ITALY AS AN INTERNATIONAL DESTINATION FOR MARRIAGES OF ITALIAN IMMIGRANTS IN THE WORLD

2024 is the year that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has dedicated to Italian roots in the world, which deals with “root tourism” through the General Directorate of Italians Abroad and the management of PNRR funds earmarked for this form of tourism.

But what is meant by root tourism?

This is tourism that concerns a very specific target group, i.e. emigrants from a country or their descendants who return to their native land or that of their ancestors, driven by the desire to rediscover the places they left behind before leaving (in the case of the first generation) or to discover the origins of their ancestors (parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents in the case of later generations), to relive traditions, rituals, customs, learn the language, trace documents, distant relatives and immerse themselves in the local way of life.

If this is root tourism, how can it intertwine with wedding tourism?

The main motivation for travelling and choosing a destination such as, for instance, Italy, is to have Italian origins and this can also apply to weddings. Every special occasion becomes an opportunity to prefer Italy to other destinations, thanks to the sense of belonging and the ancestral feeling that binds people who, while residing in another country, have a soul suspended between two countries, those that welcomed them and the Italy that gave birth to them or their family. Thus, the choice of wedding venue can be influenced by the family origins of one or both bride and groom, as a result of so-called “place attachment”. As witnessed by several wedding planning agencies, more and more couples living abroad are deciding to get married in Italy, like the new generations of “intellectual emigrants” who are in fact “returning” to their places of origin where they still have strong family ties and where, therefore, a good part of the potential guests of the ceremony live. This choice is dictated by an emotional factor and also by convenience, both economically and logistically and organizationally to allow a wide participation in the event. The most interesting and fast-growing phenomenon concerns brides and grooms who have, both or only one of them, Italian ancestry further back in time, but who nurture a very vivid sentiment: children and especially grandchildren of

Italian emigrants who want to honour their parents or grandparents by celebrating their ‘yes’ in the same places where their loved ones celebrated their wedding long ago.

But what are the diaspora destination weddings?

It does not matter if they are tourist cities of great historical, artistic and cultural value and strong appeal, as is the case with the requests of other international bride and groom-tourists who reside abroad without having any emotional connection to Italy. The small picturesque village, a treasure chest of authenticity and ancient traditions to be perpetuated even today, with its human dimension, slow rhythms and the special welcome reserved by a small community that recognises the bride and groom as part of the community itself and not as foreign guests, is what makes the wedding ceremony truly unique and memorable for Italian-descendants.

The inimitable element is represented by the possibility of tasting that “sense of home” that cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world, retracing the streets, alleys, and squares of one’s ancestors, reliving the same sensations and emotions that they experienced many years before, perhaps even crossing the same door of the church where their wedding was celebrated, capturing in photos and videos glimpses of a village where time seems to have stopped.

What are the opportunities of such a development project?

In addition to the bride and groom and their guests who can experience an immersion in local traditions and culture, creating a destination for weddings is a great opportunity for small communities. Making a small municipality a destination for the wedding of root tourists means creating an economic spin-off, regenerating an area through a network of tour operators, cultural operators and other stakeholders, with a highly sustainable socio-cultural approach.

It can certainly be said that the challenge to combat the depopulation of small towns and the abandonment of rural areas can be won precisely thanks to root tourism and its interconnection with other phenomena such as wedding tourism. Our ancestors were forced to leave wonderful places and repopulating them, even if temporarily but cyclically, is a mission to give meaning to an exodus that can become wealth, interior before than economic, with the “return”.