The authors of the cultural route Camino Podolico (St. James Way of Podillya) won a grant for 9,950 euros.

The grant is one of ten awarded by the Council of Europe and the European Commission as part of the “Call for European Heritage Days Stories". Valentyna Pikulska, the lead specialist of the tourism development division of the City Marketing and Tourism Department of Vinnytsia City Council, took part in this competition. She has coordinated the Camino Podolico project since 2021. Her story was about the creation of the St. James Way of Podillya and the dream to resume it despite the war in Ukraine (http://surl.li/itdf).

The list of winners (from Norway, Greece, Ukraine, Italy, Armenia, France, Lithuania, and England) and their special stories about European cultural heritage were published on the European Heritage Days website (http://surl.li/itbqa). All finalists receive grants of up to 10,000 euros for project development. In the case of Camino Podolico the funds will be directed to the restoration of the cultural, educational, and pilgrimage route from Vinnytsia to Kamianets-Podilskyi through the towns of Podillya, its research, and popularization through its gastronomic component.

The grantee plans an expedition to research the intangible heritage with cultural and educational events, development and publishing of a gastronomic catalog, organization of European Heritage Days in the communities along the route, and presenting media products such as videos and reports. In general, the duration of the project is about four months.

“Camino Podolico was successfully launched in 2021, but we were forced to put this project on hold due to the full-scale military aggression. For security reasons, we urge our travelers and pilgrims to postpone the trip because of current martial law. However, stopping the implementation of our plans does not mean the absence of activities to popularize this route”, said Oleksandr Vesheleni, director of the City Marketing and Tourism Department of Vinnytsia City Council.

A month ago Vinnytsia as the coordinator of the cultural route Camino Podolico was officially accepted into the European Federation of St. James Way. This decision was made at the meeting of the general assembly of the Federation held on June 29-30 in Potes, Spain. To read more about what this means for Vinnytsia, Podillya, and Ukraine in general follow the link: https://vinnytsia.city/camino-podolico-pryjnyaly-do-yevropejskoyi-federatsiyi-shlyahu-svyatogo-yakova/