All you can live! Touristic Perspectives within Contemporary Liguria

The term “landscape” is meaningless to extend a broad conceptual framework. “Landscape” is also, however, the perfect synthesis of the many possible variations, since it refers to the idea – at the same time fascinating and insidious – of the coexistence between man and nature. However, the landscape forms a dialectical relationship with the viewer, helping to produce a strong sense of community identity. A typical case that reflects this circumstance is undoubtedly the Ligurian coastal landscape. The balance between the different souls of the landscape is not an ordinary condition, and Liguria is an example of this complexity. Among the exogenous dynamics that condition this delicate context, there is tourism. The effects of this activity are readable in the body of the territory and in the Ligurian one more than in others. All of these factors can be a prelude to the emergence of conflicts. Liguria – aware of the evolutionary process from the Second World War to today – has been interpreted as natural, urban and rural landscapes. The overall awareness of the principal territorial characteristics was then specified with a focus on urban fabrics extended in very dense linear systems along the coast. However, if this is the centre of tourism activity in this region, the future of tourism will involve the whole territory. This necessitates a study that takes into account all the factors and conditions in the field at the same time. The urban saturation, the building excesses of second homes and the delicate coexistence between the local population and the tourist-seaside invasion, have fuelled the fame of the Ligurian citizen as unfriendly and hostile towards tourists. The “era of mass tourism”, has shaped the landscape and the cities to accommodate the ever-increasing need of the tourism sector. Today, the economic and tourist scenario has profoundly changed, and other transformations are expected in the future. This puts the Ligurians in front of their ability to prove themselves a resilient community and to develop a new tourism and territorial model that is up to the challenges.