75% of all tourists in Italy concentrate on 4% of the territory

[u/Socmel_]

[u/atchijov]

This is not just Italian problem. This is true for any country. Also, if you zoom in on Rome, the picture will be pretty much the same 75% of tourist never see anything other than Coliseum and Vatican.

[u/Apptubrutae → u/atchijov]

It’s really remarkable how quickly tourist density drops off from hot spots.

My first trip to Paris, I went with my 2 year old so we avoided touristy stuff and were just pretty chill. Then we went to Versailles. Good lord. Gardens were cool though. And we went to some touristy neighborhood where you could hardly walk. It was just SO different not that far away at all.

Similarly, went to Cinque Terre once and while it was a scrum to get in and packed along the main trail, we took inland hikes that were basically empty.

[u/Reutermo → u/Apptubrutae]

I live in Tokyo, but haven't been doing a lot of tourism stuff. But when some friends visited we went to Kyoto. There was an obscene amount of tourists, but only on the mainstreets heading to to temple. On the way up to one of the most famous temple There was like a constant river with people, you could barely move. But if you went one street over it was like a normal city. Everyone went along the same routes.

[u/Systral → u/Reutermo]

Haha I immediately wanted to comment mentioning Kyoto. It's crazy how the main streets are just completely swamped with tourists, but just taking a few steps off road you're suddenly in a deserted, but still very picturesque alley. The first time around I wasn't really impressed with Kyoto, even though the tourist highlights are really cool, but I'm glad I gave it a second chance. It's a HUGE city and there is so much to see everywhere, it's jam packed with culture more so than with tourists. It's actually one of my favourite places in Japan now.

[u/shevagleb → u/Reutermo]

I went to an offbeat temple there, supposedly Bowie’s fave. It was empty. It was just me and the one person working the entrance. Stark contrast to the famous temple with 100 gates or the bamboo forest.

[u/SpaceChicken2025 → u/Reutermo]

My wife and two friends got straight up trapped in a crowd in Kyoto there were so many tourists, them included. All they could do was, literally, go with the flow and what was supposed to be an hour long excursion took all morning.

The funny part is I went to the old part of Kyoto while they went to the shopping district. I figured I'd have to battle more crowds than them but, while busy, it wasnt bad. Probably helped that I went in the morning and the Japanese are not morning people. But even by lunch time I could still get around easily while they were sending me SOS texts!

[u/Phennylalanine → u/Reutermo]

You didn't use any names but I already know you're talking about the main street going to Kiyomizudera.

[u/ShiroJPmasta → u/Reutermo]

Let me guess - up Gion to Kyomizu-Dera. I was there during Covid, I’m glad I went there at that time.

[u/GrynaiTaip → u/Apptubrutae]

I went to Venice during the carnival. Everyone is on the main path from the station to St. Marc's square. I turned off that path and found lots of completely empty streets, not a single person there. Also it was all nice and clean. I found three football fields.

[u/Jajo240 → u/GrynaiTaip]

I had the same experience, I took one turn to get a coffee without paying a kidney and everyone simply vanished, it felt like a videogame. I'm from Rome, I'm used to tourists flooding a single street, but never seen something like that

[u/casey-primozic → u/Jajo240]

it felt like a videogame

Old school Assassin's Creed

[u/timbomcchoi → u/Apptubrutae]

I'm at Fontainebleau today and I started at the secret train station (Fontainebleau Forêt), hiked a few hours, and headed towards the town and château. It was surreal how quickly it went from literally no one in your vicinity to packed with tourists and English speaking touts.

[u/ConnectionDouble8438 → u/atchijov]

Surprise, surprise.... Tourists only want to spend their time watching unique stuff, instead of walking around fields, factories and random villages. If you want to spread tourists more evenly, you should start building Colossea and Gothic/Renessaince cathedrals in the countryside.... Moving a few mountains and creating artificial ski slopes would also help....

Also, the main reason why are the locals bothered by tourism is that they want to concentrate into the largest centers, instead of living evenly all around the country... And unfortunatelly, some centers coincide with tourist centers....

Map_of_population_density_in_Italy_(2011_census)_alt_colours.jpg (2000×2313)

Ps. Bear in mind that the scale in the graph is exponential.

[u/mbrevitas → u/ConnectionDouble8438]

I assure you there’s plenty of unique stuff in Rome and surroundings that the vast majority of tourists will never see. It’s not the colosseum and St Peter’s and then just fields and nondescript villages. And Rome is the most obvious example, but Italy is littered with sights of historic and artistic significance that see orders of magnitude fewer tourists than the top 10 or 20 sights.

[u/Tifoso89 → u/atchijov]

And that's why you'll hear so many foreigners say that "Rome is beautiful"

[u/Perspectivelessly → u/Tifoso89]

You're saying it's not?

[u/FlamingoTrick1285 → u/Perspectivelessly]

But there is so much more

[u/sluttysloth20 → u/FlamingoTrick1285]

The majority of people don't have the time/money to be exploring Italy's landscapes.

[u/idiotista → u/sluttysloth20]

They do, if they skip the lemming train touristy stuff.

[u/NotHearingYourShit → u/idiotista]

People want to see the iconic things first. And then the extras second. Limited time and resources skews things.

[u/rocket_randall → u/FlamingoTrick1285]

Thousands of years worth! Verona has a lovely amphitheater, and fortifications dating to the first century CE that you can just walk up to and touch. In any city or town there are homes still in use and in good repair which are older than the USA.

[u/atchijov → u/Tifoso89]

I recently visited Rome… went well off tourist’s path. Despite all my reservations, I actually liked it. I guess beauty is in the eye of beholder. And local people are usually both most staunch supporters and most vocal critics of any place :)

[u/Low_discrepancy → u/Tifoso89]

Eh. Surely a good chunk of them them entered through Termini.

Only time I saw a dude masturbating in public.

[u/JugdishSteinfeld → u/Low_discrepancy]

Jesus, live a little

[u/BildoBaggens → u/JugdishSteinfeld]

True. I can show you bums masturbating on the streets of San Diego any day of the week.

[u/ballsack-vinaigrette → u/BildoBaggens]

"I can show you the wooooorld.."

[u/round_stick → u/Low_discrepancy]

Well, the night is young!

[u/TheDraftyKilt → u/Low_discrepancy]

My first 5 mins at Termini I saw a bloke taking a dump in the street. Good spot

[u/effervescentEscapade → u/Low_discrepancy]

We saw a guy masturbating in Villa Borghese! Haha

[u/Born-Enthusiasm-6321 → u/Tifoso89]

Rome was an amazing city to visit. But I would never live there.

[u/_daidaidai → u/Tifoso89]

But Rome is a good looking city away from the historic center? Obviously it has large areas which are not that nice or fairly generic looking, but i can’t think of a city for which that isn’t true.

[u/Traithor → u/atchijov]

What's the problem though?

[u/balbuljata → u/atchijov]

I've lost count of how many times I've been to Italy, but I've never been to Rome or Naples.

[u/atchijov → u/balbuljata]

It was the same for me until couple months ago. But finally I managed to get to Rome it was much better than I ever expected. So, don’t avoid it in purpose :)

[u/LumonFingerTrap → u/atchijov]

Went to Prague and the difference a mile walk away from the town square makes is crazy.

[u/TheKnightKadosh]

Let’s all go to Isernia 🙃😂

[u/Socmel_ → u/TheKnightKadosh]

Isernia is in Molise and everybody in Italy know that Molise doesn't exist. It's a conspiracy of big Tourism.

[u/peev22 → u/Socmel_]

Is it where they make Molisana?

[u/Socmel_ → u/peev22]

yep

[u/peev22 → u/Socmel_]

I’d go there

[u/lincemiope → u/Socmel_]

Molisn't

[u/Rollingprobablecause → u/Socmel_]

Molise is our most famous vacation destination for aunts with vacuums

[u/RaoulDukeRU → u/Socmel_]

I went to Cesenatico, Emilia-Romagna every year from 2002-09. With the exception of one year, when we got a nice deal at a hotel in Bellaria.

Cesenatico's port canal was surveyed and drawn by Leonardo da Vinci at the request of Cesare Borgia.

It's the hometown of the cyclist Marco Pantani.

I liked that most tourists there were actually Italians.

[u/LolloBlue96 → u/Socmel_]

Molisn't? What's that?

[u/Socmel_ → u/LolloBlue96]

that place that borders Narnia to the East, Neverland to the South and Bielefeld to North

[u/zorrorosso → u/TheKnightKadosh]

My friend from Isernia used to say that they have the Priest, and he's the brother/cousin of the Mayor-Doctor. So during mass, the Mayor-Doctor is going to use the village megaphone to call the villagers to mass, and during elections the Priest is going to call mass to vote for his brother/cousin.

info: I don't recall clearly if they were brothers, cousins or cousins-brothers. The thing is, I was talking about my parent's family village Mayor-Doctor and she explained to me her Mayor-Doctor-Priest situation.

[u/chodeboi → u/zorrorosso]

My brain stopped working for a minute and I was so confused what a Mayo-er / Doctor did

[u/zorrorosso → u/chodeboi]

He is the village Mayor, but he is also the village Doctor, his brother is usually another relevant figure of the village (in my parent's case the optician-dentist) and/or Mayor himself before or after the Mayor-Doctor.

[u/chodeboi → u/zorrorosso]

As long as it’s not about spreading mayonnaise it’s all good

[u/stombion → u/TheKnightKadosh]

If you are into archeology Isernia has the Palaeolithic national museum. It's a small but pretty good museum, and you get to visit one of the dig sites.

Edit: it's also dirt cheap

[u/Espumma → u/stombion]

A dirt cheap dig site you say?

[u/dat_9600gt_user → u/[deleted]]

What part of Italy doesn't?

[u/Socmel_ → u/dat_9600gt_user]

check Busto Arsizio or Foggia lol

[u/Speedhabit → u/dat_9600gt_user]

Dirty parts of Naples are pretty gross, never seen cigarette butts layered so thick

[u/Lordert → u/Speedhabit]

The area around the train station is "interesting", wife wasn't impressed.

[u/Speedhabit → u/Lordert]

I mean yeah but that’s always a low hand, tell me you at least scored some food

[u/Lordert → u/Speedhabit]

We landed in Naples, ferry to Ishcia for 4 days, excellent food. We did get pizza from that Michelin star restaurant on return to next location.

[u/JarJarBot-1 → u/Speedhabit]

When I was in Naples a group of kids about 8-10 years old walked by smoking cigarettes and one of them flicked their cigarette butt at me. That’s amore!

[u/NotHearingYourShit → u/JarJarBot-1]

I am all about fine dining and Michelin stars but there’s probably 100 pizza places that sell pizza in a back alley with plastic chairs that have pizza equal in quality to a Michelin star for £4 in Naples.

[u/SvenHjerson → u/NotHearingYourShit]

I call bs cause everyone knows they use the euro in Italy

[u/Speedhabit → u/JarJarBot-1]

There’s something uniquely off putting about really young kids smoking

Like…not my businesses I guess but…..cmon

[u/EdgeDomination → u/dat_9600gt_user]

I somehow saw a rat the size of a medium dog emerge from the piles of needles in Naples

[u/PoiHolloi2020 → u/dat_9600gt_user]

Mestre. Termini. Bits of Milan.

[u/Jadabu91 → u/TheKnightKadosh]

my father is from there. It‘s beautiful for vacations, lots of forests, bears, truffles, it also has access to the sea

[u/fan_tas_tic]

Interesting because even if you go to like Puglia region, which isn't theoretically touristy, it's full of visitors.

[u/Cla168 → u/fan_tas_tic]

Rome and Venice skew this map so much that you can't really see regional differences at all.

[u/M1ndle → u/Cla168]

Yeah, should have set max color at maybe 3 million visitors and above. Would have probably made for a lot more interesting info, because everone knows rome and Venice have a lot of visitors.

[u/TexZK → u/M1ndle]

Logarithmic scale is all you need

[u/Analamed → u/Cla168]

The Dolomites too.

[u/Command0Dude → u/Analamed]

I'm surprised the Dolomites are this popular. They're pretty cool, but there's a lot of Alps to see. The Gracian Alps are so much less popular by comparison.

[u/mbrevitas → u/fan_tas_tic]

In the summer on the beach. Not everywhere year-round.

Also, on this map the huge tourist hotspots obscure less-visited but still substantially popular destinations.

[u/Batmanbacon → u/fan_tas_tic]

Wouldn't a lot of them be domestic?

[u/tompie09 → u/fan_tas_tic]

Puglia is so underrated.. Primitivo, Trulli’s and Masseria’s for days

[u/Italia_est_patriam → u/tompie09]

Underrated? Vro we are literally invaded every year and it is top beach destination here in italy

[u/-Brecht → u/Italia_est_patriam]

People don't know what underrated means. They literally take only their own social circle into account, never mind the other thousands of visitors. Americans be like 'the hidden gem of Portugal" and things like that.

[u/Italia_est_patriam → u/-Brecht]

Look, I get our region is beautiful. But Italy's beaches are all.good! Sardinia is beautiful, and so is Tropea in Calabria, and the cinque terre in liguria!

Just go there I want to have my lil beach a bit more free

[u/Socmel_ → u/Italia_est_patriam]

But Italy's beaches are all.good!

laughs in Romagnolo

[u/SoHa6Filmes → u/-Brecht]

I wish Portugal was a hidden gem.

[u/CJKay93 → u/fan_tas_tic]

Nothing even close to Rome or Venice, though. Except maybe Alberobello, but that's because it's tiny.

[u/EmergencyCharter]

Crazy how Florence is not higher. Top tier city

[u/Keyspam102 → u/EmergencyCharter]

Yeah and it felt overpacked with tourists

[u/HandicapperGeneral → u/Keyspam102]

It's because the touristy area is not very large. There doesn't need to be a lot of people before it starts to feel too busy

[u/supergingerlol → u/Keyspam102]

It is packed. 25% of all tourists in Italy are still millions of people.

[u/ConnectionDouble8438 → u/Keyspam102]

I see this in my country... People move to our beautiful capital and immediately start complaining about tourists and calling for regulations... ...as if they were forced to move there, instead of moving anywhere else...

I think that art deserves audience and is meant to be shared. And since we cannot move a cathedral, it makes sense to move the factories and offices.

The Italian graph clearly shows, that you will not get bothered by tourists at all in 96% of your country... What more do you need?

[u/aaa7uap → u/EmergencyCharter]

And Pisa.

[u/castaneom → u/EmergencyCharter]

It’s in there. Zoom in!

[u/marten_EU_BR → u/castaneom]

Of course it's on the map, you can clearly see Florence and Tuscany. But they are surprised that Florence isn't EVEN higher.

[u/castaneom → u/marten_EU_BR]

Firenze was amazing when I visited. I wanna go back and stay longer.. it’s magical.

[u/marten_EU_BR → u/castaneom]

Been there this spring. Truly a wonderful city and region.

[u/[deleted] → u/castaneom]

I went during Christmas time a couple years back. Why people travel in the summer I'll never understand. I was able to stay on the Arno river with three giant windows and a 700 year-old fresco on the ceiling for $140 a night. The Christmas markets are gorgeous there's hardly anyone there!

[u/hughk → u/marten_EU_BR]

Florence is comparatively small so if you average out the tourists over the region, it would be much lower than somewhere like Rome. That is even if you look at some of the other cities there.

[u/marten_EU_BR → u/hughk]

The 'Metropolitan City of Florence' (that's the administrative division used on the map) has 990,000 inhabitants, while the 'Metropolitan City of Venice' has 840,000. Therefore, the two regions are comparable in size.

I'm not trying to argue anything here. I think Florence is anything but a 'hidden gem'; it's very well served by tourists. I just wanted to highlight that the comparison between the regions of Venice and Florence is not due to size differences.

[u/hughk → u/marten_EU_BR]

I mean that when you try and use a regional map, including an area that is basically rural, then the city population significantly averages down.

An extreme example would be down in Sicily which is under touristed. Nobody would say that who has been to Taormina.

[u/admadguy → u/marten_EU_BR]

Si si, this one. 2 million lire. 1700 americano.

[u/pieman7414 → u/EmergencyCharter]

i think they are out of room to accommodate tourists

[u/PsychedDuckling → u/EmergencyCharter]

They have all seen "red dragon" and is afraid of Il monstro de Firenze

[u/DoNotCommentAgain]

Sicily is one of the best places I've been in the world, the range of culture in the history is fascinating and the people were lovely. The major tourist spots are just over crowded and expensive.

[u/BildoBaggens → u/DoNotCommentAgain]

In the village of Gagliano Castelferrato there is never tourists and you can just walk right up inside the castle. No entry fee or anyone even working there. Like a forgotten relic.

[u/DomWaits → u/DoNotCommentAgain]

Shhhssss, don't tell!

[u/lhcmacedo2 → u/DoNotCommentAgain]

Yes!!! And most of the tourism I've seen on the island is local.

[u/atwerrrk → u/DoNotCommentAgain]

Yes, everyone should spend two weeks in Catania lol

[u/MartaLSFitness]

Venice having more tourists than Rome is a shocker for me.

[u/Socmel_ → u/MartaLSFitness]

and for context, Venice historical center (i.e. not the modern suburbs on the mainland or the sparse islands like Burano) has 50k inhabitats

[u/[deleted] → u/Socmel_]

Rapidly dropping due to a complete contempt towards the locals living there.

[u/Socmel_ → u/[deleted]]

cruise ships and chinese tourists groups do not even interact with locals, so they don't get to feel the contempt, unless they snoop into the kitchen windows of a local (that happens).

[u/Bleate → u/MartaLSFitness]

The town of Venice has less tourists than Rome, as already pointed out by others. The list of the most visited cities is
Roma: 29.246.038
Venezia: 10.946.464
Milano: 10.407.509
Firenze: 7.384.354
Cavallino-Treporti (Ve): 6.697.898
Rimini: 6.491.230
San Michele al Tagliamento (Ve): 5.474.146
Jesolo (Ve): 5.188.712
Caorle (Ve): 4.297.996
Lignano Sabbiadoro: 3.672.200 (Udine)

Half of these cities are in the Venice (VE) province.

[u/MartaLSFitness → u/Bleate]

How is Napoli less visited than most of these cities tho? I can understand it being lower than any of the top 4, but the others?

[u/Socmel_ → u/MartaLSFitness]

Naples is logistically less convenient.

Cavallino, Rimini, San Michele, etc are on the Northernmost part of the Adriatic coast, so within easy reach for the thousands of Germans, Austrians and Dutch that want to go to the Mediterranean by car or have a caravan.

[u/Atharaphelun → u/MartaLSFitness]

Not that shocking tbqh. The entire city is a tourist attraction because of the way it's built.

With Rome, you just have a couple of specific locations that you go to.

[u/Socmel_ → u/Atharaphelun]

It's not the city. It's the province that is counted.

And the province of Venice has places like Jesolo which is a very popular beach destination, especially for Austrians and Germans.

[u/1028ad → u/Atharaphelun]

“a couple”???

[u/Normal_Choice9322 → u/Atharaphelun]

Venice is like a little Italian theme park

[u/rethinkthatdecision → u/MartaLSFitness]

That explains why it's sinking!!!

[u/Cardellone]

This should be crossposted to r/Venezia, so people understand why Venetians hate tourists.

[u/[deleted] → u/Cardellone]

lol even their subreddit is 90% tourists

[u/Stiller_Winter → u/Cardellone]

Who is selling all these cheap bullshit in Venezia and runs all these restaurants and hotels? Close all of this, fewer tourists from the day 1.

[u/Username928351 → u/Stiller_Winter]

I find it amusing how every time the problems of tourism are discussed, the onus seems to be placed on the buyers, not the sellers.

[u/[deleted] → u/Username928351]

Not really.

Airbnb owners are public enemy number one here right now. Rightfully so.

[u/SagittaryX → u/Username928351]

I mean it would hardly make a difference. If the locals don't take the money to be earned, some outsiders would step in and do it instead.

[u/Jayflux1 → u/SagittaryX]

I think that’s already happening, I’m sure half the restaurants and businesses there aren’t local

[u/cosmic_cod → u/Username928351]

The same goes for discussing all economic problems, not just tourism. People with 5-8 office works and mortgages are too blame for everything in modern capitalism. And corporations are always protected from everything. Baudrillard helped corporations a lot by inventing "Consumerism" and "society of consumption". Now owners of the world like CEOs and politicians use "Consumerism" as an instrument to gaslight their peasants.

[u/karellen00 → u/Stiller_Winter]

That's not how it works, if we'd do that they would just buy bread and stuff to the minimarket and eat sitting on the bridges, that would be even worse.

If we talk about Airbnb, small term apartment rent for tourists and stuff like that I totally agree.

[u/RelativeCourage8695 → u/Cardellone]

I wonder what Venice would do if tourists would stop visiting. I assume the city would not survive very long.

[u/Cardellone → u/RelativeCourage8695]

I have no doubts it would thrive.

People would move back and it would return to be a real city instead of a tourist cesspool. Venice has thrived for 1600 years, its downfall has coincided with the birth of mass tourism. And inb4 "oh but the cars", Venetians love the fact that they can go everywhere on foot, with public transport or with private boats. I lived in Venice for 10 years, and I loved it. I had to leave because i could not stand anymore the onslaught, and I was afraid I would throw some idiot in a canal.

A little known fact is that Venetians don't benefit from tourism at all, save, perhaps, indirectly from taxes paid by businesses, which have all tourned into tourism. It would be nice if business were the type of business Venetians need, like shops, pharmacies, grocers, you know, normal stuff. They'd pay taxes too.

People who work in, operate and own restaurants, hotel and B&B are not from Venice. They're not even from Italy nowadays.

And let's not forget the hundreds of shops that sell pure crap made in china, which exist only to be a front for money laundering. They are constantly deserted, they sell nothing, because no sane person, not even the most determined tourist would buy a generic Pikachu smartphone cover in Venice, but somehow they make profits. If this does not give away their primary reason to exist...

[u/morbihann]

I get Venice and Rome, but what is the top one ? Is it for skiing mostly ?

[u/Socmel_ → u/morbihann]

The Dolomites are a part of the Alps that is very popular for hiking and natural beauty

[u/exilevenete → u/Socmel_]

You're conflating the Dolomites with South Tyrol tho, which is a pretty common mistake. Most of the Dolomites are actually located in Belluno province, further south.

[u/Gilberts_Dad → u/exilevenete]

Yes but if people talk about the dolomites they don't mean the dolomiti bellunesi. So while you're technically correct it is not relevant and this map shows why.

And the reason why people go to south Tyrol is the mountains, the majority of tourists go to the dolomites there.

[u/t-licus → u/morbihann]

It’s South Tyrol. Probably a lot of skiing, but also hiking (it’s where the dolomites are), spas, wine tourism, and, I’d assume, a significant amount of casual border-crossing from Austria since the region is majority German-speaking. It’s also where the Brenner Pass is, so a lot of travellers between northern and southern Europe pass through by necessity.

[u/Oachlkaas → u/t-licus]

a significant amount of casual border-crossing from Austria

Not really. It's mostly the other way around. South Tyroleans coming to North Tyrol.

[u/NorseShieldmaiden → u/morbihann]

I spent half my childhood in the northern part of Alto Adige/Südtirol. It doesn’t feel touristy to a foreigner, as most of the tourists speak German just like the locals, but I’m sure the locals feel it. Hotels would award guests when they came 25 summers in a row and most guests would spend 3-4 weeks there. So you don’t need a lot of different people to get a high number of nights spent by tourists there.

If Venice typically has tourists spending 2 nights there and Alto Adige/Südtirol has them spending 20 nights then Venice needs 10 times the number of tourists to have the same number of nights spent there.

Further south in the area you have Lake Garda which is also wildly popular, not just in Germany, but also in Scandinavia.

[u/The_Corvair → u/NorseShieldmaiden]

but I’m sure the locals feel it.

Read an article just yesterday about it; They do, and they are not happy at the moment - especially since tourist behaviour appears to have deteriorated massively in the last few years (stuff like pepper-spraying an Alp-Wirt because they took more than ten minutes to prepare food)

[u/ImperatorMundi → u/morbihann]

That's South tyrol with Lake garda. Half of bavaria spends the spring, autumn, and summer holidays there, as well as people from Central Italy who want to have a milder summer vacation compared to the heat at home.

And skiing as well. It's basically the weekend retreat for the regions north and south of it, as it has beautiful nature, castles and cities and much nicer climate than either side.

[u/Socmel_ → u/ImperatorMundi]

Lake Garda doesn't border South Tyrol, though.

[u/ImperatorMundi → u/Socmel_]

Ah yes, I always confuse the region Trentino-Alto Aldige with the provinces and thought it was shown as one.

[u/Assurhannibal → u/morbihann]

South Tyrol. Lots of Germans because they speak the language and skiing there is actually affordable compared to Switzerland and Austria

[u/joeedger → u/Assurhannibal]

Skiing in South Tyrol is not cheaper compared to Austria.

[u/Assurhannibal → u/joeedger]

Last time I was there it was. But maybe it has become so popular that they raised the prices

[u/fph00 → u/morbihann]

https://snowbrains.com/overtourism-in-south-tyrol-italy-is-sparking-drastic-consequences/

[u/spiritplumber → u/morbihann]

yes, also Jannik Sinner is from there so right now they are having a tennis mini boom

[u/kf97mopa → u/morbihann]

That’s Sudtirol, the bit that Italy conquered from Austria after World War I (or rather, was given by the allies in return for joining). It is German-speaking except for the biggest city after Mussolini’s attempt to make it more Italian. Culturally it is more Austria than Italy, and yes, tourism would be skiing up there. Lots of nice ski resorts.

[u/SE_prof → u/kf97mopa]

So it was all a ploy to get Austrian and German tourists!!

[u/kf97mopa → u/SE_prof]

No, they wanted to get better skiers to compete in the alpine events. Heard some time that >80% of the Italian downhill skiers are from there.

[u/SE_prof → u/kf97mopa]

Modern problems require modern solutions

[u/Feisty-Witness-3972 → u/kf97mopa]

it was all a plot to claim strudel as ours (Italian)

[u/PiERetro → u/morbihann]

The Dolomites. Incredible for skiing and snowboarding in the winter, outstanding for walking, hiking, climbing etc in the summer.

[u/boldpear904 → u/morbihann]

If you've seen zouthern Switzerland on the border of Italy, then you would understand why. Oh my gosh, the Swiss Italian Alps are so beautiful! I love going there for the day 😻

[u/protoctopus]

Probably the same in most countries.

[u/enda1]

Does this included domestic tourism? I feel the Adriatic coast around Rimini should be much more red with all the domestic tourism

[u/Luck88 → u/enda1]

Even if it wasn't included, a crapload of Germans/French go to the Adriatic, Rimini feels like it should be darker...

[u/Unbundle3606 → u/Luck88]

Seaside locations are under represented here because this map counts full year attendance, so places like Suedtirol (which is absolutely packed during the ski season but also has tourists year-round for hiking etc) and cities tend to win.

[u/StockTooHigh]

Sicily could've been such a tourist location but they are fucking up for centuries on that island.

[u/dat_9600gt_user → u/StockTooHigh]

What do you think would pull people in the most?

[u/7urz → u/dat_9600gt_user]

Decent roads, decent public transport, people actually speaking English, beach hotels/restaurants open in May or October when it's not scorching hot, more services close to the beaches...

[u/Tight_Ad_7521 → u/7urz]

When I was in Catania pretty much every young person I met spoke English well enough to get by.

[u/7urz → u/Tight_Ad_7521]

In Catania (2nd-largest city), every young person.

[u/Basically-No → u/StockTooHigh]

The question is do you really want more tourists there? 

[u/italiancollegekid → u/Basically-No]

There is no overtourism in Sicily, and the regional economy would benefit from more tourists. Sicily is probably one of the best regions in Italy if not the best for natural beauty and local cuisine.

[u/DamnedMissSunshine]

I'm proud to be one of those who visit Molise lol.

[u/PulciNeller → u/DamnedMissSunshine]

thank you from a Molisano. Where have you been in particular? tourism here is becoming more lively in the last years, especially for hiking (we're improving paths and also better maintaining ancient sheep tracks like Tratturi)

[u/DamnedMissSunshine → u/PulciNeller]

It's something else in my case. I grew up going to a Catholic school, we had Italian there and different projects and exchanges with Italy. I was there multiple times and we spent most of the time in Molise. I unfortunately don't know most of the names of the places but I obviously spent time in Temoli, we visited the temporary village of San Giuliano di Puglia and we for sure would visit some ruins and ancient paths. I unfortunately don't know where exactly it was located. Last year, I went to Molise again, after many years. I just wanted to chill somewhere warm, it was late September-early October. So, most of the time I spent time in Temoli and went to the beach and the promenade. It was already empty, so it was perfect for me to relax. There were some German-speaking tourists at the time but not many in total.

[u/PulciNeller → u/DamnedMissSunshine]

interesting story. I live more in the inner part of the region but my aunt lives in Termoli. There are tourists of course but nothing outrageous like in other italian beach towns. We also are on the cheap side, so that's a plus I think. Hopefully the water and the walks on "lungomare" were nice (Termoli has also a beautiful medieval old town with a swabian tower as you know). Never been to San Giuliano but here everybody knows that village by name due to the earthquake of 2002 and the children who died.

[u/ComprehensiveLaw1012]

Sardinia has probably the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever been to. Wonderful cuisine and some great little cities as well. Throughly enjoyed my time there. Aiming to go to Sicily next.

[u/zeth0s → u/ComprehensiveLaw1012]

If they create the same map for summer time only, Sardinia would be higher than South Tirol, but only for 2.5 months. South Tirol has tourists the whole year

[u/radioslave → u/ComprehensiveLaw1012]

Delete this. It's still affordable, beautiful and not crowded. We have to gatekeep it.

[u/buttetfyr12]

I've been to Vico Del Gargano, Marina Serra, Molinara and then Badalucco (many times) out in pretty remote areas. But I also hate crowds after 25 years in various larger cities.

[u/The_AmazingCapybara]

Because Lago di Garda is more interesting place to stay than San Bonifacio

[u/Mat3s9071]

Damn Venice

[u/stealer_of_boots]

Not surprising at all to be honest, gotta admit I got caught in the trap of "can't visit Italy without seeing Rome" when I went for the first time.

I think the Apennines are slept on a bit. I remember grabbing the train over from Naples to Bari and being amazed by how pretty parts of it were. If I go again I think I'd say screw it to the tourist traps, just go hiking in the mountains

[u/aamgdp → u/stealer_of_boots]

For sure. We went to seaside Abruzzo last year (costa dei trabocchi), and we had sight on majella range all the time, and then saw gran sasso from the train on our way to Rimini where we had flights home. Those mountains are a trip waiting to happen. Hopefully next year.

[u/Draig_werdd → u/aamgdp]

I've been to Gran Sasso and it's an amazing place, but the tourist infrastructure is lacking. There are few foreign tourists and Italians only go there to ski. I don't know if it changed but when I was there the trails marking where missing, there was nobody at the information centers and so on.

[u/nordineen]

Oh Venice is good destination huh

[u/TomfromLondon]

I need an interactive version so I can choose my next holiday :)

[u/Trillion_Bones → u/[deleted]]

2 mila is not 28% of Venice

2 mila is 2,000 while Venice is in the millions

So it's 0,028% not 28%

[u/minobi]

In other countries, I believe it is no more than 2%.

[u/A_delta]

Where on the map is Rimini? Used to be a tourist hot spot right?

[u/Gruffleson]

This can't be that surprising. I am sure you can make a similar statistics for most countries.

[u/titanna1004]

I'm bit too poor for 30, 2 week long trips to Italy to visit all fancy places. I have to pick most intense ones to make most profit per € spent.

Maybe if someone would like to fund me next 29 trips, I could go all other places too, sure, please do.

Or actually, even if I had enough coins to go 30 trips, I'd rather go other countries too, like one 2-week long trip for each EU / bigger European country.

Also, 2 weeks are far not enough for Rome alone, even on intense visit.

Anyway, yes, I'm aware there are lot other fancy places too, but gonna pick something.

[u/antiquemule]

Excellent, leaves the rest of this beautiful country for the less sheep-like of us.

My personal favorite spot is the Val Ferret, right next to the Italian end of the Mont-Blanc tunnel. First turn on the left as you come out of the tunnel. Beautiful larch forests and views of the famous alpine climbs of the Mont-Blanc massif.

[u/cathedral___ → u/antiquemule]

Are you afraid to be too far from France? :D

[u/antiquemule → u/cathedral___]

LOL.

[u/ImJustAFisch]

I'm sure Venice and Rome are great, but Milan is quite underrated if you ask me, very nice city

[u/Socmel_ → u/ImJustAFisch]

Milan is one of those cities that need to be discovered. Usually it's the tourists who want instagrammable pictures who hastily dismiss it.

I mean, the city was for a while the capital of the Western Roman Empire and is the richest and second largest in Italy. That alone should tell you that it's bound to have interesting art.

[u/Feisty-Witness-3972]

Italy is one of the countries with the most diversified tourist locations...imagine how France or Spain look like then, if Italy is this concentrated.

As an Italian, I am a bit surprised about South Italy being so little touristy...but I also get why it isn't. The infrastructures are much worse, and the cities are not that pretty (with a few exceptions).

[u/talk-spontaneously]

It's like everyone stops at Naples and doesn't go any further south on the mainland.

Even finding general information about Reggio Calabria online is more challenging.

[u/GoldFuchs]

This is tourism everywhere to be honest. I grew up in Bruges and 90% of tourists stick to the same 2-3 streets and never wander past those

[u/stevekanner95]

I’ve had to travel to some non-touristy areas for work. There’s a reason why this is. I’ll just say the Foggia was not the most charming town in Italy.

[u/rcanhestro]

that's basically every single country

[u/Puzzleheaded-Twist-7]

Like always about Italy add mountains and lakes to the map and you might reconsider your thoughts.

[u/manzare]

I need a map like this for every country so I can see what are the over-touristy places I should avoid when traveling.

[u/BottleOfVinegar]

To be fair, Venice is a very unique, one-of-a-kind city and I cannot blame people for prioritizing it.

[u/sekanet]

Now I know where to go for vacation in Italy to avoid crowds and enjoy in peace and food and wine.