Gran Sasso Laga Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) celebrates the intangible cultural heritage of the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga areas. It is conceived as an instrument for discovery, enhancement and sharing of practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, as well as objects, artefacts and cultural spaces that communities and individuals recognize as their cultural heritage.
The protection of the intangible cultural heritage is an essential action for the promotion of social, cultural and economic growth within the territory. Gran Sasso Laga ICH, under the UNESCO conventions, acknowledges the need to consider the person and human values at the centre of a broad and interdisciplinary idea of cultural heritage; it fosters the values and potential of the cultural heritage wisely used as a resource for sustainable development and for quality of life, for the full completion of the human person in a constantly evolving society.
Gran Sasso Laga ICH offers an innovative story based on in-depth knowledge of the intangible cultural heritage, on the direct relationship with the resident communities and with the performers of social development, oriented to the informed exploration of the intangible cultural assets and their touristic enjoyment.
The immaterial cultural heritage of the Gran Sasso and the Monti della Laga area, handed down from generation to generation, is today at great risk due to the depopulation of internal areas and the loss of individual and collective memory, accelerated by socio-cultural and economic consequences caused by earthquakes. Therefore, the project is addressed primarily to this territory.
Places
The project, in this first implementation phase, focuses on the territory of the eight municipalities of Teramo included in the Aquilan seismic crater area: Arsita, Castelli, Fano Adriano, Montorio al Vomano, Penna S. Andrea, Pietracamela and Tossicia. The municipality of Campotosto was added to these due to the closeness of ancient trails that men walked along with animals; we could say, in fact, that the cultures travelled together with the sheep along the Apennine routes. Crognaleto, Isola del Gran Sasso, Castel Castagna and Basciano are at the intersection of all the other municipalities connecting the mountain to the hills.