Val d’Orcia is a landscape made for walking, slowness, and discovery. Through the project “Development of infrastructure to support sustainable mobility for hiking activities,” the UNESCO site continues its path of enhancement with targeted interventions aimed at improving the accessibility of trails, while fully respecting the area’s cultural and environmental identity.

Funded by the Ministry of Culture under Law 77/2006 dedicated to UNESCO Sites, the project responds to the public notice “Special measures for the protection and enjoyment of Italian sites of cultural, landscape, and environmental interest included in the UNESCO World Heritage List,” contributing to the requalification of access points along the hiking network.

Recognized by UNESCO for its unique harmony between humans and nature, the Val d’Orcia landscape remains at the heart of dynamic, participatory conservation strategies. The creation of rest areas fits into this framework: soft mobility, hiking, and cycling become tools for knowledge and respect, helping to foster a culture of landscape rooted in sustainability, inclusion, and authentic experience.

The intervention is based on the UNESCO site’s Management Plan, in particular the Promotion, Education and Communication Plan, which promotes awareness of Val d’Orcia through its trail network. The main objectives include:

• improving the usability and efficiency of the existing trail system
• strengthening and upgrading the access points to the UNESCO site
• enhancing environmental and landscape quality
• expanding opportunities for conscious and respectful tourism
• integrating the outdoor offering with light infrastructure and services.

Throughout its implementation, the project adapted to evolving territorial needs and regulatory updates, identifying new, more functional access points that align with the current configuration of the hiking network and the latest road infrastructure regulations.

Project activities included:

• technical surveys to reassess priorities
• light structural interventions: installation of bike racks, resting areas, tables, and benches
• installation of informative signage with QR codes linking to the digital map of trails at visitvaldorcia.it
• project integration with the Val d’Orcia Outdoor program and the cycle tourism and hiking network.

Although revised from its original version, the project successfully achieved its main goals, strengthening the role of these rest areas as conscious gateways to the territory and contributing to an integrated vision of slow tourism.

It represents a key piece in a broader mosaic of interventions that position Val d’Orcia as a laboratory for sustainable tourism — a place where the landscape tells its story at a slow pace.

The project, fully aligned with regional and national strategies for landscape enhancement and slow tourism development, also serves as a solid foundation for future initiatives capable of integrating preservation and progress.

Year 2012
Funding received € 31.500
Co-funding € 3.500