The participatory process of community tourism in Oscata for the enhancement of Alta Irpinia. - Tourism is one of the most disruptive phenomena on a global scale, both as concerns intensity in terms of the flows of people it moves and for the economic, social and environmental transformations it brings. The exploitation of territorial resources and the effects tourism produces can at times result irreversible on the environmental system of reference. This element has often been underestimated by the tourism industry remaining unable to prevent the negative consequences of mass tourism which, on the one hand, damages resources and, on the other, corrodes the socio-territorial fabric. Consequently, a rethinking of the processes of development in the sector is necessary from the perspective of sustainability through local community participation.
The paper, based on the experience of Oscata, a rural village situated in Alta Irpinia, aims to reflect on alternative forms of tourism such as community tourism which welcomes visitors offering them hospitality underpinned by emotional and culturally interesting involvement thus triggering integration and participation in the local community's routine activities and mainstream social events.

Cambiamenti socio-spaziali ed economici nel paesaggio rurale del Brasile e Italia. – The present work aims to understand, through qualitative research, the socio-spatial and economic changes in the rural landscape of Brazil and Italy, observing rural tourism as a very strong potential of the rural landscape in the two countries studied. In this sense, the role of landscape is analyzed as a structuring element in rural space which, through its marks left in space, tells the story of different areas over time and contributes to adding material and symbolic value to the development of rural tourism. Therefore, as it is a process that has been occurring worldwide in recent decades, we will identify in a comparative way the different aspects related to rural tourism and landscape in Brazil and Italy. In this sense, in the face of historical-geographical research, we will analyze the main elements of the landscape for Geography and how rural tourism appropriates them for its development, relating it to the socio-spatial and economic aspects of each country.

Potential Impacts of NRRP Investments in Italian Mono-functional or Desertified Realities: Threats and Opportunities. – The contribution aims to reflect on the impact of PNRR plans and programs with particular attention to the sustainability of rural and mountain tourist regions, highlighting territorial criticalities and suggesting greater emphasis on the concept of adaptation and the possible role for activities related to education for the territory. The PNRR provides for a € 6.68 billion loan in the “tourism and culture” sector, which will make it possible to develop innovative actions to implement local development through the new ecological transition criterion. Much emphasis is placed on the digital transition and physical measures of renewal. Many realities of those compatible with these funds fall within rural and mountain areas, often characterized by negative situations up to conditions of real demographic and economic desertification. The poor economic and social sustainability of many peripheral and mono-functional territories, investigated by recent studies in the field, seems to link the transformation of these areas to actions of economic adaptation and diversification linked to climate change, with respect to which climate maps suggest an increase of the impacts in the coming decades. An investment in these areas, perhaps aimed at restoring or physical-functional de-velopment actions, runs the risk of producing little benefits if it is not accompanied by new forms of social, economic and even demographic attractiveness. The systemic vision can make it possible to operate in a more suitable way to the specific local territorial system, while the development of educational paths to the territory open to stakeholders active in the field can increase the possibility of investment success through the sharing and production of open local knowledge to the reproduction and renewal of territorial values as a project for the future of the subjects who live there and who work there.

Tourism Load Capacity as a Planning Tool in an Initiative of Rural Community Tourism. The Case of La Posada Rural La Amistad, Isla De Chira, Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica. – In Costa Rica, tourism is one of the first economic activities. At national level many tourism initiatives have emerged and specifically rural community tourism. As a way to strengthen the tourism offer, these initiatives must adopt several planning measures to control the effects derived from visitation, such as studies of tourism load capacity (CCT). La Posada Rural la Amistad, located on Isla de Chira in the Gulf of Nicoya, is one of those initiatives, managed by the community organization “Las Damas de Chira”. It offers accommodation, food and a protected area with a variety of attractions with tourism potential. To take advantage of this potential and in accordance with the Tourism Sustainability Standard of the Costa Rican Institute of Tourism (ICT), the organization, with the support of academics from the Tourism Studies Program of the National University, has applied different planning tools, including CCT studies, which refer to the maximum number of people who can visit a space at the same time, without physical and socioeconomic impacts. For this purpose it was necessary to take into account the basic tools to assess and control the effects derived from visitation to the protected area of the inn and strengthen tourism activity in terms of quality and sustainability. This article presents the methodology, results and analysis of the implementation of the CCT study in this protected area, applying the methodology proposed by Dr. Miguel Cifuentes in 1999.

Land use changes, human activities (deforestation, agriculture, urban sprawl, ecc.) and abnormal weather events are the common reasons of hydrological problems like floods or landslides. Neglecting the terraced landscape, for example, reduced several times the drainage capacity of the water network surface, increasing the hydrological risks. In this paper we study terraced agricultural system of two villages (Prosecco and Contovello) near Trieste. First at all, we gave a detailed description of this rural landscape. Then, we applied a GIS analysis in order to evaluate main changes in the last forty years, overlaying not homogeneous cartography sources (aerial IGM photos of the 1974 and current ortophotos). So, we identified neglecting processes and reforestation dynamics of this terraced landscape. In a restyling perspective, we identified main local tourist attractions. Finally, we hypothesized a pathway aimed at sustainable tourism.

Territoriality, rurality and rural-urban relationship. – Analyzing currents changes in Brazilian countryside becomes mandatory. Besides performing traditional roles – being a reference of activities permanence, providing urban areas with workforce and raw materials, and consuming urban goods –, rural areas are becoming more and more a place of activities other than farming ones. Industrial activity and tourism service activities exemplify it. In addition to making nature features stand out, tourism linked activities point out the change tendency.

This paper seeks to present some of these changes in Rio do Janeiro's countryside, where, besides cattle raising, numerous non-farming activities are taking place, especially tourism.

The “Via degli Abruzzi”. a key route to local development. – The renewed attention paid by Institutions, public authorities and scholars to main historical routes as well as their more serious consideration of rural areas’ development suggest the author to focus his interest on the ancient route of the “Via degli Abruzzi”, which played a crucial role for several centuries for religious, cultural and most importantly commercial purposes, connecting Central and Northern Italy to Southern Italy. This paper aims not only to discover again such a history, but also to let re-emerge nowadays a network of potential relationships and a renewed interest in the areas covered by this communication route, by stimulating new cultural tourism flows which could travel through this route again, and even envisaging a possible institutionalisation of its itinerary, for a more varied and efficient use of its environmental and cultural resources.