The International meeting "Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe in Italy: a European Heritage", took place on 18 February at the Ateneo Veneto.
Organized by the Italian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and the Council of Europe Office in Venice, with the support of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes and the European Institute of Cultural Routes, the event saw institutions, authorities and civil society representatives discuss the main obstacles and achievements of the programme. The Routes act as a channel for intercultural dialogue and promote better knowledge and understanding of European Cultural Identity while preserving and enhancing natural and cultural heritage as a source of economic and social development at local level.

The Council of Europe's 45 Cultural Routes cover a wide range of themes that illustrate to visitors Europe's memory, history and heritage and help to interpret the diversity of today's Europe; 29 of them pass through Italy.
Vice-President of the Ateneo Veneto Filippo Maria Carinci opened the conference and referred to cultural routes as 'tangible solutions for the tourism sector compromised by the pandemic'. Sustainable development and the recovery of tourism in the post-covid phase were highlighted by Stefano Dominioni, Director of the European Institute of Cultural Routes.
The Conference ended in the afternoon with a visit to the photographic exhibition which presents the places crossed by the cultural routes in Italy and the rest of Europe.