Discovering the Italian Geological Heritage with the Planet Earth Week.

The “Planet Earth Week” is the Italian Geoscience festival with events all over the country. Since 2012, during a week in October, hundreds of different events are taking place, such as: hiking, walking in city and town centers, open-door at museums and research centers, guided tours, exhibitions, educational and experimental workshops for children and young people, music and art performances, food and wine events, lectures, conferences, round tables. The “Planet Earth Week” festival aims to bring adults and young people to Geosciences, convey enthusiasm for scientific research and discoveries, promote sustainable cultural tourism, aware of environmental values and distributed all over Italy, increase the awareness on environmental issues, stimulate sustainable tourism, and at the same time, discover new insights on nature that are under our noses. This initiative is also becoming a significant economic driver for many small companies active in the field of science divulgation. This year’s “Planet Earth Week” in Italy has reached the 6th edition, has been 14-21 October 2018 and has participated to “The European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018” with a theme of “Nature and Landscapes as a part of Cultural Heritage” As weeks aiming to raise public awareness of geology and how it affects our lives are also taking place in an increasing number of countries, they should be connected through a transnational network to share experiences and best practices as well as to amplify their communication impact.