ABSTRACT
The paper explores the experiences on professionalism and lifelong learning carried out in the frame of the Cultural Districts project. This wide ranging programme was promoted by the Cariplo Foundation with the aim of producing new attitudes toward culture as a factor for local development. The project of the Valtellina Cultural District was established in 2010 in the Northern part of Lombardy (Italy) whose aim was to improve the awareness of the local community in the valorisation of cultural landscape and heritage, and of creating tangible and intangible networks. One of the focuses of the Valtellina Cultural District project was dedicated to improving cultural management, mobilizing cultural growth potential and contributing to employment and welfare creation. The case history is discussed through the analysis of the implemented educational and training activities and of their impacts both on the participants as well as the project as a whole, in terms of improvement of its reputation and setting out the basis for future developments. The involvement of human resources and local professionals was both a primary objective and an essential requirement of the territorial project. The general scope of these activities was to enhance capacity building in the field of cultural heritage and landscape and to ensure, over time, the presence of appropriate professionals to carry on the diverse operational tasks for protection and preservation. The learning environment created by the complexity of the project is deemed to be one of the reasons for its success in terms of engaging professionals in the enhancement of their own skills.
