Luxembourg. “The extension of the Via Francigena from Canterbury to Brindisi, declared today by the European Institute of Cultural Routes, is a great victory. While some European countries are erecting walls, we are opening new Cultural Routes, and means of intercultural and interreligious dialogue,” said MEP Silvia Costa, president of the European Parliament Committee on Culture, during her remarks to Luxembourg’s European Institute of Cultural Routes. The Institute’s role is to enact and develop the Cultural Route programme in the 49 signatory countries of the cultural Convention. “My commitment to re-launch the great project of European Cultural Routes began in 2009. Next year, the programme will celebrate its 30th anniversary, an important milestone in a programme that unites Europe, and non-European countries with Europe, in the name of culture and dialogue. Today, Cultural Routes are still growing, with new ones created and with significant extensions, like Francigena—which at 2,300km overall, is now the longest.” (9colonne)
