Cultural routes for the sustainable tourism in Europe: The solidarity path of confraternities in the historic center of Naples

Tourism has been one of the sectors most affected by the COVID19 pandemic. In Italy, the global economic downturn has affected the entire entrepreneurial fabric, which is characterized by small and medium-sized, often family-run businesses, with serious repercussions also in related sectors such as culture and creativity, hospitality, cruise shipping, restaurants, catering and crafts. Tourism makes a decisive contribution to the economy of the country, which boasts an immense cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible, unique in the world for its artistic, landscape and gastronomic beauty. However, with a view to promoting a recovery in the sector, it is necessary to overcome the current limitations inherent in the fragmentation of the market by implementing actions that enhance the distinctive elements of Italy's cultural tourism offerings and at the same time facilitating mobility within the country. A possible development path to be taken to overcome these limitations is represented by the designing and development of cultural routes, capable of relaunching sustainable and safe cultural tourism. At the local tourism destinations level, there have been a series of initiatives aimed at promoting the recovery of the economy based on the combination of culture and tourism, such as the work carried out by the Working Group on Cultural Routes of the Metropolitan City of Naples, which led to the development of 50 potential cultural routes for boosting the sustainable tourism in times of pandemic. Based on this experience and in line with the initiatives promoted by the European Future for Religious Heritage (FRH) program, the objective of this research is to propose a new cultural route "The solidarity path of confraternities" in order to encourage the process of recognizing and enhancing the cultural heritage of the network of confraternities in the historic center of Naples (Unesco). By intervening directly in the fields of education, training, assistance and defense of the socially weakest and most marginalized groups, the confraternities were characterized by their strong social and welfare commitment and their ability to actively influence the structure and organization of society. Through an integrated approach, the proposed cultural route is aimed at enhancing and intertwining the tangible and intangible heritage of these institutions in order to promote a new Transnational Thematic Tourism Product against the mass tourism in the historic cities. In more detail, this cultural route will favor the development of collaborative networks between European and local authorities and a wide range of businesses and associations, for the preservation and enhancement of the material - historical buildings and artefacts from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Baroque, etc. - and immaterial culture - values, rituals, rituals, and customs - of these institutions Rediscovering the cultural identity of these brotherhoods means also initiating a virtuous reinterpretation process of the common identity roots of Christian Europe, historically marked by the culture of welcome and solidarity, along the lines outlined by the "European Cultural Routes" to foster the "development of social cohesion and European integration".