Wednesday, November 19, 2014.

On the first morning the partners were welcomed in the main square of Geraci by representatives of the city of Geraci Siculo: Luigi Iuppa, Deputy Mayor, Councillor Antonia Parrivecchio, by the clerk of the city and those involved in the project (Arianna Attinasi, Minutella Antonio, Giuseppe Silvestri, Cristina Fiorentino), and by the Association Pro Loco.

The group visited the town’s municipal chambers and thereafter moved to the Capuchin Convent for the formal meeting of the Project.

On Wednesday afternoon the group visited the Ethno-anthropological Museum Musebarch of Geraci located in the Convent of the Capuchin Fathers, constructed in the seventeenth century. The Director of the Museum, Professor Vincenzo Piccione, introduced the collections which tell the story of the traditional heritage of Geraci. The museum contains several sections dedicated pastoralism, agricultural, and stoneworking.

Different rooms explain the life cycle of the shepherds and peasants of Geraci in the past, including exhibitions of traditional tools used by shepherds, tools for making cheese, traditional clothes of the shepherds, old houses and shepherds’ places of refuge.

The museum also contains a collection of the Ignazio Buttitta Foundation Palermo, one of the largest dedicated to the recovery of the Sicilian tradition, particularly puppets and tableaux of Sicilian storytellers.

After visiting the museum demonstrations were given by two shepherds who live and work Geraci. One demonstrated the sculpting of cheese in the shape of doves and horses that are produced especially for the Transhumance festival in May and for the Feast of the cavalcade of shepherds held the third Sunday of July every 7 years. The workshop was led by Nicola Fiorentino. Another demonstration of making traditional tools used in the production of cheese was given by Antonio Attinasi.

Thursday, November 20th.

Thursday was spent visiting two mountain “Marcati” ie, places of refuge for shepherds dedicated to the manufacture of cheese.

In the past the shepherds remained in the “marcatu” even to sleep at night, using small straw houses called “Pagghiari” although nowadays they return home at the end of the day.

The shepherds who led the visit were Giovanni Fiorentino and Antonello Alaimo. The group were able to see the one of the old houses as well as the production of cheese.

At Geraci there is still an ancient feudal law introduced by the Counts of Ventimiglia called “fida”, under which the land used for pasture by shepherds is public property.  The shepherds, in exchange for payment of a small fee proportional to the number of animals, use it still for grazing.

Inside the “marcatu” partners were able to see an old chamber used for animals constructed in stone, and they were shown the different stages of cheese making. The shepherds explained the different stages of processing milk into cheese for the “Tuma” initially and then “Ricotta” or different types of cheese, “Caciocavallo”, “formaggio stagionato” the result of a longer process. The group were also able to taste the cheese.

After this, the group was shown the driving of the cattle through the town, led by different groups of shepherds. During the period running from May 24 to November 20 the shepherds graze the cattle on the higher slopes of the mountain before return to the lower pastures for the winter. The group were able to enjoy the sights and sounds of the cattle as they moved through the streets of the town.

During the 22nd and 23rd April 2015 the Project visited the Arouca Geopark to learn about its work in the field of Rural Heritage.

The group was welcomed to Arouca by the Mayor, Artur Neves, who introduced some of the work being carried out there such as the Casa das Pedras Parideiras as examples of best practice. (Images 2 & 3)

On the first day, after the formal Project business meeting, a visit was made to the Arouca Monastery and Museum to viw the exhibits.  A special recital was given on the church organ.  (Images 4 & 5)

In the evening the partners enjoyed a meal of traditional dishes at the restaurant O Pedrogão. The group enjoyed a short recital of traditional songs on arrrival at the restaurant. (Images 6 & 7)

During the second day the group visited a selection of sites on the plateau of the Serra da Freita, including the interpretation centre at Pedras Parideiras (Images 8 & 9), the village of Castanheira (Images 10 & 11), the weather radar tower (Images 12 & 13), the Frecha Mizarela waterfall (Images 14 & 15), and the viewpoint at Detrelo da Malhada (Images 16 & 17).  The visit ended with lunch at a traditional restaurant, Casa no Campo (Images 18 & 19).

The final meeting of the Rural Heritage Promoter project took place in Slovakia at Považská Bystrica on the 29/30 June 2015.

The host for the visit was the organisation EuroKoncept 21.

The meeting was held in the recently restored 17th century manor of Jasenica, one of the examples of good practice in heritage promotion presented to the meeting by local representatives. Presentations were also given on work on the nearby ruined castle of Bystrica and by a representative of the local heritage office.

FIRST DAY (September 4)

The day began at City Hall with an official reception by the Mayor of Valdepeñas, Jesús Martín Rodríguez who welcomed the Partners, spoke about the history of the city and explained key local strategies and projects for the artistic, cultural and natural heritage.

Visit to Cairnsmore National Nature Reserve, Fleet Valley National Scenic Area, Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere and Designed Landscape of Cally.

SITE VISIT / STUDY HERITAGE SITE - Friday, 24.01.2014 Lama

Lama is a commune of 174 inhabitants of the valley of Ostriconi located east of Balagne. The village of Lama is marked by the contrast between the rich mansions Tuscan influence and the medieval atmosphere of the old center . This contrast brings an undeniable asset wealth to the territory. The village of Lama presents a panorama essentially mineral whose surroundings are a strong testimony of human organization on a difficult site because of the scarcity of water and land .

The activity of visit / study heritage site was organized by the Office for the Environment of Corsica in close collaboration with the Municipality of Lama , the Joint Union countries Balagne. The “The Ortu di Funtana Bona “ Association and the local population have been associated .

The second meeting of the Grundtvig Rural Heritage Promoter project took place in Germany, in Cham in Bavaria. At this meeting, the group worked on the communication tools that will be linked to projects and the formalization of the approach that will be used to identify good practice in Heritage promotion. The question the state of Historic Places were also discussed. This is an important part of the project and will be presented at the next meeting in Scotland.