From abandoned village to ecovillage: a sustainable tourism experience by the community of Torri Superiore

The multi-faceted phenomenon of contemporary tourism reflects multiple and sometimes incompatible features, which lead, for instance, to the traveler’s diversified expectations about the vacation destination, tourism infrastructure, tourism experience, etc. These perspectives – that sometimes happen to be contradictory, while at other times co-exist peacefully – draw ever-changing geographies along cultural itineraries. Why does a small community decide to repopulate an abandoned village located in the heart of the Ligurian Alps? Which is the leading cultural project that guided this community? In which innovative ways could the reinhabitation of an abandoned village be implemented by practices of sustainable tourism, capable of involving the community in local sustainable development processes? To find answers to these research questions, we will consider, in particular, the case of “Torri Superiore Ecovillage”, a village which is involved in the GEN (Global Ecovillage Network), in the RIVE (Italian Ecovillage Network), and in the permaculture movement.