Traffic lights for selfies and panoramic photos, access to roads and beaches to be booked online, timed presences or sensors which record the passage of hikers.
From Trentino to the Cinque Terre, up to Capri and in Sardinia, there are several strategies implemented to contain the impact of tourists in the crowded weeks of August.
These are initiatives that almost everywhere aim to limit the collateral effects of the so-called overtourism that oppresses art cities like Rome and Florence all year round (which tries to limit short-term rentals) but that in the summer afflicts seaside and mountain resorts, villages that have to endure the shock wave of thousands of vacationers every day.
A phenomenon that has not spared some medium-sized airports such as Bologna, where the significant increase in passengers combined with construction work to expand the airport has created very long queues at security checkpoints, with travellers forced to arrive several hours early and passengers sitting on the ground waiting to board.
Against the invasion of ultratourists, depending on the territories and situations, various initiatives have been put in place, especially in summer with the increase in the flow of visitors, often with the support of technology and the internet.
In some places in Trentino, such as the Fassa Valley, special sensors record the passage of hikers. On the Dolomite Passes, the strategy is already mapped out, with traffic regulation and digitalization of interchange parking areas.
Because of the selfies of the holidaymakers, there is instead a one-way system on Alta via del Sale, between the dirt road that connects Limone Piemonte (Cuneo) to the Ligurian hinterland, a tortuous route that offers a view that attracts many tourists.
The aim is to avoid traffic jams at panoramic points: the traffic light remains green for ten minutes and red for a maximum of fifty minutes in both directions alternating. The maximum travel time between the two traffic lights It lasts twenty minutes, allowing visitors to stop to admire the landscape and take souvenir photos.
In Braies in Alto Adige, the town where the highly visited lake of the same name is located, around which the successful television series 'Un passo dal cielo' was filmed, attracting thousands of selfie tourists, a plan has been launched that provides for digital reservations for access to the road that leads to the lake for motorized vehicles. From the mountains to the beaches.
The apps support the Apulian beaches, where from the online platforms you have the real pulse of what is happening, through the map of the beaches to know which and how many there are precisely.
Beaches with limited access – such as the one in Stintino with a maximum of 1.500 bathers – and entrance fees are measures to limit the pressure on ecosystems in Sardinia: from the north to the south of the region, advance bookings have been made available through the municipal websites and apps.
In Cinque Terre, the fascinating portion of Liguria overlooking the sea, this year due to new rules and also the increase in train tickets we cannot speak of tourist overcrowding.
Here the reopening of the Via dell'Amore, the stretch of the Sentiero azzurro that connects Riomaggiore and Manarola known throughout the world, has been regulated for sustainable use. Entrance has become by reservation and access is limited: 400 people per hour, 100 people every 15 minutes.
Landing tax doubled in Capri, circulation with alternate license plates on the Amalfi coast, limited number and access by reservation to some free beaches in Napoli These are instead the main measures implemented in Campania, not only on August 15th but for more or less long periods of the summer season.
In the Marche region, the measures taken are represented by a controlled access area, on an experimental basis for 52 critical days, along the small road that leads to Portonovo Bay in Ancona; limited access, from August 15st to September XNUMXth, to the Due Sorelle beach in Sirolo.
Article published on 10 August 2024 - 16:06
