The Eu-Sky Route Project

The INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari is an official partner of the European project called EU-Sky Route, a project focused on developing scientific tourism with an astronomical theme.

Europe is known for the beauty of its cities, the variety of its natural landscapes, its history, its museums, and its cultural, artistic, folkloric, and gastronomic traditions.
But Europe also has a strong tradition in observing and studying the starry sky and the universe. An interest that dates back to prehistory and has developed over centuries and millennia, eventually giving birth to modern astronomy with a distinctly European imprint.
Even today, Europe is home to archaeological sites that testify to archaeoastronomical studies and advanced scientific facilities and high-quality astronomical observatories. And in Europe, particularly in the Canary Islands, we find some of the most beautiful and least “light-polluted” skies in the world.

From these considerations arises the idea that astronomy, besides being a fascinating science, can become a phenomenal topic for developing a new form of thematic tourism, astro-tourism.

A European project has recently been launched, called EU-SkyRoute (“Cooperation projects to create transnational tourism products based on cultural and industrial heritage (skyroute)”), aimed at creating astronomical-themed tourist itineraries in Europe to enhance astronomical tradition and heritage.

The Eu-Sky Route project aims to create a sustainable model of thematic tourism, also linked to local historical and natural riches in connection with European scientific knowledge, to promote the “European brand” in the astronomical field and consequently generate economic development.
The Italian partner of the project is the National Institute of Astrophysics, through the Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari.
Sardinia is indeed an ideal place for developing astronomical tourist itineraries, given the presence of an official astrophysical research center (the OAC), an international radio astronomy facility (the Sardinia Radio Telescope), the wealth of observational sites throughout the island, the presence of three large planetariums and several smaller ones, and the continuous high-profile activity of numerous amateur astronomy associations.

The project proposed by the Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari is developed around the new headquarters of the Observatory (in Selargius, via della Scienza 5) and, of course, the Sardinia Radio Telescope, an international scientific facility that can be effectively considered a driver of scientific, technological, and economic development.

The theme of the routes identified by INAF-OAC is the connection between the sky of the past (through the discovery of Nuragic and historical Sardinia and the astronomical implications of alignments and arrangements of monuments) and the sky of today (through direct discovery of the sky via optical telescopes and especially radio waves), between ancient Sardinia rich in millennia-old traditions and super-technological Sardinia projected towards the future. Each route can be enriched through interaction with amateur astronomy associations operating in various areas of Sardinia.

Download the brochure of the project for more information on the identified routes.

For further information on the project, contact Dr. Silvia Casu at silvia.casu@inaf.it

_{The EU-SkyRoute project is funded by the European Community. Led by the Tenerife Tourism Agency (SPET Turismo de Tenerife S.A.), EU-Sky Route has as its official partner the INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari, along with five other partners:}

 

• _{PODKARPACKA REGIONALNA ORGANIZACJA TURYSTYCZNA (Poland)}

 

• _{AGÈNCIA VALENCIANA DE TURISMO (DIRECCIÓN GENERAL DE TURISMO – GENERALITAT) (Spain)}

• _{TENDER DI SDOGATI CLAUDIO ONG (Italy)}

• _{PERSONLA KONSULT GANTCHO POPOV – GPOPOV (Bulgaria)}

• _{THESSALONIKI SCIENCE CENTER AND TECHNOLOGY MUSEUM (NOESIS) (Greece)}