set of languages, rituals, social customs, and practices concerning the knowledge related to craftsmanship that over the millennia have been handed down from generation to generation representing the differences inherent in the evolution of humanity”. This list include: Dieta Mediterranea, transnational, added in 2013; Saper fare liutario di Cremona, 2012; Le Macchine dei Santi, di Nola, Palmi, Sassari, and Viterbo, 2013; Pratica agricola della vite ad alberello di Pantelleria, 2014; La Falconeria: un patrimonio umano vivente, transnational added in 2016; L'Opera dei Pupi - Sicilia -, 2008; Il Canto a Tenore - Sardegna -, 2008; L'arte dei pizzaiuoli napoletani, 2017; and L’Arte dei muretti a secco – transnational added in 2018). Starting from these premises, the paper aims to illustrate the results of a study focused on UNESCO heritage in Italy, with the author’s responsibility, namely identifying both positive factors and problems in the enhancement of these sites, with particular attention to the public spaces and the role of UNESCO recognition, also in relation to multiple kinds of crisis depending on new risks. The study was carried out in the framework of: the ISMed-CNR research entitled "Analysis and design of the contemporary territory: identity, health and liveability for resilient and sustainable places"; the Bilateral Cach Italy-China Program "Cultural itineraries: enhancement and management of great historical sites"; and PRIN research project (Bando Prin 2020). By way of example, the emblematic case study of the Machine of Santa Rosa in Viterbo, in the framework of the oral and intangible Unesco heritage list.