This summer, after too many months of break – albeit with difficulty – various incarnations of “tourisms” have started once again to animate people’s knowledge for the discovery of the largest open-air museum in the world, the Italian archipelago.

Our ‘uncelebrated’ cities and territories’ – like hidden treasures – have emerged as those better responding to the desire for well-being and nature our bodies require.
Owing this to their innate sustainability, these territories have finally been recognized as trendy destinations suitable to the times, capable of fulfilling new post-pandemic holiday desires. Holidays in the name of well-being and authenticity; opportunities of knowledge, tolerance, respect for different cultures.

These Great-Smaller cities are custodians of the ingredients necessary to create value and to drive a new paradigm of economic regeneration. Inspirational models for the whole of Italy with their sophisticated bio-production of goods and services that transform the holiday into an experience of citizenship and life.

Let’s not forget that, two centuries ago, a trip to Italy was considered as the primary objective of the European ‘Grand Tour” – the first documented expression of ‘mass tourism’.
The term was coined by the travel writer Richard Lassels, during his trip to Italy, to indicate the educational travels of the young Northern European elite in Southern Europe. A precursor of seasonal migrations aimed to escape the grayness of Northern Europe and to seek the sun of the South.

At the beginning of this new era, that has just begun, strengthened by the widespread adoption of remote work, small towns have become sought-after locations capable of answering to the expanding needs of safety and outdoor life. At last, there appears to be a greater awareness of these territories’ role as tangible agents of cultural and regional diversity, places where ‘sociableness’ is a resource to the enhancement of environment and touristic attractiveness.

The paradigmatic change we are living has made it simpler for these destinations to promote a new brand of ‘hospitality with a purpose’, a culturally regenerative type of travel that thrives on engagement, encourage new experience and answers to the increasing calls for a diverse tourism by new generations of aware guests.
Community-focused travel with a message amplified by mighty technology and social networks that enables people to inform themselves and discuss prior to making any travel choices.

In this South, for example, there is Ragusa, a Sicilian city among the most beautiful in Italy, it is the best expression of the final glories of the European Baroque, multi awarded by UNESCO.
An urban landscape merging those dynamics typical of hyper-modernity that transform seemingly marginal realities into very popular destinations, not only for their immersive and sustainable outdoor spaces, but also because of a culture infuse of charm and history, memories, flavors, traditions and folklore. In a nutshell, a synthesis of “Made in Italy”.

Here – today – the act of re-opening beautiful Baroque palaces, re-organizing spaces, hosting, re-qualifying through innovation – and thus bestowing new meanings and vocations to places as well as revitalizing the taste of the public – has reconfirmed the value of the Hyblean territory.
A wonderful corner of Sicily bathed by the Mediterranean; a real bridge between territories, cradle and main theatre of Western history and cultures already three thousand years ago.

During this moment of great social and cultural transformation, as the one we are experiencing, an international provincial exhibition such as Ragusa Foto Festival – dedicated to the languages of contemporary photography and the enhancement of young talents – has attracted a varied audience of photography enthusiasts as well as visitors intrigued by the evocative environments. It has increased the inflow of visitors to the area by promoting initiatives that signify the challenges of the new post-covid era.

For over nine years, this small cultural platform, has been engaging a network of national and international people, realities, and institutions. It has drawn inspiration from the historical roots of cultural tourism of two centuries ago which developed a new way of understanding travel in Europe, and in doing so has promoted Ragusa as an attractive cultural destination for its enviable artistic wealth, traditions, gastronomy and social content.

In an era sympathetic to serial production, photography transmits and promotes relationships in a way that each shot favours an encounter. Therefore, through a cultural platform dedicated to the fastest tool of communication and propagation, the city and its inhabitants receive the breath and the faces of a world longing for a common desire.
That of restoring the hope of wholeness; of redeeming local and international dimensions in a single experience; of salvaging beauty and ugliness as aspects of an integral life. Thus, accepting an opportunity to rediscover oneself and be able to contribute to the construction of a “we” and a greater humanity.