Several meetings were held on 27 January 2017. A preparatory meeting for the 2017 Cultural Routes Advisory Forum, to be held in Lucca, Italy, was followed by a meeting with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and representatives of the cultural and tourist service of the Tuscany Region.

The 28 January was dedicated to the Via Francigena. The 4th Monteriggioni Forum, dedicated to municipalities crossed by the Via Francigena which took place on 27-28 January 2017 in Florence, has met a great success with more than 250 participants from France, Switzerland and Italy, in the presence of Stefano Dominioni, Director of the European Institute of Cultural Routes of Luxembourg.

On behalf of the Council of Europe, the President of the Via Francigena, Massimo Tedeschi, and Stefano Dominioni, awarded a special prize to Romano Prodi (former President of the European Commission and former President of the Council of Ministers of Italy) and to Francesco Rutelli (former Mayor of Rome and former Minister of Culture), in the presence of Raffaella Senesi, Mayor of Monteriggioni.

Mr Stefano Dominioni raised awareness on the Cultural Routes Programme, especially on the Via Francigena, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, from 27 to 29 September 2017, in Lucca, Italy.

The certification of the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe is a guarantee of excellence, through which each route becomes the ambassador of the values promoted by the Council of Europe: human rights and intercultural exchanges. The Via Francigena is a perfect illustration that demonstrates how Cultural Routes can be vectors of territorial development.