Local Action Plan Alba Iulia
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ALBA IULIA’s LOCAL ACTION PLAN -February 2015- LOCAL ACTION PLAN Gastronomic Cities Project –URBACT II 1. Introduction The history of Romania is best evidenced in Alba Iulia, which boasts the Alba Carolina Citadel, the most representative Vauban bastion fortification in Romania and the largest from the Central and South-Eastern Europe. Significant events took place here since Roman times, 2000 years ago, when APULUM (the ancient name of city of Alba Iulia) was the capital and the richest city of the Roman Province Dacia, until the moment of the coronation ceremony for the kings of the greater Romania. Alba Carolina Citadel was recently rehabilitated with national and EU funds, becoming a modern tourist attraction, where visitors can breathe the air of history. The citadel was built between 1715 and 1738 according to the plans of the military architect Giovanni Morando Visconti. With walls 12 kilometers long, the citadel is constituted of a central fort and 7 bastions with Baroque gates, unique in Europe. Inside the citadel the visitor can benefit of an authentic lesson of history from the Central and Eastern Architecture, passing from Roman to all the medieval and modern architectural styles. In the past few years, the rehabilitation works of the Vauban Alba Carolina Citadel - for which more than 60 million Euros have been invested - and the efforts carried out by Alba Iulia Municipality (City Hall) for enhancing the tourism potential and for increasing the visibility of the local heritage have been rewarded at national and international level with various awards and distinguished appreciations. The city is appreciated in Romania for several of its achievements: Since 2014, Alba Iulia Municipality has been the first city in Romania and in Central and South-Eastern Europe to sign a contract with the World Bank, not with the purpose of obtaining a loan, but of getting technical assistance to assess the local policies, strategies, plans and projects in order to facilitate the access to the different public and private funding opportunities: http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2014/09/11/world-bank-to- impact-the-lives-of-65000-in-alba-iulia-with-long-term-city-development Alba Iulia Municipality became in 2013 the first city in Romania to receive a rating of financial risks from Moody’s, an international credit rating agency. According to the rating obtained, Alba Iulia Municipality is an institution with considerable credibility for all investors and has proved a good management in attracting European funds during the period 2014-2020. Alba Iulia Municipality has a strong institutional capacity for planning urban development and attracting financing resources for urban policies and projects: www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-assigns-Ba1-issuer-rating-to-Municipality-of-Alba-Iulia- -PR_286668 In December 2014, Alba Carolina Fortress was awarded the First Prize of the European Structural Funding Gala, at the "welcoming guests" section. The prize was offered to the City’s Mayor by Jyrki Katainen, European Commission’s Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness: http://www.proiecte-structurale.ro/conferinte/Gala-Fondurilor-Structurale-9-decembrie-2014- BUCURESTI--eID137.html http://adevarul.ro/locale/alba-iulia/distinctie-gala-fondurilor-structurale-proiectul-primariei- alba-iulia-revitalizare-laturii-vest-cetatii-vauban-1_548f3b65448e03c0fdc75263/index.html In 2014, Alba Iulia Municipality was awarded the title “A city renewal” within the Best Cities Awards Gala 2014 by Forbes Romania for its accomplishments in the physical regeneration of the city, mainly financed through EU structural funds. https://www.dropbox.com/s/fiukmkzbmt75y2h/City%20Renewal%20Diploma.pdf?dl=0 Alba Iulia Municipality’s Mayor was awarded the title “People and ideas who move things forward Romania” within the Foreign Policy Gala Romania 2014. https://www.dropbox.com/s/w0wd6wfng7y8o8e/People%20and%20Ideas%20that%20move% 20Romania%20Forward.pdf?dl=0 In 2012, Alba Iulia Municipality was awarded the prestigious title of European Destination of Excellence (EDEN) conferred by the European Commission through the Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism for the rehabilitation and conservation works inside the citadel. Following this important recognition, the destination benefits from a permanent place on the European Commission website. http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/tourism/eden/themes- destinations/countries/romania/alba-iulia/index_en.htm Video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dfcpbh6mhtycuc7/HD_AlbaIuliaExtra%20long.mp4?dl=0 In March 2013, Alba Iulia Municipality was awarded the Jury's Special Mention Award from EUROPA NOSTRA Organisation which is the largest European Association focused on Tourism Conservation, a pan-European network composed of more than 250 member organisations (heritage associations and foundations with a combined membership of more than 5 million people), 150 associated organisations (governmental bodies, local authorities and corporations) and also 1500 individual members who directly support the mission of the association). https://www.dropbox.com/s/m7sebbfh1qdm6bw/EUROPA%20NOSTRA%20CERTIFICATE .pdf?dl=0 The Roman - Catholic Cathedral of Alba Iulia Municipality, one of the most important architectural monuments of Transylvania is a Romanesque heritage recognised at European level, 1004 years old. Since 2012, the cathedral has been included in one of the European Routes TRANSROMANICA - The Romanesque Route of European Heritage. http://www.transromanica.com/en/news/ Since 2013, the Roman Heritage of Alba Iulia has been included in the European Cultural Route The Roman Emperors’ Route. http://www.culture- routes.lu/php/fo_do_downld.php?ref=00006291/00006291.pdf&saveas=Workshop%203%20 Cosic%2022.11.2013.pdf "MAREA ÎMBRĂŢIŞARE DE LA ALBA IULIA" (The Giant Hug from Alba Iulia) organized on the 29th of May 2009 gathered 10,000 people and had an important impact on increasing the visibility of the Alba Carolina Citadel at national and international level. Through this project, Alba Iulia reached a new world record - the biggest human hug known in human history officially recognized by the Guinness World Records. http://www.mediafax.ro/life-inedit/alba-iulia-a-intrat-in-cartea-recordurilor-cu-cea-mai-mare- imbratisare-4466295 Another relevant strength for the visibility of Alba Iulia Municipality's tourism potential is mirrored in the appreciation of some of the distinguished visitors of the Citadel. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the opinion of H.E. Mr Martin Harris, former Ambassador of the United Kingdom in Romania: "Romania's heritage, Romania's future. Last month I joined a group of ambassadors visiting the vast and impressive Vauban Fortress at Alba Iulia. As a historian I found this a fascinating place to visit. All the different eras of Romanian history are represented here - the original Dacian settlement, the Roman legionary fortress and the magnificent Habsburg citadel in the impregnable star-shaped configuration designed by the French military engineer Marshal Vauban.(...) But today the fortress is also a major tourist attraction - for school children learning about their history, for families enjoying a day out, for foreigners like myself keen to discover and appreciate Romania's rich architectural heritage." http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/martinharris/2010/11/04/alba-iulia-romania%E2%80%99s-heritage- romania%E2%80%99s-future/ In 2007, the fortress Alba Carolina was nominated by a national newspaper to be One of the 7 Wonders of Romania. http://www.evz.ro/detalii/stiri/iata-cele-7-minuni-ale-romaniei-460624.html Alba Iulia is the first City in Romania which had an appearance in the World Heritage Unesco Magazine. http://mirceahava.ro/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/alba-unesco.jpg) and has recently appeared in the National Geographic Traveller - in Romanian language http://alba24.ro/cetatea-alba-carolina-prezentata-in-revista-national-geographic-traveler-alba- iulia-orasul-care-revine-la-viata-158699.html Other Media appearances in 2013 include Wizzair Magazine and TAROM Insight Magazine: https://www.tarom.ro/&files/insight-decembrie-2013-ianuarie-2014.pdf "The Great Appearance", was also a city marketing campaign which took place inside the citadel. Through this project, Alba Iulia Municipality intended to offer 'gratitude' for the citizens living in Alba Iulia by creating a gigantic poster with portrait photos of 1,400 people living in our City, the 'community portrait' reflecting the inhabitants’ love and appreciation for the city. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=426024944128845&set=a.329833747081299.7838 8.327358393995501&type=1&theater HAPPY ALBA IULIA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noR-YpJRjzI In this context, it is important to enhance the tourism potential and to find instruments feasible to increase the socio-economic development of Alba Iulia through tourism. In this respect, it is important to use instruments like gastronomy or local products to increase the city s potential in hosting tourists and becoming more visible. 2. Tourism diagnosis from the perspective of gastronomy in Alba Iulia 2.1. Methods of analysis The data gathering process took place during the period September 2014 – January 2015 and was organised in three stages. The first stage included the collection of data from restaurants in Alba Iulia, through a bilingual questionnaire in Romanian and English. During the second stage, the data was collected from stakeholders through a customized questionnaire.