Vol. 12 No. 24 (2022): Utopie quotidiane. Visioni, pratiche e soggetti
Open Essays and Researches

La grande scommessa. Turismo e pandemia a Firenze

Alessio Di Marco
APS Opificio sociologico
Tommaso Frangioni
Università degli Studi di Torino
Costanza Gasparo
Università degli Studi di Firenze

Published 2022-11-15

Keywords

  • urban economy,
  • pandemic,
  • tourism,
  • activism

How to Cite

Di Marco, A., Frangioni, T., & Gasparo, C. (2022). La grande scommessa. Turismo e pandemia a Firenze. Cambio. Rivista Sulle Trasformazioni Sociali, 12(24), 153–165. https://doi.org/10.36253/cambio-12435

Abstract

This paper is centred on the analysis of some recent developments of the touristic system in the Italian city of Firenze. The COVID-19 pandemic hit hard the urban economic system of the city, which in the last years had increasingly become dependent on tourism. We analyse how the pandemic has been exploited by some local actors to develop their own narratives of the touristic future of the city, in light of a rebranding attempt, which was meant to reposition Firenze as an «elite» touristic destination. We explore the contradictions between different ideas of how tourism should affect the urban fabric, to show that tourism is a contested local issue.