Demographic and Economic Patterns in Italian Tourism in the Last Century

Adriana Galvani

Abstract

Accepted 30^th December, 2013

Public organizations are charged to provide public health, and when, at the end of the 19th century, doctors recognized that thalassic therapy for children could prevent adult diseases, local and national institutions created seaside resorts for children whose parents weren’t able to afford a vacation.  Today industrial evolution and social insurance allow people to work less and earn more, so almost all families have the means to take holidays all together. Most of the buildings, once able to recover hundreds of children, are now abandoned. The disappearance of the summer colonies, once seen throughout Western Europe, reflects these enormous changes and the passage from social to individual tourism. The earlier form of social tourism has been modified from a health service into leisure and recreation.

Keywords: Summer colonies, thalassic therapy, Tuberculosis education, democracy, fascism

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