Mountain geography among representations, projects and tourist development processes.

Abstract

In recent years, mountain areas have received increasing attention from both a multidisciplinary academic and political perspective. However, in the context of mountain geography, there is still no shared identification of mountain areas that goes beyond mere altitude and orographic criteria.

Thus, this paper firstly aims to shed light on the concept of mountains, underlining the importance of defining and interpreting mountains as a baseline for the development of territorial policies.

Although mountains are traditionally recognized as marginal, weak and peripheral areas, tourism and planning have been recognized as an important vector for countering the effects of marginalization and for the revitalization of these areas. In light of these considerations, this paper also aims at analysing the current project initiatives in the Italian mountains, through a selected sample of 250 initiatives located in the Alpine and Apennine areas of the country.

The study offers a theoretical contribution, through the analysis of the tourist projects and the identification of two different profiles attributable to the Alpine and Apennine areas. The research also provides practical implications that enable a better understanding of how to improve tourism planning in the most disadvantaged contexts of the Italian mountains.