DI RAFFAELLA MANGANI – MARIELLA MELI
ABSTRACT – An ecomuseum is a cultural asset and represents a tool for both the public authority and the local community to reclaim one’s own territory and take care of the annexed naturalistic, historical-artistic and cultural heritage, with the aim of enhancing it. The ecomuseum is nothing more than a space in which a population makes its history and identity public, contributing to the maintenance of tradition and promoting sustainable social, environmental and economic development. Research and study become effective with a reality to be examined identified in the ecomuseum of the Ferriere and Fonderie di Calabria. The originality of the work consists in the fact that, to date, there are no narrative treatises on Calabrian ecomuseums that highlight how these structures function in relation to the discipline first at a national and then at a regional level. It is necessary that the legislation enhances the diversity of the territory, culture and socioeconomic characteristics as well as strategic aspects so that the ecomuseum can be an instrument oriented towards sustainable local development.
KEYWORDS – ecomuseum – local community – cultural heritage – territorial development – Calabria – sustainable local development.