The first formal agreement ever signed in Italy between a regional marine park and a national mountain park has been signed: an agreement that marks a historic step in the governance of protected areas and which projects the action of the Regional Marine Parks Authority beyond the coastline, within an integrated sea-land narrative.
It is the general director of the Regional Marine Parks Authority of Calabria, Raffaele Greco, and the extraordinary commissioner of the Pollino National Park, Luigi Lirangi, who establish the profound meaning of the agreement formalized between the two bodies, approved by resolution of the Board of Directors of the Park Authority and validated by the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security in the context of the supervisory activities provided for by the framework law on protected areas. A step that establishes the first formal agreement between a marine park and a mountain park, opening a new season of institutional cooperation and integrated planning.
At the signing of the agreement, in addition to director Greco and commissioner Lirangi, Antonio Ciminelli, manager of the Secca di Amendolara marine park, was also present.
Common strategy
It is the first time in Calabria – underlined Greco and Lirangi – that a marine park and a mountain park define a common strategy for the use, promotion and narration of the territory. This protocol is not a formal act, but the result of a cultural and administrative path that overturns the paradigm of protected areas: no longer isolated systems, but territorial infrastructures capable of dialogue, integration and generating social, economic and identity value”.
The heart of the agreement is a continuous experiential itinerary, created to enhance the Via degli Stazzi, an ancient transhumance route that unites the Ionian and Pollino, the Apennine coast and ridge, marine biodiversity and internal landscapes. An uphill route that starts from Amendolara, crosses Castroregio, Alessandria del Carretto, Terranova del Pollino and ends in Santa Severina; and which, in the opposite direction, connects Santa Severina to San Lorenzo Bellizzi, Plataci, Albidona, finally returning to Amendolara.
Model change
“It is not a simple geographical connection – added the director general and the commissioner – but a change of model. We are working to overcome the idea of fragmented and seasonal tourism, building a continuous, slow, conscious experiential offer, capable of bringing together sea, mountains, villages, paths, paths, communities. It is the same philosophy that has guided the action of the EPMR in recent years: above all from the overcoming of the commissioner phase in the first months of the current year to the strengthening of governance, from European planning to ability to intercept extra-budgetary resources, up to the construction of concrete tools for sustainable use. A budget that today becomes a shared heritage and an open vision towards 2026. By January the scientific committee will be established and the official presentation of the events and the mission will be held at the headquarters of the Secca di Amendolara marine park, in the presence of the regional councilors for the Environment and Tourism, Antonio Montuoro and Giovanni Calabrese”.
The presentation
To draw up an institutional balance sheet of the activities carried out from 2023 to 2025 and illustrate the projects and prospects for 2026, a public event has been set, scheduled for Friday 19 December, at 10.30 am, in the Epmr headquarters at the Ex Tonnara in Bivona.
On this occasion, the 2026 edition of the traditional Calendar of the Institution will be presented which, coherently interpreting the reiterated mission of the Marine Parks with the new governance of Raffaele Greco, changes its skin and is preparing to become, beyond its natural function, a real tool and a replicable model of integrated territorial marketing.
The initiative, coordinated by the strategic communicator Lenin Montesanto, will be attended by the regional councilor Antonio Montuoro and the director Greco.