Sustainable Tourism and Digital Technologies: The REMEMBER Project and the Virtual Museum of the Port of Ravenna

Sustainability and regeneration for an urban context have reached general notice in the environmental debate of recent years. In this context, in observance of section 11 of the 2030 schedule of the Sustainable Development Goal, to make cities and other settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable; several limits have been promoted for a system of mass tourism that creates situations of over-tourism every year were highlighted. This may result in an overcrowding of historic attractions, raising several issues in the use of cultural heritage; while at the same time new challenges tied to heritage preservation arise too. The necessity of communicating and valorizing potential secondary tourist routes, such as peripheric areas and landscape heritage, has stimulated a search for new methods for the narration of cultural heritage. To find innovative approaches allows for the rebuilding of a collective identity based on history, tradition and territory, in contexts particularly rich in immaterial and identity heritage features that are difficult to communicate. Focusing on a case study of Ravenna, in Italy, where over eight UNESCO sites are located, this paper will present the tasks performed as part of the REMEMBER project there.