Overtourism in Italy is becoming a real problem and residents want a solution before it reaches a point of no return.
A recent article published in the French newspaper Le Monde unleashed a hot debate in Italy and the Italian media. The piece openly denounces the “disneyfication” of Rome’s Centro Storico. For as harsh as it sounds, Rome’s correspondent Allan Kaval gives voice to Roman citizens and highlights an issue that unfortunately has been ongoing for a while.
With queues everywhere and barely space for walking, Rome’s city center is unbearable every year from early April through October. I know tourism is an important source of income for many (myself included since I’m a travel designer and writer), but not for everyone, and the citizens residing in the city center also deserve some peace of mind and going out of their home without being dragged by the crowds from morning to evening.
Le Monde article also reports the words of one of the guards of the Trevi Fountain: “Sometimes it feels a bit like we’re tending a flock of sheep. They don’t even see us. They don’t see the fountain, only through their phone screens”.
This is precisely what I think when I see huge crowds standing in line to enter all the same landmarks. Are they really ALL interested in the SAME places/topics/photos/travel memories? Do really ALL tourists think that history and culture in Rome is concentrated only in a few places?
This type of hit-and-run tourism reeks of bad will in actually understanding the history that brought Rome to be the city that it is now, from its foundation to 2025 Jubilee Year through important periods such as the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Baroque.
I agree with the guardian of the Trevi Fountain and I would apply what he says to most monuments in Rome: always more, tourists just stare at each monument through their smartphone screen and just for the time needed to snap a photo or a selfie.
This article by Le Monde was published not long after the interview with popular chef Simione Cipriani that appeared in the Italian e-zine Gambero Rosso last July 2024. Cipriani announced the permanent closure of his restaurant opened in 2016 because Florence and the main Italian cities “are becoming a merry-go-round for hit-and-run tourists”.
Now, I get that the offer adapts to the demand and that tourists might not like the traditional recipes how they are. I get it, and I’m sure it’s fair to give an alternative. But there’s a limit to everything, and this limit was well passed, to the point that local residents are finding it hard to eat in the historic centers. And after all, this is where we live all the time, not for just a few days, so we’re kind of a priority here.
Recently, in a walk around Trastevere, I was very sad to see that a local restaurant serving nice, authentic food had permanently shut down and in its place, a clearly uber-touristy eatery had opened in really less than no time. Just its name (which I’m not going to name here) screams “tourist trap”.
Similarly, I have been reading harsh criticism toward Roman residents renting their homes on Airbnb, but to me, it seems more like Romans are literally fleeing the city center because it’s becoming simply unbearable. Going out by car and driving in streets flooded with people is hard, and the high tourist season that every year becomes longer than the year before makes things even harder.
While I understand that if it’s your first time in Italy, you might not want to skip Rome or Florence, it’s also important to travel with some awareness, do some research beforehand, and rely on local travel designers/agents/companies to craft a vacation that truly reflects YOUR interests.
Because going to Trevi Fountain for just snapping a selfie to show your friends and family without even bothering to learn anything about the stormy history behind its construction, who carved it, and admire the actual artistic features, it’s just a waste of time that only has the outcome of jamming the already narrow streets of the Centro Storico.
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