The World Heritage Committee, meeting in New Delhi in its 46th session, decided on the inscription of the “Via Appia. Regina Viarum” on the world heritage list which so it becomes the 60th Italian site recognized by UNESCO.
The Italian Ministry of Culture reports this in a note. This is the first candidacy promoted directly by the Ministry of Culture, which coordinated all phases of the process and prepared all the necessary documentation for the request for registration on the world heritage list. This is the result of team work which saw the involvement of multiple institutions: 4 Regions (Lazio, Campania, Basilicata and Puglia), 13 metropolitan cities and Provinces, 74 Municipalities, 14 Parks, 25 Universities, numerous community representatives territorial, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archeology of the Holy See.
“I express all my satisfaction and pride for the great result obtained. The 'Via Appia. Regina Viarum' is now a world heritage site", states the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano. “Unesco has captured the exceptional universal value of an extraordinary engineering work which over the centuries has been essential for commercial, social and cultural exchanges with the Mediterranean and the East – adds Sangiuliano -. Congratulations to all the institutions and communities that collaborated with the Ministry of Culture to reach this prestigious milestone. It is a recognition of the value of our history and our identity, from which valorization capable of bringing economic benefits to the territories involved can arise." For the Undersecretary of Culture with responsibility for UNESCO, Gianmarco Mazzi, it is "a great success for the Ministry of Culture, but above all for those millions of Italians who live in the territories of the Appian Way, a global symbol of the history from which we come . It adds to the extraordinary success achieved less than a year ago by Italian opera and I am happy that it coincides with my mandate."