Accessibility as a design resource for tourist enhancement of lesser-known cultural sites from the perspective of tourism

The topic of accessibility can be an operational tool and, at the same time, the side-effect of habitat regeneration processes respect to which tourist enhancement of lesser- known cultural sites can be significant. In a broader sense, accessibility expresses the ability of an environment to guarantee everyone - regardless of age, gender, cultural background and physical, sensorial or cognitive abilities - an independent life. Accessibility concerns the exercise of the inviolable rights of an individual, such as the freedom of movement and of self-determination, and is a very illuminating reading key to raise the level of permeability and of social inclusion of a community. In the specific debate about cultural heritage regeneration, accessibility has increasingly come to acquire the role of a civility indicator that our era will leave to the future (Colm Murray, \u201cReport on the group reflection and discussion regarding the visit to Kilkenny City\u201d, \u201cCONSERVATION/TRANSFORMATION\u201d Workshop Proceedings EAAE Transactions on Architectural Education N. 52 \u2013 Dublin/Kilkenny 17th-19th September 2009, page 49), and of a 'value' able to guarantee social cohesion and access to culture and beauty, a \u201cmeans to foster civil and economic development of the Country\u201d (MiBAC Decree on March 28th, 2008). In many areas of our country, naturalistic and cultural tourism is seen as a 'strong' development factor. This factor can thus lead to the effective implementation of the demands for accessibility. This formulation recalls the idea of the \u2018common good' which is based on two main principles: the empowerment and participation in human development processes. Particularly, a privileged scenario to study are the lesser-known cultural sites: tourist destinations with strong unexpressed potential, sometimes accompanied by depopulation and decay phenomena or undergoing major reconstruction operations. For these places, accessible tourism might represent an opportunity to match ethic and economic profit and also a factor of tourist attractiveness and competitiveness