This book comprehensively explores the space of literary tourism and how literature can introduce, promote, and contribute to the awareness of cultural landmarks.
Aimed not only at literature enthusiasts, but also at those who love to travel along less beaten paths, In the Poetsâ Footsteps: Literature, Tourism, and Promotion tells the story of literary tourism between the beginning of the 1800s and today. Giovanni Capecchi surveys the methods most used today, namely printed and online literary guides, that offer a wide panorama of writers' homes and evaluates literary festivals as events capable of giving cultural and economic opportunities to the territories that host them.
Rich in examples and "case studies", capable of linking literature and economics, the book is itself a journey: a trip to real or imaginary locations, in the footsteps of poets, to discover places that have hosted and inspired great writers.
After its success in Italy, where the second edition is about to be published, this book is now being released simultaneously in English and in Spanish.
Giovanni Capecchi is Professor of Italian Literature at the Università per Stranieri di Perugia. He is involved mainly in the study of 19th and 20th century literature and has published volumes on the literature of the Italian Risorgimento, on Giovanni Pascoli, on War time literature, on Aldo Palazzeschi, and on Marcello Venturi.
Preface
1 Literary Tourism
â1 Literature and Geography
â2 Poetic Maps
â3 Writers and Territorial Marketing
â4 The Origins of Literary Tourism
â5 Authentic Locations, Invented Locations
â6 Time, Absence, Memory
2 Literary Guides
â1 Aci Trezza without Verga
â2 Giampaolo Dossena and âLiterary Locationsâ
â3 Watching Europe, Watched from Europe
â4 Literary Guides: Types and Classifications
â5 The Writer as Guide
3 Writersâ Homes
â1 âThere is the Poetâs Homeâ: Ugo Ojetti in the Rooms of the Writers
â2 House Museums, Houses without Museums, Museums without Houses
â3 Writersâ Houses: Classifications and Types
â4 From House to House
â5 Narrate, Reinventing
â6 The Story of Oneâs Own Home, the Story of Othersâ Homes
â7 A Room All to Herself
4 Literary Parks
â1 The Two Nievoâs
â2 âAgainst the Corruption of Landscapesâ
â3 The Season of Global Subsidy
â4 The Park âSystemâ
5 Literary Festivals
â1 âA Festival is First and Foremost a Locationâ
â2 Topic, Time, Space
â3 Effetto Festival