The Val d’Orcia World Heritage Site is named after the Orcia River, which gives life to the area and brings its people together. This concept forms the basis of the cultural activities and educational programmes developed around the theme of water, a vital resource that must be protected and valued.

The project was implemented through classroom lectures, as well as observation and research activities, workshops, field trips, and guided tours of the area.
Students and their families were involved in educational activities outside the school environment through special itineraries called ‘Water Itineraries’, consisting of educational tours and visits to ‘water sites’.
To encourage participation in and awareness of the initiatives, a calendar of planned activities was created, and special brochures and information posters were produced.

Thanks to these itineraries, greater attention could be drawn to issues crucial to the protection of water resources, including:

• attention to waste;
• proper management of consumption;
• respect for water as a primary resource.

These activities also provided an opportunity to reflect on the protection of the landscape, the territory and historical and cultural heritage in general.
On the theme of protection and the fight against waste, local schoolchildren produced an information booklet entitled “Salviamo l’Acqua” (Let’s Save Water), which was then distributed to all families in order to involve adults in the awareness-raising process, while promoting greater collaboration between families and school activities.

The organisation of guided tours entitled “Water Itineraries” allowed visitors to discover environments and places in the Val d’Orcia World Heritage Site that are normally little known and to appreciate the territory by developing further forms of protection and preservation of resources and the landscape.

Project funded through Italian Law 77/2006
Year 2013
Funding received € 18.000