Ethnic tourism: preservation and valorisation of identity and opportunity for the development of roots tourism

The article focuses on what the various cross-border programmes on Italy's eastern border have achieved to promote a roots tourism in terms of sustainability, recovery of traditions, renovation of the architectural heritage, involvement of ethnic-linguistic communities, and creation of multi-sensory itineraries. The keywords of roots tourism addressed here are those linked to personal and collective memories, to village festivities and religious rituals, to friendships, to the familiarity of places, to the pride of territorial and community belonging, to cultural identity, to local knowledge and flavours, to relevant architectural and landscape heritage, etc. The cross-border projects have thus increased the tourist attractiveness and visibility of cross-border areas through sustainable models, innovative products and marketing of cultural heritage and ecotypes of planned landscapes through green technologies.