Bridging Cultures

The Bilateral project Routes of culture: enhancement and management of large scale heritage sites. Via Appia - Roman Consular street - and Grand Canal of China was financed by the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) and the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage (CACH) for the period 2016-2018. The research undertaken by the two teams aimed to promote a better understanding on cultural heritage conservation, valorisation and management policies and tools in the two countries particularly with reference to big scale heritage sites. In this sense the world famous sites of the Grand Canal (that became World Heritage Site in 2014) and of "Appia Antica" (Appia Regina Viarum, the Queen of antique consular streets) were selected as the most representative cases, both for their long lasting history and for their recent developments. The publication of the volume "China and Italy: Routes of culture, valorisation and management" edited by H. Porfyriou and B. Yu presents the outcome of this collaboration between the two countries on conservation, valorisation and management of big heritage sites and cultural routes, enhancing mutual knowledge and promoting a long lasting cooperation.