On Wednesday, February 5, 2025, the “Roots Tourism” conference was held in Florence, organized by Confcommercio Toscana and Italea Toscana as part of the PNRR project conceived by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Ministry of Culture and funded by the European Union with the support of NextGenerationEU

ROOTS TOURIST: WHO HE IS, WHAT HE IS LOOKING FOR AND WHY IT IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR ITALIAN TOURISM

He comes from afar, but Italy has always been in his heart. He is between 40 and 60 years old, lives in North America, South America, Australia or Europe, and is a descendant of Italian emigrants. He returns to our country for a journey that is much more than a holiday: it is a return to his origins, a journey full of emotions that leads him to discover the villages, houses and roads traveled by his ancestors.

He is the “rootista”, or the “roots tourist”, as outlined by the survey conducted by SWG for Confcommercio – Imprese per l’Italia, which was discussed on Wednesday 5 February 2025 in Florence at the conference organised in Palazzo Strozzi Sacrati by Confcommercio Toscana and Italea Toscana, the regional declination of Italea, the programme launched by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation as part of the PNRR project and funded by NextGenerationEU. Also present at the conference were the President of the Tuscany Region Eugenio Giani and the Councillor Leonardo Marras, who at the opening underlined the importance of the initiative to develop useful measures to enhance roots tourism in Tuscany as well, which opens up new prospects for growth.

“We don’t often think of Tuscany as a land of emigration,” said the president of Tuscany Eugenio Giani . Other regions certainly have higher numbers. But there are still not a few Tuscans who have emigrated abroad: in the nineteenth century, the century after the Second World War ended, some even more recently, given that in 2023 there were 214 thousand Tuscans in the world, almost 6 percent of the resident population. And the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those migrants, with Tuscany in their hearts, could now return to visit the widespread Tuscany of their ancestors, its picturesque villages, rolling hills, islands and mountains. A bet and an opportunity. A journey of the heart backwards – continued Giani – From Scotland and France for example where figurine makers, waiters, laborers and workers have emigrated from Lunigiana, California, Argentina and Brazil where there are many Lucchesi, from Australia which was chosen by many Elbans. We are waiting for them”.

This particular type of traveler stays on average 12-15 days in our country, with a budget between 3,000 and 5,000 euros including flight, accommodation, meals, transport and activities. Travel as a couple or as a family and prefer stays in small hotels, B&Bs or holiday homes in the villages of origin. He wants authentic experiences, from visiting the places where it all began to typical food and wine, and often relies on organized tours to reconstruct his family’s past.

According to Giovanni Maria De Vita, head of the project for the Directorate General for Italians Abroad – MAECI, Roots tourism “is a response to overtourism: those who come are interested in living a different experience. He comes to visit our small villages but also to experience the traditions and habits of those places of which he has heard so much through the memories of the generations that preceded him,” he said during the Florentine conference.

De Vita described the extent of the project with numbers: Italea has built a widespread and dynamic network in the area with 20 regional groups and 16 coordinators; There are over 4,500 requests for travel or genealogical research and over 1 million accesses to italea.com. Italea Card – which offers many benefits, discounts and concessions for those who come to Italy to discover its origins – has over 650 partners, 55,000 active users and over 11,000 members of the program. And again: 833 Municipalities of the Roots and 742 events already organized. Over 60 awareness-raising events in Italy organized by the regional Italee to encourage opportunities for collaboration and discussion; 19 missions abroad in 13 countries with an estimated participation of over 1.5 million people.

“Unlike the traditional tourist, the roots tourist is not attracted by the most famous destinations, but by places linked to his family history. This means, also for Tuscany, that focusing on this type of tourist is equivalent to enhancing villages, traditions and less traveled territories, creating a bridge between the past and the future, between those who have left and those who now return – highlights the president of Confturismo Toscana Confcommercio Daniele Barbetti – We must intercept these travelers with an increasingly tailor-made offer, able to turn the return home into an unforgettable experience. Conferences like this one in Florence serve precisely to network all the subjects that make up the roots tourism chain, from public bodies to museums, archives, accommodation facilities and all tourism professionals and companies potentially interested”.

“Food and wine play an important role in the recovery of family memories, which is why as Fipe Confcommercio we look with interest at this new segment of the tourist offer – underlined the president of Confcommercio Toscana Aldo Cursano, who is also national deputy vice president of public establishments Fipe Confcommercio – it helps us to highlight our values and to promote the knowledge of the true Italian culinary tradition abroad. Roots tourists are moved by love and respect for Italy: nothing more desirable as an antidote to that mass tourism that has now become unsustainable in many large Italian cities”.