“Co.Co.Tour” project partners attended from 17 to 19 April 2019 the cross border working session to define the principles, practices and management/promotion plan of the respective Eco museums. This fruitful cross border meeting was held in Tricase (Italy) with the participation of all project partners, the associated partner (NAPA), officers from Joint Secretariat, delegates from CIHEAM Bari, Mayor of Tricase Municipality, etc.
In this working session it was presented the Port Museum of Tricase as a starting model already developed, the territorial analyses carried out in each territory, the vision and strategy for the definition of common guidelines that will lead to the creation, management and promotion of a cross-border eco-museums network.
The first day of the meeting after the opening remarks, welcoming and presentations of each participant, Mr Antonio Errico, President of Magna Grecia Mare Association, presented the Port Museum of Tricase. This Port Museum is a unique and precious example of a museum made out of a port, sea, coastal territory and especially the local community while promoting its traditions and heritage. An impressive tool was the “Mappa di Comunità”, a large drawing of the activities that add value to the port, realized thanks to the contribution of the whole local community. During this day it was also presented the “WEBPORT”, a digital port, where coastal communities meet to exchange perspectives and experience, share good practices and build “bridges” of dialogue and friendship. ADF representatives explained in details and discussed with other partners and the JS officers about the updated action plan, the next steps to be implemented and the expected deliverables. Another topic discussed was the renovation, physical accessibility and preparation of the access point of the Eco museum. In the afternoon the Magna Grecia Mare Association accompanied the participants in a guided visit to Port Museum of Tricase, presenting all the structures and peculiarities while meeting some local stakeholders.
The second meeting day started with the discussion on the communication issues and the steps to follow for a better presentation of the project to the stakeholders. The Italian partners presented the Communication Plan of Tricase to the Albanian and Montenegrin participants. In order to improve smart usability of the heritage and for a smart community development, was presented the “APP” product. After that, all the partners presented the territorial analysis and continued by identifying strengths and general critical points of each area. An important point was the promotion of Himarë, Herceg Novy and Tricase related to tourism. The central point of the project is accessibility (the physical-information-transport-economic-psycho-social accessibility), a concept was presented from the Italian accessibility expert for the project in general. He emphasized, accessibility for people with disability is therefore not only a human right imperative, but also an exceptional business opportunity. In the afternoon, all partners participated to a guided-tour to Santa Maria di Leuca and low Salento coast area.
Third and last day of meeting, opened with the introduction of the consultant engaged to prepare the common guidelines with specific features, priorities and missions for whole network and the cooperation between eco-museums. Dr Cataldi, presented the vision and strategy of the museum and opened a discussion on the concept of Port Museum for definition of principles and practices, to define vision, strategies and put it in connection and comparison with the others, in order to elaborate the Port Museum guidelines.
The meeting ending with discussions, which was an opportunity to address the next steps of the “Co.Co.Tour “Project.
A special thanks goes to the organizing partners Associazione Magna Grecia Mare & Tricase Municipality and to the representatives of the Joint Secretariat of the Interreg IPA CBC Italy-Albania- Montenegro Programme for attending the meeting.