Investigation and Knowledge for promoting cultural heritage

The area of Campi Flegrei can be considered as an open-air museum of ancient history. It represents a cultural and natural heritage of great significance which is based on environmental values and on historical memory of the places, that is tangible in many vestiges of the past. The entire area is marked by great archaeological sites, but also by a widespread presence of minor archeological ruins on which overlies contemporary urbanization. This unusual condition, where archaeological sites and modern constructions coexist, makes the territory unique, where the ancient and the contemporary, along with the particular natural environment, characterized by the presence of ancient volcanic craters, defines a cultural landscape of inestimable value. The knowledge of this extraordinary heritage can contribute to determine a process of local development. It is therefore possible to give a positive impulse to local economies only if there is knowledge, awareness and capacity to attribute meaning and value to cultural experiences. The paper intends to explain an ongoing research concerning the knowledge of the archaeological and environmental heritage of the territory, carried out through the survey of archeological ruins and of all significant evidences of the ancient and actual urbanization and trough the definition of a data base serving an interactive map in order to create cultural connected paths, to diffuse knowledge in network between local communities and therefore stimulate development policies.