Cultural heritage and creativity for sustainable and inclusive tourism in fortress monuments

26-29 March 2025, Forte di Bard (IT)

Europe is facing major challenges in terms of sustainability, identity and social commitment. Fortress monuments such as Forte di Bard (IT) can become catalysts for cultural and economic change. Fortresses offer an almost perfect environment for creative tourism due to their number and distribution in Europe, their size and construction, their history and associated traditions and their transformation from military objects to lively cultural centres.

The FORTE CULTURA Congress 2025 in the Forte di Bard fortress dealt, among other things, with the question of how Creative tourism can promote the sustainable development of fortified cultural heritage sites. It also examined how fortress managers, policy makers and cultural organisations can promote heritage conservation by applying the principles of the New European Bauhaus (NEB) with modern ecological and social needs.

Read more articles in the FORTE CULTURA Wissenschaftsblog, z.B.:

• Creative tourism and fortified cultural heritage: a new approach to sustainable tourism
• Das neue europäische Bauhaus und die Festungen: Wie das Erbe eine nachhaltige Zukunft gestalten kann
• Kreativtourismus trifft auf das Neue Europäische Bauhaus: eine gemeinsame Vision für das gefestigte Kulturerbe

List of conference presentations

Greetings

• Ornella BADERY, President Associazone Forte di Bard 🎬
• Filippo Maria CAILOTTO, President FORTE CULTURA 🎬

Beiträge

• FORTE CULTURA – European Cultural Route Fortified Monuments 🎬
  Dirk RÖDER, Vice President FORTE CULTURA (DE)
• TRANSIT project 🎬
  (Alcotra IT FR – Cross-border cooperation programme): Transition from traditional tourism models to sustainable artistic cultural tourism in small mountain destinations
  Luca BRINGHENAssociazione Forte di Bard (IT)
• New European Bauhaus (NEB) and Creative Tourism 🎬
  Strategies to connect fortified heritage with sustainable and inclusive regional development.
  Filippo Maria CAILOTTO, Vizepräsident FORTE CULTURA (IT)
• CREATIVE TOURISM STRATEGIES in fortified cultural heritage sites
  Creative tourism based on cultural heritage for revitalisation and regeneration: interweaving culture, place and cooperation
  Nancy DUXBURYUniversität von Coimbra (PT)
• The new NEB initiatives and the strategies for integrating NEB values
  Filippo Maria CAILOTTO, Vizepräsident FORTE CULTURA (IT)
• ETHNIC – A project to support the NEB’s transformative vision
  Mauro DINI, Vizepräsidentin der Unione Montana del Montefeltro (IT)
• Essere Urbani – A project honoured with the NEB Award
  Alessandra NEGLIA, Projektleiter, Präsident U Jùse APS. (IT)
• Participatory governance and valorisation of coastal fortifications on the Adriatic – the case of Pula (HR)
  Nataša UROŠEVIĆ, University of Pula (HR), Head of the Scientific Advisory Board of FORTE CULTURA
• Suomenlinna strategies for community engagement and local economic impact
  Carita WILENIUS-RANTALAExekutivdirektor, Ehrensvärd-Gesellschaft, Suomenlinna UNESCO WHS, Helsinki (FI)
• Strategies of community engagement for cultural events, tourism and regional development in Josefov (CZ)
  Tomáš JIROUCH, Fortified IDdeal City Josefov (CZ), FORTE CULTURA Board
• Fundraising for the fortress heritage through cross-border projects
  Dirk RÖDERVizepräsidentin FORTE CULTURA (DE)

Workshop on the mountain fortress project

As part of the FORTE CULTURA congress, a workshop was held on the “Mountain Fortresses Project”. The project, led by the Srebrna Góra Fortress (PL), aims to get mountain fortresses on the UNESCO World Heritage List. At the workshop, the participating partners Srebrna Góra Fortress (PL), Königstein Fortress, Saxony (DE), Forte di Bard (IT), Rocca D’Anfo Fortress (IT) and Forte di Fenestrelle (IT) presented their locations as well as their challenges and similarities as mountain fortresses.

Experienced experts on the subject of fortress heritage and the UNESCO World Heritage List complemented the workshop with specialist contributions:

• Initiative lecture
  Dr. Hans-Rudolf NEUMANNECCOFORT e.V., ICOFORT (DE)
• High mountain fortresses: Comparative analysis
  PhD. hab. prof. Grzegorz PODRUCZNYProf. UAM, Faculty of History, Adam Mickiewicz University Poznań (PL)
• Introduction to the role of tourism in the World Heritage system
  phd ing. Katarzyna PAŁUBSKAFaculty of Historical Sciences, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, Warsaw (PL)
• The Finnish World Heritage Sites Interpretation Project
  Carita WILENIUS-RANTALAExecutive Director, Ehrensvärd Society, Suomenlinna UNESCO WHS, Helsinki (FI)

FORTE CULTURA General Assembly 2025

The FORTE CULTURA annual congress always includes a general meeting. You can find a detailed report in this article:

• Forte di Bard (IT): General Assembly elects new FORTE CULTURA President

Excursion programme

This year’s excursion programme led to the Das Schloss von Issogne with exciting insights into the history of the region. The subsequent lunch snack in the Haus BERTOLIN left nothing to be desired in terms of northern Italian cuisine.

Picture gallery

The FORTE CULTURA Congress 2025 at Forte di Bard was a successful event with a contrasting programme, lots of information, exciting discussions and the best Italian hospitality. We would like to thank our host Vereinigung Forte di Bard and in particular Cristiano Accornero for a great time.

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