Making Visible the Invisible: Valorising Maltese Underground Flour Mills in a Sustainable Tourism Perspective

The paper presents the outputs of a Short-Term ScientificMission carried out in June 2023 at the University of Malta in the framework of the COST Action CA18110 “Underground Built Heritage as catalyser for Community Valorisation” (U4V). The work focuses on Maltese Emergency Underground Flour Mills, dealing with local community’s role in the site preservation, value creation and sustainable development. The case study was investigated with a two-fold objective: on the one hand, to make known the Underground Flour Mills (UFMs) to a broader public and to the local community itself; on the other hand, to codesign strategies with local stakeholders for preserving the sites and introducing potential adaptive reuses, turning this invisible heritage into living places, as catalyzer for sustainable development and community empowerment. The activities implementedwere conceived as a participatory process engaging local community and different categories of stakeholders for exploring a set of potential hypotheses for UFMs valorisation and/or adaptive reuse in a tourism sustainable perspective. Data collected through an open day/living lab and interviews to local stakeholders including representatives from Local Councils, governmental Authorities, researchers, NGOs committed to the safeguard of the historic, artistic, and natural heritage of Malta are presented and discussed. Final remarks are provided on Underground Built Heritage transition from abandoned landscape to touristic destination in a sustainable perspective.