Aldeias do Xisto Verified partner 

The Rede das Aldeias do Xisto (Schist Villages Network) is a regional sustainable development project led by ADXTUR - Aldeias do Xisto Tourism Development Agency, in partnership with 21 municipalities in the Centro Region of Portugal and over 200 private operators. The objectives of Aldeias do Xisto are the preservation and promotion of the cultural landscape, the incentive to the socioeconomic fabric, and the reinvention of the culture of the places. Aldeias do Xisto are governed by environmental and social sustainability values, affirming the territory as a quality destination to live, invest and create. Aldeias do Xisto are a living laboratory, a place of knowledge, experimentation and multidisciplinarity.

The  Aldeias  do  Xisto  brand  is  a  collective  actor  who  points  a  new  idea  for  the  future  of  the  territory.  It  reconstructs  the  imaginary  from  the  identity  and  drives  it  forward  using  the  communities’  vital  energy.  It  depends  on  the  establishment  of  a  modus  operandi  based  on  respect  for  the  people  who  still  live  there,  as  well  as  for  their  memory.  Only  by  making  use  of  a  broad  framework  of  relationships  between  villages,  their  inhabitants  and  new  participants,  can  we  generate  a  project-building  dynamic  based  on  responsibility  and  the  knowledge  on  how  to  do,  how  to  exist  and  how  to  be.Finding  opportunities  to  cope  with  the  economic  and  social  hindrances  facing  the  majority  of  Aldeias  do  Xisto  territory  requires  an  experimental  attitude  and  a  renewed  glance  over  current  issues.  The  plan  is  to  reinvent  the  culture  of  the  places  with  the  people  who  live  there,  generating  social  and  economic  value  in  the  region.  Experimenting  with  identity,  making  use  of  creativity  and  knowledge.Villages  are  vital  cells  in  the  relation  with  its  territory  and  with  the  world.  Aldeias  do  Xisto  is  working  to  find  interdependencies  between  tourism  and  agriculture,  and  between  these  and  forestry,  herding  or  gastronomy.  And  also  to  connect  local  and  scientific and artistic knowledge.