Tourism in Italy

This vogue of summer holidays heightened in the fin-de-siècle epoch, when numerous "Grand Hotels" were built (including places such as Sanremo, Lido di Venezia, Viareggio and Forte dei Marmi).

Tourism to Italy remained very popular until the late-1920s and early-1930s, when, with the Great Depression and economic crisis, several could no longer afford to visit the country; the increasing political instability meant that fewer tourists came.

Despite this, by the late 1970s and early 1980s, economic crises and political instability meant that there was a significant slump in the Italian tourist industry, as destinations in the Far East or South America rose in popularity.

Venice, the former capital of a major financial and maritime power from the Middle Ages to the early modern period, with its intricate canal system attracts tourists from all over the world, especially during the Venetian Carnival and the Biennale.

[88] The Italian Riviera includes nearly all of the coastline of Liguria, extending from the border with France near Ventimiglia eastwards to Capo Corvo, which marks the eastern end of the Gulf of La Spezia.

[91] Noteworthy seaside locations includes Taormina, Alghero, Positano, Otranto, Tropea, Porto Santo Stefano, Sirolo, Vieste, Sperlonga, Cesenatico, Sestri Levante, Vasto, Termoli, Maratea, Bibione, Muggia, Amalfi, Atrani, Camogli, Capo Rizzuto, Castiglioncello, Cefalù, Gallipoli, Lerici, Manarola, Monterosso al Mare, Pisciotta, Polignano a Mare, Portofino, Praiano, Ravello, Sciacca, Scilla, Sorrento, Vernazza.

[23] Italian seaseaports most frequented by cruise passengers who sail the Mediterranean Sea are Civitavecchia, Genoa, Palermo, Bari, Naples, Savona, Trieste, Monfalcone, Taranto and La Spezia.

[112] The attraction of tourists to the Italian hills is mainly due to the mild climate, natural beauty and landscape, and historic and artistic centres, with agritourism, resorts, hotels and restaurants that are widespread in these territories.

[118] Some Italian rivers such as the Ticino, the Orba, the Dora Baltea and the Elvo stream are frequented by tourists who try their hand as amateur gold prospectors, given the presence in the form of specks of this metal in the waters of these waterways.

[13] The attraction factors are the not too harsh climate, the cultural offer of the cities including museums, exhibitions and party initiatives, the rich gastronomy as well as the more affordable prices compared to other countries.

[152][153] In addition to the Holy See, there are numerous pilgrimage sites given by the presence of relics and remains of important figures linked to Christianity, rather than by the memory of events that have occurred that the faithful consider miraculous.

[155] The Via Francigena is an ancient road and pilgrimage route running from the cathedral city of Canterbury in England, through France and Switzerland, to Rome[156] and then to Apulia, Italy, where there were ports of embarkation for the Holy Land.

The parks of Italy include areas of land, sea, rivers and their banks, lakes and their environs which have environmental or naturalistic importance and are often valued for their landscape features and for representing particular local traditions.

[228] Desserts have a long tradition of merging local flavours such as citrus fruits, pistachio and almonds with sweet cheeses like mascarpone and ricotta or exotic tastes as cocoa, vanilla and cinnamon.

[231] From the 1950s onwards, a great variety of typical products of Italian cuisine have been recognized as PDO, PGI, TSG and GI by the Council of the European Union, to which they are added to the Indicazione geografica tipica (IGT), the regional Prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali (PAT) and the municipal Denominazione comunale d'origine (De.C.O.).

[240] The Mille Miglia was an open-road, motorsport endurance race established in 1927 by the young Counts Francesco Mazzotti and Aymo Maggi, which took place in Italy twenty-four times from 1927 to 1957 (thirteen before World War II, eleven from 1947).

[254][255] Traditional sports also attract tourists in Italy, such as the Palio, the name given in the country to an annual athletic contest, very often of a historical character, pitting the neighbourhoods of a town or the hamlets of a comune against each other.

Typically, they are fought in costume and commemorate some event or tradition of the Middle Ages and thus often involve horse racing, archery, jousting, crossbow shooting, and similar medieval sports.

[263] Among the most famous Italian UNESCO World Heritage Sites there are Sassi di Matera; Porto Venere, Palmaria, Tino, Tinetto and Cinque Terre; Val d'Orcia; Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna; Valle dei Templi; Alberobello; Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tarquinia; Pompeii, Torre Annunziata and Herculaneum; Palmanova; Barumini nuraghes; Dolomites; Santa Maria delle Grazie and The Last Supper; Castel del Monte; Royal Palace of Caserta, Aqueduct of Vanvitelli and San Leucio Complex; Syracuse and Necropolis of Pantalica; Villa d'Este; Langhe-Roero and Montferrat; Aeolian Islands; Val di Noto; Amalfi Coast; Rhaetian Railway in the Albula/Bernina Landscapes; Aquileia; Duomo and the Leaning Tower of Pisa; Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale; Residences of the Royal House of Savoy; Parco Nazionale del Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni, Paestum, Velia and Certosa di Padula; Scrovegni Chapel.

[269] Founded to contribute to safeguarding, conserving and revitalizing small villages and municipalities, but sometimes even individual hamlets, which, being outside the main tourist circuits, they risk, despite their great value, being forgotten with consequent degradation, depopulation and abandonment.

[272] This association organizes initiatives within the villages, such as festivals, exhibitions, fetes, conferences and concerts that highlight the cultural, historical, gastronomic and linguistic heritage, involving residents, schools, and local artists.

[295] Today LGBT tourism in Italy is mainly an urban phenomenon, such as in Milan and Rome due to the high variety of discos, pubs, bars, cruising, saunas, B&B, restaurants, which meet all needs.

The area has a unique cuisine, including wines and dishes such as Prosecco and Tiramisu in Veneto and Cotechino, Ragu and Parma ham in Emilia Romagna, prosciutto di San Daniele and D.O.C.

[336] At the height of the imperial era, the city of Rome became a destination for aristocrats from all over the Roman province who visited the capital to admire its most important monuments such as the Colosseum, the Ara Pacis, the Pantheon and the Trajan's Column.

While Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it a major human settlement for almost three millennia and one of the oldest continuously occupied cities in Europe.

[347] It was first called The Eternal City (Latin: Urbs Aeterna; Italian: La Città Eterna) by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy.

Milan is considered a leading alpha global city,[355] with strengths in the fields of art, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, services, research and tourism.

The Florentine dialect forms the base of Standard Italian and it became the language of culture throughout Italy[378] due to the prestige of the masterpieces by Dante Alighieri, Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, Niccolò Machiavelli and Francesco Guicciardini.

It was a major financial and maritime power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and a staging area for the Crusades and the Battle of Lepanto, as well as an important centre of commerce—especially silk, grain, and spice, and of art from the 13th century to the end of the 17th.

[12] Italy is home to 60 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, more than any other country, including many entire cities such as Verona, Siena, Vicenza, Ferrara, San Gimignano, Urbino, Matera, Pompei, Noto and Siracusa.