Viaggio sulle tracce della Grande Guerra

Recognizing that this moment in history off ers us the opportunity to reflect upon the possibility of changing the orientation of the tourist phenomenon as a result of the pandemic, this article investigates certain aspects of the relationship between tourism and war. The research is focused on the landscapes in Northern Italy that were the theatre of World War I, and the relationship between tourism and infrastructure. On the one hand, it will review the experience of examples of tourist itineraries traced along the borders that, during wartime, were marked by a dense and continuous web of defensive structures that became the infrastructure in these territories; on the other, it will present the design of itineraries along the network of infrastructures built in the years before World War I, and tasked with handling the logistics of transporting men and goods from behind the frontlines to the battlefields, or infrastructure rebuilt in the years that followed to repair the destruction. The traces left by the conflict in the region, in the form of a palimpsest, are used as a basis to integrate these itineraries into a network of smaller projects that constitute a reception point and, at the same time, to interpret the preexisting conditions. The goal is to explore the relationships between the physical spaces and the spirit of the places to propose sustainable tourist development in marginal and fragile locations.