From the Via GeoAlpina Project to a New International Project aimed at promoting geotourism and a future Granite Geopark in the Italian-Swiss Central Alps

Guido Mazzoleni (a), Matteo Garofano (b) & Claudio Pasqua (a)
(a) ELC Electroconsult S.p.A., Via Primo Maggio 41, 20021 Baranzate (MI), Italy. E-mail: guido.mazzoleni@elc-electroconsult.com, claudio.pasqua@elc-electroconsult.com (b) Associazione Geoturismo, Via G. di Vittorio 22/A, 16018 Mignanego (GE), Italy. E-mail: garofano@geoturismo.it

In the axial part of the Alpine chain, at the eastern geological border of the Central Alps and the administrative Italian-Swiss border, the area enclosing the outcrop of Val Màsino-Bregaglia (Bergell) Oligocene pluton stands out, as for the geodiversity content, the beautiful mountain scenario with a great variety of landforms, an excellent network of both historical and hiking paths, and an important cultural heritage showing the link between Art and Nature. That area has a very high potential for geotourism within a transnational territory and deserves assistance to tourism and economic development. With this aim, the area was chosen as territory reference for the Interreg Project “Un Passo nel Geoturismo” (A Step into the Geotourism), in the framework of the Italy-Switzerland 2007-2013 projects focused on tourism and culture. The project started by studying the territory characteristics as a first-step work aimed at declaring this area as a Geopark and produced a geo-hiking guide (describing 10 outstanding geotourist itineraries) and a thematic exhibition (19 geo-posters with high-quality photographs and brief explanatory texts). The exhibition is planned as an itinerant one, to be temporary hosted upon request by interested Natural History museums or tourism-devoted services.

Central Alps, geodiversity, geoparks, geotourism, Val Màsino-Bregaglia pluton, Via GeoAlpina