The pilgrimage route of Santa Barbara in Sardinia: giving value to landscape for a new conservation perspective

The mining route of Santa Barbara in Sardinia develops along a complex landscape that puts together stunning scenarios, country churches and old mines. Landscape in South Western Sardinia is a geographical system closely relating the mining culture with a savagely beautiful nature. The pilgrimage route of Santa Barbara represents an evidence of the past with a forward-looking viewpoint and it has many tangible and intangible values. The paper focuses on the relationship between “Man” and “Place” and it shows many levels of complexity. In this perspective, landscape can be examined as interpretation of the cultural transformation of nature with its dynamics and associated functions, including the definition of a collective image of the community with its own perception of values and needs. Through places of worship dedicated to Santa Barbara it is possible to discover the ancient historical paths where miners walked through, old mule trails and railways built in the past to transport the raw minerals, along which is located an extraordinary technical and scientific historical environmental and social heritage. The field of analysis of the paper is the connection between conservation and evolution of these old mining routes turned into a 380 km long pilgrimage route named after the miners’ patron saint. Today it is one of four main pilgrimage routes recognized in Sardinia, with the aim to join the list of European Cultural Routes established by the European Council. The aim of this research is to investigate the role of new pilgrimage routes in landscape conservation and transformation. Landscape is a big archive of information about its territory, that can be described: the first requirement is a correct reading by a multidisciplinary-oriented interpretation. Pilgrimage routes represent a keystone of a new rural sustainable economy, that is made of tourism, farming, animal husbandry, forest preserve. The rural world represents many cultural values regarding handicraft, building techniques, agricultural and food, old customs in rural areas. Therefore territorial identity has a symbolic nature connected with its function of representing reality as a collective reference point for understanding values and meanings assigned to landscape. These reflections underline the importance of the information management and exchange between insiders and outsiders by the mediation of landscape. The paper aims to build a conceptual framework demonstrating that landscape representation must be related to people’s perception, in order to investigate their role, as dwellers or visitors, in protecting and planning landscape. As a practical result, a shared evaluation of landscape can support decision-making, improve top-down communication and bottom-up participation. This is what makes landscape planning “responsible” as conservation of natural and cultural heritage is the first step for a sustainable human advancement