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UNESCO Chair in ICT to develop and promote sustainable tourism in World Heritage Sites 

Our Mission

Established in September 2013, USI UNESCO Chair is committed to perform research and teaching on how Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and digital media in general, can be effectively used to develop and promote sustainable tourism at World Heritage Sites (WHSs).

More information here.

Winter School 2026

The 2026 edition of USI UNESCO Chair Winter School, titled “Taste the past. Digital media for Byzantine heritage and authentic experiences in Northern Greece”, will take place from 7 to 14 February 2026 in Thessaloniki and Kastoria (Greece).

More information here.

Master in International Tourism

Università della Svizzera italiana offers a Master in International Tourism (MIT), run by the Faculty of Economics in collaboration with the Faculty of Communication Sciences. The USI UNESCO Chair is deeply involved in this Master, through teaching, research, internships and theses opportunities.

Open Access Chapters

We are happy to announce the publication of the Handbook on Heritage, Sustainable Tourism and Digital Media, edited by Silvia De Ascaniis and Lorenzo Cantoni, published by Edward Elgar: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788970082.

More information here.

Maestros: Healers of Peru

An online exhibition curated by the UNESCO Chair (USI) showcasing the ancestral healing practices of Peruvian maestros. Through Heinz Plenge’s evocative photography, the journey reveals rituals, sacred landscapes, and spiritual connections with nature.

Explore the exhibition here!

#faces4heritage: a ‘face-off’ against extremism

Dec 24, 2015 |

A class of students from USI – Università della Svizzera italiana (Lugano, Switzerland) has been invited by the US Department of State in Washington to the finals of P2P: Challenging Extremism, an initiative managed by EdVenture Partners through which the US...

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Expert Workshop “Pilgrims in the digital age”

Sep 20, 2015 |

September 19, 2015. UNESCO Chair ran an Expert Workshop to explore the overlapping area between eLearning, eTourism and eReligion. Tourism is one of the most intense (informal) learning experiences, when the condition of being free FROM daily duties and...

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Visiting Researcher from the City University of Hong Kong

Sep 4, 2015 |

Angela Tritto, a researcher based at the City University of Hong Kong, is spending a visiting period at the UNESCO Chair at USI collaborating with dr Silvia De Ascaniis. The collaboration has started when Angela attended the first Summer School organized by the UNESCO...

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