Il paesaggio del turismo oltre il COVID-19: prospettive per una Firenze resiliente

The anti-contagion measures linked to the COVID-19 health emergency, implemented by many national governments, have had a devastating impact on the tourism industry, highlighting the fragility of a system that, while producing enormous profits, transforms deeply places, their resilience capacity and inhabitants’ and visitors’ perception. The contribution reflects on the case of Florence and on the progressive tourist specialization of its historic center, presenting a balance of the policies adopted and putting forward some perspectives for a renewed strategy that goes beyond post-COVID-19. The unprecedented landscape of a deserted center, experienced at the end of the lockdown, is the mirror of a void of meaning, of a break in the relationship between urban fabric and the social body of the city, determined in years of specialization towards mass tourism. The proposed strategy is to invest in a more resilient system based on a renewed residency as rebalancing factor and a reinforced relationship between the metropolitan city and the historic center as agenda for a new functional, economic and social mix.