The Beautiful Country: Tourism and the Impossible State of Destination Italy

Stephanie Malia Hom

ISBN 10: 1442648724 / ISBN 13: 9781442648722

Published by University of Toronto Press, 2015

About this Item

Using an interdisciplinary methodology that includes archival research, ethnographic fieldwork, literary criticism, and spatial analysis, The Beautiful Country reveals destination Italy's paramount role in the creation of modern mass tourism. Series: Toronto Italian Studies. Num Pages: 320 pages, 37. BIC Classification: 1DST; KNSG. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational; (U) Tertiary Education (US: College). Dimension: 163 x 238 x 33. Weight in Grams: 672. . 2015. 1st Edition. Hardcover. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9781442648722

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Beautiful Country: Tourism and the Impossible State of Destination Italy
• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Publication Date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1442648724
• ISBN 13: 9781442648722
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Every year, Italy swells with millions of tourists who infuse the economy with billions of dollars and almost outnumber Italians themselves. In fact, Italy has been a model tourist destination for longer than it has been a modern state. The Beautiful Country explores the enduring popularity of “destination Italy,” and its role in the development of the global mass tourism industry. Stephanie Malia Hom tracks the evolution of this particular touristic imaginary through texts, practices, and spaces, beginning with the guidebooks that frame Italy as an idealized land of leisure and finishing with destination Italy’s replication around the world. Today, more tourists encounter Italy through places like Las Vegas’s The Venetian Hotel and Casino or Dubai’s Mercato shopping mall than experience the country in Italy itself.

Using an interdisciplinary methodology that includes archival research, ethnographic fieldwork, literary criticism, and spatial analysis, The Beautiful Country reveals destination Italy’s paramount role in the creation of modern mass tourism.

About the Author

Stephanie Malia Hom is Presidential Professor of Italian in the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics at the University of Oklahoma.