The Effect of Overtourism upon the Ecology of Florence’s Historic Centre

This paper uses a Neo-Marxist theoretical approach to analyse the various conflicts rooted in the reconfiguration of Florence’s historic centre. It begins with a short history of the city’s Renaissance tourism, looking to establish the origins as well as the different stages of this industry niche, before discussing the numerous social conflicts resulting from its extreme form—overtourism—and the continuous rise in density levels in the historic centre of Florence. It looks at the political, economic and social tensions between local populations and visitors and the ongoing competition that has come to signify in recent years the degradation of a city’s resident life standard and the unavoidable displacement of its local population. The paper attempts to establish the point at which local residents are forced to abandon their place of residence and are pushed to desert rather than fight to claim back their city. Finally, it briefly speculates on the fate of the city after this major socio-economic landscape shift has taken place and the tourist destination has become only and fully that—a place for its visitors’ enjoyment.