Current state of the first unesco global geopark: A case study of the geological and mining park of sardinia, Italy

G Ge eo oJ Jo ou ur rn na al l o of f T To ou ur ri is sm m a an nd d G Ge eo os si it te es s Year X XI I, vol. 22, no. 2 2, 2 20 01 18 8, p.4 40 03 3- -4 41 18 8 ISSN 2 20 06 65 5- -0 08 81 17 7, E-ISSN 2 20 06 65 5- -1 11 19 98 8 DOI 10.30892/gtg.2 22 22 21 11 1- -2 29 98 8 http://gtg.webhost.uoradea.ro/ CURRENT STATE OF THE FIRST UNESCO GLOBAL GEOPARK: A CASE STUDY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND MINING PARK OF SARDINIA, ITALY Adriana MOSSA* University of Seville and University of Sassari, Pabellón de México, Paseo de las Delicias, s/n., 41013 Sevilla (Spain), e-mail: [email protected] José Antonio CAMÚÑEZ-RUIZ University of Seville, Department of Applied Economics I, Avda Ramón y Cajal, 41018 Seville (Spain), e-mail: cam[email protected] Francesco MORANDI University of Sassari, Department of Economic and Business Sciences, Via Muroni 25, 07100 Sassari (Italy), e-mail: [email protected] Citation: Mossa, A., Camúñez-Ruiz, J. A., & Morandi F. (2018). CURRENT STATE OF THE FIRST UNESCO GLOBAL GEOPARK: A CASE STUDY OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND MINING PARK OF SARDINIA, ITALY. GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites. 22(2), 403–418. https://doi.org/10.30892/gtg.22211-298 Abstract: This article deals with the Geological and Mining Park of Sardinia, the first park in the world to be included in the network of Geosites/Geoparks established by UNESCO in 1998. The main purpose of this research paper, given the absence of up-to- date official documents, is to map mining sites allocated to tourist use. It also registers the number of visits per year, amount of human resources occupied and methods of management and financing. After a brief description of the birth of tourism in Sardinia and the history of the Park, the findings of a desk and field study within a comparative analysis are presented and evaluated and best management practices highlighted. Key words: Heritage tourism, Geological and Mining Park of Sardinia, industrial mining tourism, Geopark, Geosite * * * * * * INTRODUCTION This research paper is part of a wider study whose final aim is the creation of cultural/tourist paths following the theme of production in Sardinia, from industrial archaeology to business tourism, leading the visitors from the past to the present and linking industrial mining tourism to other sectors such as food and wine and handcraft. The growth of tourism in Sardinia (Figure 1) in the last sixty years has been considerable and vertiginous. The decisive factors contributing to its development * Corresponding author Adriana Mossa, José Antonio Camúñez-Ruiz, Francesco Morandi 404 include, primarily, the defeat of malaria in the first half of the last century (Tognotti, 2008; Carcassi & Mura, 2009), secondly, the establishment of the Region with special statutes (Gherardini, 1991; Brigaglia, 2002, p. 38-65; Chessa & Pinna, 2008), thirdly, the consequent constitution of Ente Sardo Industrie Turistiche (ESIT - Local Board for Tourism Industry) and, finally, the important interventions of foreign capital and the foundation of Consorzio Costa Smeralda by the Saudi Prince Karim Aga Khan II (Roggio, 2002, p. 224-245). Thanks to all these factors, Sardinia has succeeded in establishing itself as an international tourist destination. Figue 1. Map of Sardinia in the world (Source: Geological Mining, Historical and Environmental Park of Sardinia) The vocation of Sardinia for tourism can be traced back to 1862/63, years leading up to the birth of the first bathing establishments in Alghero and Cagliari. In the forties, the island resort system consisted of 700 hotel rooms, of which only 50 had bathrooms; this was the result of experiments of hotel business in the resorts of Alghero, Bosa, Porto Torres and Cagliari. In 2014 the hotel sector boasted 100,000 beds in the island’s 920 hotels, 75% of which were in the hands of Sardinian entrepreneurs (Ruju, 2014, p. 7-20). According to official data released in May 2017 by SIRED – the data collection and processing system provided by the Region of Sardinia – 2016 was a record year for tourism with 2.9 million arrivals, 13.5 million occupancies and an average stay of 4.6 days, with an increase of 10.5 percent in arrivals and 9 percent in occupancies. Another significant aspect emerging is the rise in foreign visitors and the growth of arrivals in the off-peak months, spring and autumn (CRENoS, 2017). Surveys conducted in 2013 show that the perceived image of Sardinia is that of a beach resort destination where the sunsea-beach trinomial is the main motivational factor and attraction for those who choose it as a holiday destination. To first time visitors to the island, it appears an interesting, wild and uncontaminated site that fascinates them (Battino, 2013, p. 56). Sardinia, however, is not just sea, it is also an ancient land that has much to offer to visitors (Castagna, 2008; Lavazza, 2008). Culture, for instance, understood as a hypernym for many tourist segments, offers different opportunities for development. The report Io sono Cultura – 2016 (Unioncamere and Fondazione Symbola, 2016), describes in details the value of culture in Italy, one of the primary factors of the economy and to benefit greatly from its push is especially tourism; in fact more than one third (37.5%) of Current State of the First UNESCO Global Geopark: A Case Study of the Geological and Mining Park of Sardinia, Italy 405 spending on national tourism is activated by the culture itself. This same topic also recurs in the annual report by Federculture, the national association of public and private bodies, institutions and companies operating in the field of cultural policies and activities (Federculture, 2017). As is known, for tourist areas highly characterized as beach destinations, it is important to emphasize their cultural and social identities, which we can refer to as identity tourism (Fadda, 2001, p. 10). This fact is highlighted by a recent study (Centro Studi Mezzogiorno, 2016), which groups all themes that can be developed or strengthened to mitigate seasonality in Sardinia, such as cinetourism, sport and cultural events, congress tourism, sport tourism (golf and cyclotourism), cruising, wellness and food and wine tourism (Di Gregorio et al., 2014). Regional policies have been put in place (Dettori, 2002, p. 246-264) to tackle the problem of seasonality, which has always been an obstacle to the full development of the tourist sector of the island (Cannas, 2010), and to help the flourishing of various forms of tourism towards rejuvenation in order to escape the notorious decline, as described by the theory of the life cycle of the tourism area (Butler, 2011). Hospers (2003, p. 636) emphasizes the growing interest in cultural and natural heritage, for an authentic Sardinia, which he calls ‘real Sardinia’, an interest which also affects the industrial heritage. The search for original experiences by tourists offers the opportunity to take advantage of all landscapes understood as cultural landscapes 1 , testaments of various sectors of human production. Historically in Sardinia the exploitation of mineral resources played a key role and the collection of obsidian (Figure 2) dates back to the 6th millennium BC in the prehistoric mining district of Monte Arci, (Mezzolani & Simoncini, 2001). Figure 2. Obsidian on the Sentiero Sennixeddu, in the area of Pau’s Museo dell’Ossidiana All of these places – that have seen the ancient Sardinians as protagonists of economic, social and cultural changes (Olita, 2007; Associazione Minatori e Memoria, 2008) – represent real opportunities to be pursued for a wider and more effective development of tourism and culture in general. In this context the creation of a park in 1 Here we refer to the definition of ‘landscape’ proposed by the European Landscape Convention (Cartei, 2007), which conceives landscape based on people’s perceptions, natural, rural, urban and periurban spaces that embrace not only exceptional landscapes, but also those of everyday life and degraded ones. Adriana Mossa, José Antonio Camúñez-Ruiz, Francesco Morandi 406 Sardinia represented an excellent opportunity, given the influence of the parks in the economic development of a territory (Forleo et al., 2017, p. 231-233). Finally, the concordant awareness shared by Sardinian public and private sectors of the historic-cultural, archaeological-industrial heritage value of the mines led to the birth of the Geological and Mining Park of Sardinia (Fadda, 2003). BIRTH OF THE GEOLOGICAL AND MINING PARK OF SARDINIA The birth of the Geological and Mining Park of Sardinia is the result of a long journey whose embryonic seed can be traced back to the ideas that emerged during a conference held in Iglesias in 1983 dedicated to mining industrial archaeology (Castelli & Pintus, 2005, p. 7-15). It was here, in fact, that the participants began to speak of an industrial archaeology park, mineral park and exploitation for tourism purposes and that significant proposals emerged regarding the preservation, conversion and reuse of abandoned industrial facilities. On May 1 1987, Legambiente and the Unions held a large public demonstration at the abandoned mining village of Arenas in Fluminimaggiore. Public consensus led to the creation of a cultural program and two years later a small group of people gathered in Iglesias calling themselves Comitato promotore del Parco (Organizing Committee of the Park), later becoming Associazione per il Parco Geominerario, Ambientale e Storico dell’Iglesiente, Sulcis-Guspinese (Association for the Environmental and Historical Geo-Mining Park, of Iglesiente, Sulcis-Guspinese). In 1997, the Ente Minerario Sardo (EMSA – Sardinian Mining Authority) invited UNESCO officials to visit the mining areas and one suggested submitting a proposal, with a dossier of information and statement of purpose, to the General Assembly of the Organization of the United Nations to be held in Paris in November of that year. The Dossier gained attention and got full recognition for its universal and cultural values, so much so that, that very day witnessed the establishment of a global network of Geosites/Geoparks with the direct incorporation of the Geological and Mining Park of Sardinia (from this point onwards Park). Thus it became the first geo-mining park in the world and its area extended to all historic mining areas of Sardinia. Since then Geoparks have prospered and Geotourism constitutes a growing market segment with a prosperous future (Farsani et al., 2011; Poch & Llordés, 2011; Yolal, 2012); at present in the network there are 127 UNESCO Global Geoparks in 35 countries. On September 30 1998, in the presence of representatives of UNESCO, the Italian Government, the Region of Sardinia and EMSA, the Declaration presented in Paris on July 30 was confirmed and the Carta di Cagliari (Charter of Cagliari) (UNESCO, 1998) signed. In the latter, the Government pledged to pass a law to establish the Park, however, two years later the law to formalize it had still not been approved. There followed protests that erupted on November 5 2000 with the occupation of the mining gallery Villamarina-Sella; it lasted 366 days and ended only in October 2001, when the Minister for the Environment, in agreement with the President of the Region of Sardinia, signed the law and the decree establishing the Park (Castelli & Pintus, 2005, p. 31-35). The Park is a non-profit public body which acts under the supervision of the Ministries of Environment and Protection of Land and Sea, Economic Development, University and Research, Culture and Heritage, the Autonomous Region of Sardinia, the provinces and municipalities included in the Community of the Park and the Universities of Cagliari and Sassari. Eight zones were destined to become part of the Park, with a very extensive total area of approximately 3,500 square kilometres, involving various municipalities. The localities, chosen based on geomineral, archaeological and natural values are as follows: (1) Monte Arci, (2) Orani, Guzzurra, Sos Enattos, (3) Funtana Raminosa, (4) Argentiera, Nurra, Gallura, (5) Sarrabus, Current State of the First UNESCO Global Geopark: A Case Study of the Geological and Mining Park of Sardinia, Italy 407 Gerrei, (6) Arburese, Guspinese, (7) Iglesiente, (8) Sulcis. In the panorama of national parks it represents an atypical case given the discontinuity of the areas included in its perimeter and the presence of mineral deposits in so many different zones of Sardinia (Figure 3). Figure 3. Map of the Geological and Mining Park of Sardinia (Source: CRENoS - Centre for North South Economic Research) As reported in the socio-economic plan elaborated in 2008 by the Centro Ricerche Economiche Nord Sud (CRENoS – Centre for North South Economic Research), the study of the eight territories that form the Park made it possible to analyze a portfolio consisting of 383 various types of assets that were classified by the adoption of six functional macrocategories, diversified by type and geographic location: geomorphology and environmental, archaeology, civil archaeology, industrial archaeology, architecture and didactic-museum (CRENoS, 2008, p. 115-118). Those strictly related to the objective of our study are industrial archaeology, incorporating structures related to mining facilities, such as mines, washery (Figure 4), foundries, shafts and civil archaeology, which includes all the support buildings such as houses, guest quarters, surgeries etc. and didactic-museums. CRENoS’ first level of analysis showed that most of the studied properties belonged to the mining category, 57% in total, summing 10% for civil and 47% for industrial archaeology. Thus, in order to allow a perspective of study suited to a deeper analysis of the 383 surveyed assets, it was necessary to focus on a smaller sample. First of all, only those for which there were conceivable actions of enhancement by the Park were taken into consideration. This led to the identification of 65 sites accounting for approximately Adriana Mossa, José Antonio Camúñez-Ruiz, Francesco Morandi 408 20% of the assets initially estimated; subsequently, the sample of 65 was divided into five standard categories: abandonment, partial recovery, complete recovery, open to the public, industrial activity (CRENoS, 2008, p. 119-125). Figure 4. Principe Tomaso washery, Cantiere Piccalinna METHODOLOGY Among these categories, in this research paper we focus on the ‘open to the public’ category and, applying a further selection, we seek out sites that can be considered tourist products, that is, which rely on guided tours and a ticketing system. As is well known, in fact, tourism is a commercial activity whose goal is to earn, as reported by all marketing manuals (McKercher & Du Cros, 2002). Given the absence of official documents with a comprehensive and detailed overview of the Park’s assets since 2008, we visited the headquarters in Iglesias and interviewed the press officer to obtain up-to-date information. It was revealed that the Park Authority has no ownership whatsoever of any part of the territory, it does not directly manage any of the sites (apart from two nonprofit associations in Sulcis) and that almost all dismantled mining sites have been entrusted to Igea Spa, an in-house company of the Region of Sardinia, born as a legal entity operating in the area of security, environmental restoration and reclamation of mining areas abandoned or in the process of disposal. Given that the Park was found to lack comprehensive information and data regarding the open to the public category, these were to become the focus of this study. Therefore it became necessary to undertake an indepth investigation to record the evolution of those abandoned mining sites which have benefited from recovery works and subsequently been allocated to cultural/tourist use, and a desk and a field study within a comparative analysis were carried out. As a starting point we chose the 2008 Socio-Economic Plan, as it is the latest official document available with exhaustive and complete data. Subsequently, we chose to use the webpage of the Park (www.parcogeominerario.eu) as a reference source to allow a comparative analysis with data reported in the 2008 Plan. Later a field analysis was carried out through telephone interviews and email enquiries to stakeholders of all the open to the public assets. Since in some case we received no answer to phone calls or emails, it was necessary to organize site inspections to those places. Furthermore, in order to verify the reliability of the information collected for the other sites, visits were organised at random. The assets visited were Pau’s Museo dell’ossidiana museum, Miniera di Funtana Raminosa mine in Gadoni, Miniera dell’Argentiera mine in Sassari, Current State of the First UNESCO Global Geopark: A Case Study of the Geological and Mining Park of Sardinia, Italy 409 mining route of Montevecchio in Guspini (Palazzo della Direzione, Cantiere Piccalinna, Cantiere Sant’Antonio and officine/workshops), Galleria Porto Flavia gallery in Iglesias, Centro Italiano della Cultura del Carbone (CCIC – The Italian Centre for Coal Mining Culture) in Carbonia and the mining district of Miniera di Rosas in Narcao. In this phase we also investigated number of visitors per year, amount of human resources occupied, methods of management and financing. ANALYSIS AND OUTCOMES Desk Analysis Taking into account only the sites used for tourism and museum activities which provide a ticketing system, we could identify in the Plan thirteen assets in eight municipalities, as shown in the summary table below (Table 1): Table 1. Assets open to the public used for tourism up to September 2008 (Data source: Socio-economic Plan, CRENOS 2008) AREA MUNICIPALITY ASSET Monte Arci Pau Percorso museale dell’ossidiana Funtana Raminosa Gadoni Miniera di Funtana Raminosa Sarrabus-Gerrei Villasalto Borgo minerario Villasalto Arbus-Guspini Guspini Palazzina della Direzione – Miniera di Montevecchio Cantiere Piccalinna – Miniera di Montevecchio Galleria Anglosarda – Miniera di Montevecchio Arbus Pozzo Gal – Miniera di Ingurtosu Iglesiente Iglesias Galleria Porto Flavia – Masua Galleria Villamarina – Miniera di Monteponi Grotta Santa Barbara – San Giovanni Museo delle Macchine da Miniera Buggerru Galleria Henry – Miniera di Malfidano Sulcis Carbonia Miniera di Serbariu -CCIC Tot. 13 assets in 8 Municipalities in 6 areas Then we compared these data with the Park’s official webpage, which provides general, historical and institutional information and at the same time dedicates a single space to each of the eight areas of the Park divided into six topics: mining sites, cultural sites, trails, geological sites, natural sites and the part for booking a visit. The majority of these sections are under construction and lack content, the only one complete for all eight areas is the mining sites. After examining the information contained on this website for each area, we were able to build the following picture: of 377 municipalities in Sardinia, 81 are reported to be in the Park, 27 of them host 58 assets; 22 of these can be placed in the territory of 14 municipalities (Pau, Masullas, Lula, Gadoni, Guspini, Arbus, Gonnosfanadiga, Iglesias, Buggerru, Domusnovas, Fluminimaggiore, Carbonia, Narcao, Carloforte) and are officially presented as visitable, i.e. open to the public. The table below summarizes the information offered by the website as follows: area, total number of assets in that area, municipalities mentioned, number and name of only those offered as visitable, according to official sources of the Park (Table 2). Taking into account the visitable assets in this latest table (Table 2), built on data according to the official website and updated to December 2017 and comparing them with those in the previous one (Table 1) created on data presented in the Park’s Socio-Economic Plan of 2008, the following differences were detected in terms of new openings or the absence of museums/sites. New openings in Areas Adriana Mossa, José Antonio Camúñez-Ruiz, Francesco Morandi 410 1 and 2 are detected: the GeoMuseo museum of Masullas and the mining asset Miniera di Sos Enattos in Lula; the mining village Miniera di Villasalto in Area 5 is still mentioned but as non-visitable, while in the Plan it was among the open sites. In the Iglesiente area we notice four new assets: Museo del Minatore of Genna Luas (Iglesias) and Museo del Minatore of the Malfidano mine (Buggerru), also the Miniera di Antas mine (Fluminimaggiore) and the mine Miniera di Perda Niedda (Domusnovas). Table 2. Assets open to the public used for tourism up to December 2017 (Source: Authors’ elaboration of data from the Park’s official website) Two new sites also appear in the area of Sulcis: the mining district of Miniera di Rosas in the Municipality of Narcao and the museum Museo di Capo Becco in Carloforte. Special attention has to be dedicated to the zone Arbus-Guspini, where the mining site of ASSETS IN THE WEBSITE MUNICIPALITIES MENTIONED VISITABLE VISITABLE ASSETS’ NAME Monte Arci 4 Pau 1 Museo dell'ossidiana Masullas 1 GeoMuseo Monte Arci Orani, Guzzurra, Sos Enattos 4 Orani - - Lula 1 Miniera di Sos Enattos Funtana Raminosa 2 Gadoni 1 Miniera di Funtana Raminosa Seui - - Argentiera Nurra Gallura 2 Sassari - - La Maddalena - - Sarrabus Gerrei 4 Masullas - - Villasalto - - Villaputzu - - San Vito - - Arburese Guspinese 9 Guspini-Montevecchio 2 Galleria Anglosarda, Palazzo della Direzione Arbus-Montevecchio e Ingurtosu 3 Museo Multimediale, Pozzo Amsicora, Musei di Montevecchio Gonnosfanadiga 1 Perd'e Pibera Villacidro - - Iglesiente 25 Iglesias 5 Galleria Porto Flavia Galleria Villamarina Grotta di Santa Barbara Museo delle Macchine di Masua Museo del Minatore di Genna Luas Buggerru 2 Galleria Henry Museo del Minatore di Buggerru Domusnovas 1 Miniera di Perda Niedda Fluminimaggiore 1 Miniera di Antas Gonnesa - - Sulcis 8 Carbonia 1 CICC - Museo del Carbone Narcao 1 Miniera di Rosas Carloforte 1 Museo di Capo Becco Nuxis - - Villamassargia - - Assemini e Capoterra - - 58 27 22 Tot. 58 assets in 27 municipalities, 22 are visitable Current State of the First UNESCO Global Geopark: A Case Study of the Geological and Mining Park of Sardinia, Italy 411 Perd’e Pibera is offered as new open asset in the Municipality of Gonnosfanadiga, whilst the assets located in the Municipalities of Guspini and Arbus are grouped and presented in two different ways on the website and in the Plan. Outcomes after desk analysis show a growth of nine visitable assets involving a further six municipalities from 2008 to 2017. At this stage it was not possible to make a comparison with regard to human resources, annual inputs or methods of management and financing as these data exist only in the Plan but not on the website. FIELD ANALYSIS As already mentioned, in the field analysis we carried out investigation into the open to the public sites through phone interviews and email enquiries, together with site inspections and direct interviews with the aim of determining the number of visitors per year, amount of human resources occupied, methods of management and financing. As a result we obtained an insight into the current state of the Park, i.e. which museums dedicated to the mines’ culture or geology and which mining assets rehabilitated and turned into a cultural tourism product following the closure of mines are presently accessible to the public with a guide and ticketing system and which, despite having been opened since the institution of the Park are at the moment closed. We discovered that some assets, while presented as visitable on the website, cannot be referred to as a tourist product, as they are in a state of disrepair/neglect or are unmanaged, or are administered by volunteers in a discontinuous manner. The outcome is reported in the following table (Table 3). On reviewing data obtained after inspecting the website and in light of the field analysis results, we confirmed that the GeoMuseo Masullas museum, the Miniera di Antas mine in Fluminimaggiore and the Miniera di Rosas mine in Narcao are new visitable assets, whilst all the others, for various reasons are not. The Miniera di Sos Enattos in Lula was open in 2010 but closed in 2014; Minera di Funtana Raminosa, Musei di Montevecchio, Galleria Anglosarda, Museo delle macchine da miniera of Masua are all closed. The Museo del Minatore of Genna Luas is managed by volunteers with free entry; the Museo del Minatore of Buggerru is rarely open and failed to supply any information about visits per year, human resources or other. In Miniera di Perda Niedda in Domusnovas a recovery was implemented and some miners’ houses were transformed into an agriturismo, housing a small museum dedicated to the mine, this can be visited for free and on demand. In the Miniera di Perd’e Pibera in Gonnosfanadiga, the recovered assets are destined for other uses. Finally, there is no trace of the existence of Museo di Capo Becco in Carloforte. Table 3. Open assets/products in the Park AREA COMMON ASSETS /PRODUCTS NEW ASSETS/PROD UCTS (WEB AND FIELD) ASSETS/ PRODUCTS IN THE PLAN BUT NOT IN THE WEBSITE NEW RESOURCES IN THE WEB - NOT A PRODUCT TOTAL PER AREA - EXCLUDING RESOURCES THAT ARE NOT A PRODUCT AND CLOSE ONES Monte Arci Museo dell’ossidiana GeoMuseo Masullas Museo dell’ossidiana, Geomuseo Masullas Orani, Guzzurra, Sos Enattos Miniera di Sos Enattos - Funtana Raminosa Miniera di Funtana Raminosa - Sarrabus /Gerrei Museo Su Suergiu Museo Su Suergiu Adriana Mossa, José Antonio Camúñez-Ruiz, Francesco Morandi 418 Gherardini, G. (1991). Statuto speciale e ordinamento della regione Sardegna (Special statute and organization of the Sardinia region). Esselibri-Simone. Napoli. Hospers, G. J. (2003). 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Submitted: Revised: Accepted and published online 25.01.2018 18.05.2018 22.05.2018