Journal of Tourism & Hospitality
Open Access
ISSN: 2167-0269
+44 1300 500008
ISSN: 2167-0269
+44 1300 500008
Valentina Castronuovo* and Anna Trono
In recent years, the concept of intangible cultural heritage has undergone multiple transformations due to the impact of globalization, effectively grappling with a new paradigm of increasing social complexity. In this new paradigm, the link between identity and place has become blurred, widening or narrowing the scope and nature of the factors falling within its area of influence. Music festivals with a historic dimension provide an emblematic example of immaterial cultural heritage, since they constitute experiential goods that exist only while they are being produced. They express artistic innovation while drawing on the historic cultural background of the context in question, its accumulated cultural capital. On this basis, this paper investigates the identity heritage component of the Festival Della Valle d’Itria in order to identify its possible role in the restoration of regional capital. Created in 1975 on the initiative of Paolo Grassi, whose Foundation is considered one of the best music schools in Italy, today, the Festival, held in the town of Martina Franca (Puglia, Italy), is an event with international appeal for lovers of opera and symphonic music. On the basis of an initial review of the scientific literature of the last ten years on the theme of “intangible cultural heritage” in the form of music and cultural festivals in general and the theme of “identity heritage”, the paper provides an initial typological definition of the Festival Della Valle d’Itria and identifies specific characteristics of the value it brings to the region in question from a geographical, cultural and tourism point of view. The objective is to understand the degree to which the Festival Della Valle d’Itria can be considered an “identity resource” capable of conferring a new image on the existing tourist destination.
Published Date: 2022-09-07; Received Date: 2022-08-06