Catalan Network

CATALAN NETWORK

Manresa promotes a network of municipalities and entities that support the Ignatian Way regarding 2022.

The aim is to structure a network of municipalities through which this unique route passes to turn the Ignatian into a European cultural road and thus be able to access European funds that will allow its promotion for 2022.

The cooperation agreement for the progression of the Ignatian Way was signed on April 30, 2015, in a meeting in the Paeria de Cervera, by Manresa and seven municipalities of the Catalan region of the way that connects Loiola, in the Basque Country and Manresa, passing through La Rioja, Navarra and Aragon.

Manresa signed it alongside, Bellpuig, Castellolí, Castellbell i el Vilar, Cervera, Igualada, Ribera d'Ondara and Verdú. The general director of the Ignatian Way Office, Josep Lluís Iriberri, also signed the agreement; and the director of the Saint Ignatius Cave Foundation, Ramon Sanllehí. From now on, the municipalities of Azpeitia, Alcarràs, Castellgalí, Castellnou de Seana, El Bruc, Jorba, Lleida, Palau d'Anglesola, Tàrrega and Veciana will be added. And also the  Montserrat Mountain and ARSA, the management company of the monastery of Montserrat.

Strengthen the path and get European funds.

The agreement includes the agreement of the municipalities and the entities that sign it to join forces to promote and enhance a cultural and tourist itinerary focused on the route that Saint Ignatius experienced in 1522, between the towns of Loiola and Manresa - the so-called Ignatian Way.

It is planned to create an association to structure a network of cooperation between municipalities and other entities around the Ignatian Way, with the prospect of a future expansion towards a possible European Ignatian Route.

According to the agreement, the main activities of the cooperation network will be the following:

• To promote the development of the Ignatian Way as a tourist product and a cultural and economic link between the cities, municipalities, institutions and organizations of the network and the rest of the international tourist demands.
  
• Propose activities to provide the Ignatian Way with specific contents that would enhance the development of tourism products and cultural relations, as well as strategies to consolidate, promote and finance the actions of the network.
  
• Adequately advertise the tourist and cultural activities carried out around the Ignatian Way.
  
• Search for and analyze public and private funding sources and grants - with particular attention to European funds - to finance the development of the Ignatian Way.
  
• Participate and actively collaborate in the development of initiatives of cities, municipalities and counties that contribute to a more significant potential of the Ignatian Way.
  
• Make proposals to identify and catalogue resources to create tourist and cultural products, organize their diffusion and distribution, with the necessary conditioning of transport, accommodation, gastronomy and activities to promote the Ignatian Way.
  
• Promote the integration of the rest of the cities, municipalities, institutions and organisms of the Way in the network to use it as a  meeting point to cooperate and reflect. 
  
• Maintain a stable flow of information on the Ignatian Way between the cities, municipalities, institutions and organisations that make it up, to achieve the necessary cohesion and participation of all its members.
  
• Organize and execute tourism marketing actions; encompassing present and future tourist products of the Ignatian Way.