“Calabria, due to its geographical and orographic configuration unique in the world, needs planning that unites parks, reserves, paths and walks in a single model of sustainable development. For years now, we have been working in the wake of planning that enhances its natural heritage through responsible usability, the integration between sea and mountains and the construction of a tourist destination that generates economy, experience and awareness. This is the vision that President Occhiuto has chosen to support and in which we will continue to invest with determination because it represents the future of our land”.
This was said by the Councilor for the Environment of the Calabria Region, Antonio Montuoro, introducing the presentation event of the executive project dedicated to the implementation of the path network in the coastal protected areas of the Regional Marine Parks Authority (Epmr) of Calabria, held in the headquarters of the Environment department of the Calabria Region.
The initiative is part of a broader framework of territorial reconnection between the coast and the interior, between the Ionian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea, between marine parks and the hilly landscape. The project, which involves a total investment of around 4 million euros, was created to build a network of routes that combines nature, culture and community and that gives Calabria back its dimension as a traversable, accessible and aware region.
At the center of the work, coordinated by the general director of the Regional Marine Parks Authority of Calabria (Epmr), Raffaele Greco, together with Corrado Panelli, of the Studio Territorium of Valdilana, is an idea of trails that is not limited to tracing new paths, but which builds relationships between people, territories and habitats, integrating the coastal experience with that of the villages and hilly areas. The meeting was attended by associations, technicians and operators in the sector, including Legambiente Ricadi, Soverato in viaggio, Kalabria Trekking, the CAI, the FIE, Sailing the Gulf and officials of the regional Environment and Tourism departments.
“A context of dialogue – highlighted councilor Montuoro – which allowed us to share critical issues, solutions and visions, confirming how the paths represent a laboratory of participation that goes beyond the infrastructure to become a collective process of education, protection and active citizenship”.
Montuoro, in his previous legislative activity as regional councilor, was the promoter, in synergy with other colleagues, of the Law establishing the Calabria Paths Network and of the Framework Law Rules on protected areas and the regional biodiversity system, thanks to which new protected areas were established – including the natural reserves of Vergari di Mesoraca, of the Dunes of Giovino in Catanzaro, of the Vitravo river and of the rock caves of Verzino, of Trinchise di Magisano, dei Laghi La Vota di Gizzeria and the Sant’Andrea Apostolo dello Jonio nature reserve – taking them from 2 to 8 and today central elements of a network that the Region intends to systematically strengthen.
The regional councilor for the Environment, then congratulating director Greco for the impressive work carried out in recent months, stated that “this project does not represent a point of arrival but a further step in a strategy that sees the environment becoming a lever for economic development, slow tourism and cultural growth. The Region – concluded Montuoro – will work in full synergy with the EPMR to build an integrated system of sustainable use that embraces the entire Calabrian territory. Therefore, this idea represents a decisive piece for the construction of a Calabria that no longer separates sea and mountains, but which sees them as a single eco-sustainable system. This is the revolution of a Calabria no longer divided between seas and mountains but to be lived in a complementary way”.
Greco explained that “it is a project that affects the narrowest stretch of Calabria, where the two seas almost touch, and involves numerous municipalities on the Ionian, Tyrrhenian and inland sides, together with the main Special Conservation Areas. The network of Marine Parks thus becomes a natural and cultural infrastructure that connects to the great regional paths, from the Ciclovia dei Parchi to the Kalabria Coast to Coast, from the Sentiero Italia to the Cammino Basiliano, from the Sentiero del Brigante to that of San Francesco da Paola, from the Cammino dei Frati Santi (Bisignano) to that of the Santa Spina of Petilia Policastro, from the Cammino della Magna Grecia to the Mariano del Pollino, generating a continuum that expands the hiking offer and promotes a different way of experiencing the region”.
During the meeting the Region put on the table the challenges it intends to face: from the absence of uniform signage to poor accessibility for those with reduced mobility, and then again the degradation of the dunes, the presence of waste in coastal areas, the lack of routes and connections between parks, as well as a tourist season that is too short which requires a rethink in terms of deseasonalization.
“The project – Greco finally remarked – responds precisely to each of these critical issues through targeted redevelopment, communication and valorisation interventions, designed to restore continuity and identity to the Calabrian landscapes. The path network of the Marine Parks thus becomes an invitation to discover the region in a slow, respectful and conscious way, transforming every path into an experience and every step into a gesture of protection”.