The Importance of Place Names in the Sustainable Tourist Development of the Inland Areas of Tuscany : Toponyms along the Via Francigena

The study of place names, through appropriate both linguistic and geographical tools (topographic I.G.M. maps; Environmental Information System of Regione Toscana, etc.) makes come up hidden identities in geographical areas that can be exploited because of their cultural heritage or their landscape. Sometimes the discovery of old linguistic remains is essential to understand the meaning and the role of places and of buildings linked to a past living of some ethnic groups who unconsciously let somewhere their marks. The Italian Peninsula is rich in particular place names, due to the passage of people both from the North and from the Mediterranean Sea in different periods and for different purposes. In Tuscany, too, some areas do exist which have a cultural heritage depending on ancestral presences that can be still revealed: the study of toponyms, in fact, is an effective way to understand the origins and the role of places, the interaction between man and the territories where he lived, the historical and geographical changes. Toponyms are able to let us understand the identity and the uniqueness of a place, reveal us the sense of place and build a cultural base in order to make local institutions awere of it, bringing them to apply for a valorization of economically weak regions. In particular we will deal with the path of Via Francigena in Tuscany, between Lunigiana and Val d’Orcia, where we find some economic important areas since their origins, rich in resources and cultural quality; some other ones considered “minor” but vital enough thanks to the new rural policy; and, at last, some other marginal areas.