No source, born digital.
Contributions to Contemporary History is one of the central Slovenian scientific historiographic journals, dedicated to publishing articles from the field of contemporary history (the 19th and 20th century).
The journal is published three times per year in Slovenian and in the following foreign languages: English, German, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Italian, Slovak and Czech. The articles are all published with abstracts in English and Slovenian as well as summaries in English.
Prispevki za novejšo zgodovino je ena osrednjih slovenskih znanstvenih zgodovinopisnih revij, ki objavlja teme s področja novejše zgodovine (19. in 20. stoletje).
Revija izide trikrat letno v slovenskem jeziku in v naslednjih tujih jezikih: angleščina, nemščina, srbščina, hrvaščina, bosanščina, italijanščina, slovaščina in češčina. Članki izhajajo z izvlečki v angleščini in slovenščini ter povzetki v angleščini.
Prispevek se osredotoča na obravnavo
turističnega razvoja nekdanje italijanske province Julijske krajine (Venezia
Giulia). V ospredju zanimanja je torej obdobje med obema vojnama. Območje, ki je
predmet analize, predstavlja zanimivo študijo primera, ki še ni bila deležna
zadostne historične znanstvene obravnave, vsaj glede področja turističnega
razvoja. Zanima me raziskovanje povezave in povezanosti med političnim režimom
in nacionalnim diskurzom s turistično panogo oziroma različnimi tipologijami
turistične ponudbe. Kako se je posameznim turističnim destinacijam (»starim« ali
»novim«) uspelo prilagoditi novim političnim razmeram, ki so nastopile po koncu
prve svetovne vojne, in kako se je turizem razvijal v okviru totalitarnega
sistema, v tem primeru fašizma. Pri tem bo predstavljena različna turistična
ponudba obravnavanega območja.
Ključne besede: turizem, fašizem, obdobje
med obema vojnama, Julijska krajina
The paper explores tourism development in
the Italian region of Venezia Giulia. The territory under discussion represents
an interesting but unexplored field of study in historiography, focusing on
tourism development during the interwar period. My aim is to study the
interrelation between the political regime and the national discourse within the
tourism development sector in its various forms. The intent is to study how
tourist destinations (“old” and “new”) managed to adjust to the changed
political circumstances within a developing totalitarian system – fascism.
Different typologies of tourist destinations will be taken into
consideration.
Keywords: tourism, fascism, interwar period,
Venezia Giulia
The main interest of this paper is to explore the
relationship between tourism and political ideology with a case study of the
Venezia Giulia region,Venezia Giulia was an Italian region. Between
1923 and 1947, the region was divided into five provinces; Trieste/Trst,
Gorizia/Gorica, Pula/Pola (Istra/Istria) and Rijeka/Fiume. After the Treaty
of Paris (1947) and the Memorandum of London (1954), parts of the former
region were annexed to
Yugoslavia.
This study focuses on a period when significant political,
economic, social, and cultural changes occurred in Europe – when the population
faced the decline of old regimes, creation of new national states, and the
radicalisation of national aspirations. This process influenced the tourism
sector as well. The proposed research is based on the position that political
ideology and tourism are interrelated since a specific ideology also justified
and implemented its authority with the help of tourism. Italian fascism in
Venezia Giulia has received considerable attention from Slovenian
historians,
'Trst je naš!'. Boj Slovencev za morje (1848–1954) (Ljubljana:
Nova revija, 2008). Marta Verginella, Meja drugih.
Primorsko vprašanje in slovenski spomin (Ljubljana: Modrijan,
2009). Milica Kacin-Wohinz and Marta Verginella, Primorski
upor fašizmu: 1920–1941 (Ljubljana: Društvo Slovenska matica,
2008). Marta Verginella, Sandi Volk and Katja Colja, Ljudje v vojni: druga svetovna vojna v Trstu in na Primorskem
(Koper: Zgodovinsko društvo za južno Primorsko, 1995). Egon Pelikan, Tajno delovanje primorske duhovščine pod fašizmom-
Primorski krščanski socialci med Vatikanom, fašistično Italijo in
slovensko katoliško desnico – zgodovinsko ozadje romana Kaplan Martin
Čedermac (Ljubljana: Nova revija, 2002).
Razvoj turizma v Sloveniji, ed. Franc Rozman and
Žarko Lazarević (Ljubljana: Zveza zgodovinskih društev Slovenije, 1996),
78–95. Metod Šuligoj, ed., Retrospektiva turizma
Istre (Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem, 2015).
Journal of Tourism
History 6, No. 2–3 (2014): 107–21. In the Italian perception,
especially political, this region represented its now “redeemed” provinces
that were associated to the long Venetian presence and heritage, which was
used as a justification for their territorial appetites since the 19th century. Hametz’s article focuses on the role
of tourism in the identification of the Venetian heritage of Istria and
Dalmatia as Italian.
For Libya and Albania, see
e.g. Stephanie Malia Hom, “Empires of Tourism Travel and Rhetoric in Italian
Colonial Libya and Albania 1911–1943,” Journal of Tourism
History 4, No. 3 (2012): 281–300.
For
Libya, see e.g. Ester Capuzzo, “”Visitate la Libia”. Il turismo nella Quarta
Sponda tra le due guerre mondiali,” Nova Historica,
No. 56 (2016): 3–35.
Krieg und Tourismus im
Spannungsfeld des Ersten Weltkrieges, ed. Patrick Gasser, Andrea
Leonardi and Gunda Barth-Scalmani (Innsbruck: Studien Verlag, 2014),
181–207. Annunziata Berrino and Ewa Kawamura, “Grande guerra nell'area
Sudtirolese: i mutamenti di una regione turistica e il dibattinto che li
accompagna,” in Krieg und Tourismus im Spannungsfeld des
Ersten Weltkrieges, ed. Patrick Gasser, Andrea Leonardi and Gunda
Barth-Scalmani (Innsbruck: Studien Verlag, 2014), 271–92. Patrizia
Battilani, “L'impatto della guerra sull'immagine turistica dei luoghi: il
caso del Trentino e dell'alto Adige,” in Krieg und
Tourismus im Spannungsfeld des Ersten Weltkrieges, ed. Patrick
Gasser, Andrea Leonardi and Gunda Barth-Scalmani (Innsbruck: Studien Verlag,
2014), 33–54.
Aziende autonome di cura, soggiorno e
turismo
(Bureau for Health, Holidays and Tourism) – i.e. the
tourist management institutions/enterprises – were established by the state in
the communities that offered tourist services or already had the status of
tourist destinations and were considered as
“una delle più grandi benemerenze del
Regime fascista nei confronti del turismo”: one
of the greatest merits of the fascist regime regarding tourism.Storia del turismo,
Annale, No. 5 (2005): 38.
The Aziende
Azienda autonoma di cura, soggiorno e turismo were established by the Law,
with the RDL (Regio decreto legge) of 15 April 1926, No.
765. “Provvedimenti per la tutela e lo sviluppo dei luoghi di cura di
soggiorno o di turismo,” accessed on 15 July 2020,
http://www.edizionieuropee.it/LAW/HTML/89/zn96_02_001.html.
The Aziende were the administrative organisation of
tourism and health localities. In ENIT (Ente nazionale industrie
turistiche), L' assetto delle stazioni di cura, di
soggiorno e di turismo: R. decreto-legge 15 aprile 1926, n. 765
(Rome: Tipografia del Senato, 1926), 9.
Contemporary European History 6, No. 1
(1997): 15. Petra Kavrečič, “'Sacro pellegrinaggio'. Visits of World War I
Memorials on the Soča/Isonzo Front in the Interwar Period,” Etnološka tribina 40, No. 47 (2017): 153, 154.
Italian fascism as a political system and especially its
leader were aware of the significant potential for economic progress and social
well-being (expansion of the social accessibility of tourism supply) that could
be accomplished through tourism. At the same time, tourism served as a regime
propaganda tool at home and abroad.
In the decades between the two World Wars, certain
processes that characterised and encouraged tourism development were present on
both the European and global scale. As already stated, tourism trends were
gradually moving towards the less privileged social strata of the population.
The research of the selected case studies the role of the state – in this
instance the fascist regime – in the development of tourism in Venezia Giulia.
The goal is to understand the crucial processes and relationships established
between tourism and the political ideology in the interwar period when in Italy,
even tourism was considered to be subject to the totalitarian state.
Opera Nazionale Balilla, ONB/Italian Fascist Youth Organisation established in
1926) and workers, which is evident from the targeted use of leisure time
(Opera Nazionale
Dopolavoro, OND/National Recreational Club
established in 1925) where people would gather at sports activities and
excursions. Italy employed the same approach to “instrumentalising” tourism in
its other provinces (South Tyrol) and colonies (Albania, Libya). In 1933, Nazi
Germany established a similar programme or section called Strength through Joy
(
Kraft durch Freude, KdF),Seeing Hitler's Germany: Tourism in
the Third Reich (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005). Shelley
Baranowski, Strength Through Joy: Consumerism and Mass
Tourism in the Third Reich (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2004).
Journal of Social
History 38, No. 1 (2004): 149.
Seeing Hitler’s
Germany,
121.
Seeing Hitler’s Germany, 108–9. Baranowski, Strength Through Joy, 66 and
197.
Seeing Hitler’s Germany, 12. In her book, the author
claims that “within the field of foreign policy, international tourism had a
special role: to convey the ‘truth’ about Germany to guests from abroad.
Through tourism, Nazi Germany would persuade the international community of
its peaceful intention”.
Opera Nazionale
Dopolavoro (OND)The Culture of Consent: Mass Organisation of
Leisure in Fascist Italy (Cambridge University Press, 2009),
179.
Fascismo e turismo (politica e storia del
turismo sociale) (Viterbo: Editrice Agnesotti, Collana della SIST,
2007),
59.
sabato
fascista (fascist Saturday) – free Saturday afternoons for workers – enabled these people to take advantage of their free time, which, of course, played in favour of tourism. The concern was not focused only on workers but also on the youth – the future generations of fascists. The Opera Nazionale
Balilla (ONB) took care of children’s education (along with the schools) and emphasised physical activity. It was also active in the field of youth integration in tourism: sports competitions throughout the country helped expand travel; staying outdoors – camping – was encouraged; and in every community, a Balilla house (Casa
Balilla) was built. The organisation also promoted winter sports (in 1928, the ONB established the Federazione Italiana degli Sport
Invernali/Italian Association of Winter Sports). The ONB (and later, as of 1937, the Gioventù Italiana del Littorio, GIL) organised colonies for children at the seaside and
mountain destinations. In 1927, 420 colonies with 80.000 participating children
were organised throughout Italy; while in 1938, already as many as 4.357
colonies with 772.000 children all over the country participated. The colonies
were also organised in other localities such as lakes, valleys, rivers, and
thermal destinations.Fascismo e
turismo, 69.
A decrease in tourist activities was recorded in the first years of the post-war period, especially due to the significant changes regarding the state borders that also affected the territory of the new Italian region Venezia Giulia. In the first years after the war, a decline in tourism was characterised by the lack of “old” tourists from Central Europe, who had not yet been sufficiently replaced by Italian tourists.
The end of World War I exposed the tourism sector to several changes that determined the end of
élite tourism and the rise of its massivisation. The period represents a key phase in tourism
development, as it gradually acquired a more socially accessible character.
Political regimes played an important role in this process as well, especially
because they encouraged the development of tourism as a political propaganda
tool. On the one hand, tourism development in the interwar period faced changes,
upgrades, and the intensification of its accessibility and supply; while, on the
other hand, 20
th-century tourism was also employed by different political systems (fascism, Nazism, and communism) as a tool for the affirmation and promotion of their ideologies. After World War I, the new ideologies steered tourism development in a new direction, distancing it from its previous elite character. Tourism was becoming increasingly socially accessible, which was also the idea of the post-war regimes that had originated from socialist ideas. These systems attempted to expand the social rights of their populations, also by ensuring the possibility of leisure time playing sports or enjoying vacations. This was also an efficient tool to bolster the popular support for the regime and “control” the population.
Nevertheless, “control” over tourism did not only occur in
the 20th century: European countries had interfered with its regulation as of the 19th century – since the very first signs of a positive economic impact. In the former Austria-Hungary, the state (through the responsible Ministries) founded regional associations and societies for the promotion of tourism, which subsequently played their defining roles. In the multi-ethnic territory of Austria-Hungary, we can also identify the role of tourism as a means of national affirmation. This is also implied by Judson, who states that German nationalists “used” tourism to achieve a higher level of the national identity awareness of German-speaking Austrians, which was also facilitated through the establishment of German societies. Similar arguments – in favour of the affirmation of their own national presence – were also used by the Czechs, Slovenians, and Italians who lived in these territories.
Histories of Leisure, ed. Rudy J. Koshar (Oxford, New
York: Berg, 2002), 150. Pieter M. Judson, Guardians of the
Nation. Activists on the Language Frontiers of Imperial Austria
(Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2007).
Venice and the Slavs: The Discovery of Dalmatia in the Age
of Enlightenment (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001),
349.
After World War I, the consolidation of the national
affiliation “aided” by tourism increased. The present paper tries to determine
how strongly the fascist ideology influenced tourism development (or “used”
tourism for its political agenda) in the region of Venezia Giulia. Various types
of tourism in this region – from the “traditional” seaside, cave, and alpine
tourism (which had been, even before World War I, strongly related to the
construction and establishment of the national identity, also through alpine
societies)
Ekonomska i Ekohistorija VI,
No. 6 (2010): 124–42.
See also Peter Mikša and
Kornelija Ajlec, Slovensko planinstvo = Slovene
mountaineering (Ljubljana: Planinska zveza Slovenije, 2015). Peter
Mikša, “Gradnja slovenske nacionalne identitete na podlagi t. i.
nacionalnega boja v gorah” in Simpozij v spomin dr. Milanu
Ževartu: zbornik povzetkov 2. simpozija v spomin dr. Milanu Ževartu
(Velenje, 15 November 2018),
19.
In 1919, the Ente nazionale industrie
turistiche (ENIT)/Italian National Tourist Board, financed by the state, was established in Italy.
As already mentioned, part of the territory of Venezia
Giulia joined the new state as an established tourist destination. In fact, in
terms of tourism, it was one of the most developed parts of the former
Austro-Hungarian Empire with a well-organised and structured offer and services.
However, during the interwar period, the area had not yet been adequately
addressed in the context of tourism development.
Journal of Tourism History 1,
No. 1 (2009): 27–48.
Turizem v Avstrijskem primorju: zdravilišča, kopališča
in kraške jame (1819–1914), 2. dopolnjena izdaja (Koper: Založba
Univerze na Primorskem, 2017).
terre redenti) had become just one of the many Italian seaside
destinations. However, since this territory represented the Italian eastern
multi-ethnic contested province, it is my opinion that this territory was of
strategic importance for the “construction” of the Italian national identity. In
the previous historical and tourism studies, it is commonly interpreted that
Italy was not particularly interested in promoting tourism development in the
region. In this study, however, I rely on the assumption that Italy wanted to
increase the sense that this territory belonged to the Italians and that tourism
was an appropriate tool to achieve this goal.
After World War I, the fashion of leisure in seaside locations increased notably and eventually became one of the most popular leisure activities in the interwar period. During this time, the attitude towards swimming and sunbathing changed in a positive way and now played the central role in the perception of
holidays (also by the middle and lower social class). This enabled the Mediterranean destinations (where the aforementioned locations are situated) to become the most popular sites for leisure activities.
Turizem v Avstrijskem primorju. Orvar Löfgren,
On Holiday. A History of Vacationing (Berkley,
Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 2002).
Zgodovina za vse 24,
No. 2 (2017): 21–40.
In order to increase the impact of tourism on the economy, larger investments were needed for the promotion of attractive destinations and localities. The ENIT encouraged various types of marketing activities in this region. In 1925, the
Ufficio Viaggi e Turismo/Office for Travel and Tourism was established in
Lovran/Laurana (Croatia). This was the third tourist office in the region (the
two existing ones were in Reka/Fiume and Opatija/Abbazia).
Relazione sull’attività
svolta nell’anno 1925: propaganda, organizzazione, statistica, consorzio
degli uffici di viaggio e turismo, bilancio (Rome: Tipografia del
Senato, 1926), 73.
Ente provinciale per il turismo per la
Provincia d'Istria/Provincial Tourist Board in
Istria, established in 1936.Retrospektiva turizma Istre, ed.
Metod Šuligoj (Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem, 2015), 61.
It is important to emphasise that in 1925, only another
14 such boards existed in the whole Kingdom of Italy, which shows how
important and strategic the eastern Italian territory was in the opinion of
the state. In ENIT, 74. Kavrečič and Radošević, “Na morje!,”
21–40.
Società per il promovimento dei forestieri
nella Venezia Giulia/Society for the Promotion
of Tourist Visits in Venezia Giulia (since 1921). It was important to promote
the development of tourism at the seaside resorts for domestic and foreign
visitors.
An important step was taken in 1925 when the decree
regarding the standards for hotels was issued. The decree established the
mandatory requirements for the implementation of hygiene and health
improvements. The ENIT oversaw the promotion and awarding of subsidies or other
aid initiatives, aimed at the hotel locations that were insufficiently or
inadequately provisioned for the needs of tourism. It also recommended the
issuing of opportune agreements with provincial doctors, giving preference to
those hotels that had higher standards of sanitation according to the
regulations.
Regio decreto) 24 May 1925, No. 1102. “Approvazione del
regolamento per le migliorie igieniche negli alberghi,” accessed on
15 July 2020, http://www.comune.jesi.an.it/MV/leggi/rd1102-25.htm: L'Ente provinciale per il turismo, nel promuovere o
incoraggiare con premi, sovvenzioni od altro ausilio iniziative intese a
dotare di alberghi luoghi che ne siano privi o che ne siano provvisti
solo in modo inadeguato ai bisogni del turismo, avrà cura, presi gli
opportuni accordi col medico provinciale, che sia data la preferenza a
quelle atte a conseguire meglio le finalità igieniche a cui intendono le
disposizioni del presente regolamento.
The extent to which tourism development was prioritised is
also attested to by the initiatives taken by politically influential
personalities. The Italian senator (since 1923) and engineer Ugo Ancona
emphasised not only the hygiene standards of the accommodation facilities but
also the importance of good road infrastructure and transfers. He also pointed
out the necessity to provide enough comfort and leisure activities for tourists,
since – in his opinion – it was important to attract wealthier visitors.
Commissione del Turismo Scolastico nella
provincia di Capodistria/Commision for School
Tourism in the Province of Koper),
Table 1: Number of guests at the seaside resorts in Venezia
Giulia in 1913 and 1925, L'economia della Regione Giulia nel 1926.
Capitolo V. Il movimento dei forestieri (Trieste: Istituto
statistico-economico annesso alla R. Università degli studi economici e
commerciali di Trieste, 1926), 88.
Underground caves, which also saw a constant increase in
popularity during this period, represented yet another attraction of this
region. From the viewpoint of tourism, Postojna Cave was still the most popular
and recognised. This period was characterised by the investments in
infrastructure (the railway system, enlargement of the cave entrance and paths,
bridges) and greater tourist promotion (for the number of guests, see Table 2).
In fact, the first Italian national speleological congress after the war took
place in Postojna (and Trieste) in 1933.
Commissariato civile distrettuale di
Postumia-Commissiorie amministrazione delle Grotte di Postumia) released the first post-war guidebook (in 1924). It is
important to emphasise that the guidebook was not solely meant for tourism
promotion, but was also a “tool” for the propaganda spread by the Italian
regime: a significant part of the guidebook was dedicated to a historical
overview from the Roman period until the repossession and restitution of these
lands to its “Roman governance” (
Roma ritorna). This was a clear attempt to prove how this territory represented an integral
part of the Italian national territory.Naše jame, Glasilo društva za raziskovanje jam
Slovenije 10/1968, No. 1–2 (1969): 26.
During this period, tourism was present in Škocjan Caves
as well. After the end of World War I, the administration passed from the German
and Austrian Alpine Society (
Deutsches und Österreichisches
Alpenverein, DuÖAV) to the Italian Alpine
Society (
Società Alpina delle Giulie, Sezione di
Trieste, SAG, under the national Club Alpino Italiano, CAI). At this point, new regulations regarding the
alpine and cave guides were implemented, specifying that guides could only
register through the Italian Alpine Society.
Škocjanske jame pri Divači: kronika raziskovanj in
turističnega obiska (Škocjan: PŠJ, 2015), 94.
Škocjanske jame 1920–1940 (Ljubljana: Zalozba
ZRC, 2018).
.
Table 2: The number of guests at
the
Venezia Giulia
caves in 1913 and
1925.Turizem v Avstrijskem primorju, 314.
Livi, L'economia della Regione Giulia, 95. Puc,
Škocjanske jame pri Divači, 88 and 96.
The relatively “new” tourist offers in the region were
related to the attractions associated with “disaster, suffering, violence, or
death”.
Annales,
Ser. Hist. sociol. 26, No. 2 (2016): 260.
Writing the Dark Side of Travel, ed.
Jonathan Skinner (New York – Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2012), 183.
International Journal of
Tourism Research 13 (2011): 173.
The first known large-scale visits to battlefields were
recorded after the battle of Waterloo, which is considered to have changed the
British trips to Europe,
Annals
of Tourism Research 26, No. 1 (1999):
130–58.
Krieg und Tourismus im Spannungsfeld
des Ersten Weltkrieges: Guerra e Tourismo nell’area di tensione della
Prima Guerra Mondiale, ed. Patrick Gasser, Andrea Leonardi and
Gunda Barth-Scalmani (Innsbruck: Studien Verlag, 2014), 249, 250.
Krieg und Tourismus im Spannungsfeld des Ersten
Weltkrieges: Guerra e Tourismo nell’area di tensione della Prima Guerra
Mondiale, ed. Patrick Gasser, Andrea Leonardi and Gunda
Barth-Scalmani (Innsbruck: Studien Verlag, 2014), 82, 83.
Leonardi analyses the case of tourism in the Alpine
area of the new Italian (former Austrian/Austro-Hungarian) territories and
the effort made by the Italian state to influence visits to this area where
World War I battles also took place.
As already explained, we need to consider that the area
under consideration was subject to significant changes in this period. First,
World War I devastated the region where the battles between the Italian and
Austro-Hungarian armies took place at the Soča/Isonzo Front. After the war, this
region was annexed to Italy (in line with the 1920 Treaty of Rapallo), which
symbolised not only the transition from one state to another but was also
strongly marked by the Italian national ambitions to “Italianise” the region. In
order to make this region ethnically Italian, the immigration of Italian
teachers and officials into this territory was encouraged. The purpose was the
so-called
“ethnic bonification” – the settlement of Italians in the regions populated by Slovenians (and Croatians) as well as assisting these settlers in the confiscation of Slovenian land (economic structure) for Italian colonisation (through associations such as
Ente per la Rinascita Agraria delle Tre
Venezie).Prispevki za novejšo zgodovino
49, No. 1 (2009): 173.
Acta Histriae 18, No. 3 (2014): 399–424.
Borut Klabjan, “Nation and Commemoration in the Adriatic: the Commemoration
of the Italian Unknown Soldier in a Multinational Area: the Case of the
Former Austrian Littoral,” Acta Histriae 22, No. 3
(2010): 695–714. Leonardi, “La prima guerra mondiale,” 57–98. George L.
Mosse, Le guerre mondiali. Dalla tragedia al mito dei
caduti (Rome; Bari: Edizioni Laterza, 2007). Kaja Širok, “Spomin in
pozaba na obmejnem območju: predstave o Goriški preteklosti,” Acta Histriae 18, No. 1–2 (2010): 337–57. Kaja Širok,
“Identitete, zgodovina in dediščina prostora – prakse spominjanja in
komemoracije na Goriškem v XX. stoletju,” Acta
Histriae 20, No. 4 (2012): 631–46. Fabio Todero, “Il culto del
soldato caduto nella Venezia Giulia dalla Grande guerra al fascism,” in Regime fascista, nazione e periferie, ed. Anna Maria
Vinci (Udine: Studi e documenti, 2010, 30), 51–68. Angelo Visintin, “Dalla
Grande guerra al fascismo. L’ ipotesi della Vittoria sui campi di battaglia
dell’Isonzo,” in Regime fascista, nazione e
periferie, ed. Anna Maria Vinci (Udine: Studi e documenti, 2010, 30),
69–87.
Military Pilgrimage and Battlefield
Tourism. Commemorating the Dead (London, New York: Routledge,
Taylor and Francis Group, 2017).
battlefield tourism related to the World War I Western Front memorial sites,Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change 6/2
(2008), 138–54. David William Lloyd, Battlefield Tourism.
Pilgrimage and the Commemoration of the Great War in Britain, Australia
and Canada, 1919–1939 (Oxford, New York: Berg, 1998). Tony Walter,
“War Grave Pilgrimage,” in Pilgrimage in Popular
Culture, ed. Ian Reader and Tony Walter (London: Palgrave,
Macmillan, 1993), 63–91. Winter, “Battlefield Visitor
Motivations.”
The different aspects of tourism development should be considered (both chronologically and by type of tourism) and appointed adequately. During this period, the “old” tourist destinations (the seaside, the caves) with a tourist infrastructure put in place before World War I needed an incentive in terms of a promotional strategy. On the other hand, a plan of tourist development and promotion of the “new” segment of tourism (battlefields) still needed to be implemented (related to infrastructure, facilities, connections, etc.). Naturally, that required more extensive financial input. Nevertheless, we need to take into account that these destinations attracted a different type of visitor. All these aspects should be approached with an appropriate methodology, considering various typologies of sources (e.g. statistical data and tourist records can be used for seaside resorts and partly for caves; while memorial sources, war diaries, and registers kept by the societies that managed war graves and monuments are more suitable for World War I battlefields sites).
The area of Venezia Giulia, the easternmost Italian
region, represents a distinctive case study of the adaptation of tourism to new
trends and political systems – in particular the transition from one state to
another. This caused several changes in the political structure as well as from
the national perspective, leading to migrations of the Slovenian (and Croatian)
population from the region as well as to the immigration of Italians from other
regions. The role of tourism in the fascist regime; the way in which it was
interpreted and used as a tool for regime propaganda;
fascistisation of the tourist industry was entirely accomplished
and whether tourism managed to become an obedient “body” of the totalitarian
state? In Bosworth, “Tourist Planning,” 20.
elite – adjusted to the new circumstances and demand.
The Adriatic seaside destinations from the Austrian period – such as Opatija/Abbazia, Portorož/Portorose, Lošinj/Lussin, Lovran/Laurana and Brijuni/Brioni – were well-known and acclaimed destinations of the upper class. My interest is to explore how these localities managed to offer different types of supply on the tourist market (foreign guests still in search of “fashionable” destinations vs workers and children). In this sense, different aspects of tourism development will be underlined.
An important tourist activity – cave tourism – shows
continuity since the preindustrial period, while successful development has also
been evident in the period of modern tourism development. The Karst underground
had enjoyed a long tradition of visits from foreign travellers, but intensive
development – both in terms of cave research as well as tourist visits – took
place during the 19
th century. Postojna Cave, the most recognised cave boasting the largest number of visitors, kept improving its visibility in the Italian period (see Table 2). Other caves such as Vilenica, Škocjan, and Divača experienced significant changes from the administrative point of view. With the exception of Vilenica, which had been administrated by the Italian Alpine Society even before World War I, the caves came under the jurisdiction of the Alpine Society, which was an important factor of regime propaganda and national affirmation. One of the measures implemented by the Society after its acquisition of the Škocjan Caves was to change the denominations of the cave sections.
Škocjanske jame,
25.
As mentioned above, apart from the seaside and underground tourist destinations, another tourist segment will also be taken into consideration: the study of the former World War I battlefield visits. The Italian authorities promoted this activity, as the battlefields possessed a strong symbolic value and role in the construction or consolidation of the Italian national consciousness in the territory under consideration (e. g. the involvement of the youth population in this process – in the construction of national identity through memorial and educational visits of war sites).
The question of the main target groups of tourists will be addressed in the selected case studies of seaside locations, caves, and the former battlefield sites of the Soča/Isonzo Front. The study of tourism development will shed entirely new light on the history of the first half of the 20 th century in the studied territory as well as provide a valuable new starting point for new research in the context of other disciplines, e.g. urbanism (influence of tourism on spatial planning, urban expansion, regulation of water and sea, etc.), architectural history (introduction of new modern building types and thus also the introduction of the first examples of modernist architecture in this area), heritage studies (the importance of cultural heritage and monuments in tourist offer), anthropology of tourism (ongoing research in the context of the World War I anniversary at the Soča/Isonzo Front), etc.
The paper proposes an analysis of tourist development in Venezia Giulia during the Italian fascist regime. Throughout history, the studied region has been subject to border changes and migration processes, as it represented a strategic interest zone of different, usually opposing political powers. Even if we only consider the 20th century, drastic border changes occurred in this area, reflected in the territory itself as well as in its population. World War I (the Soča/Isonzo Front) has left its mark on this area as well. After the war, this territory was once again subject to many changes in light of the collapse of the old regime (Austria-Hungary) and the onset of a new political reality, brought about by the Italian state. Additionally, the change of the state structure was subject to a new national structure, which was, in this period, characterised by a greater radicalisation of national ideas.
The development of tourism after World War I can be placed in the context of the political events and processes that took place during that period. Similarly to the political arena, the tourism industry faced crucial transitions. The end of the war marked the conclusion of the contemporaneous
elite tourism – which had developed as a significant economic industry after the industrial revolution. The interwar period brought about a slow but efficient transition of the tourist industry. Despite the difficult post-war circumstances, Italy soon began to organise the field of tourism. The 1920s are even considered as the most important period for tourism development: a period of transition that changed the history of Italian tourism.
This paper refers to a case study that investigates the extensive relationship between political power and ideology as well as between the economy and society. Within the study of the significant economic activity in which social and cultural relations are strongly integrated, it raises new research questions about the development processes described in the case study of the border and the disputed territory of Venezia Giulia during the interwar period. Such a study will outline the wider context of the social and economic development of the region and simultaneously recognise the influence of the fascist regime on tourism development. This means that the fascist doctrine will be explored from a new perspective.
The research questions – for example, how the regime managed to “shape” the tourist sector during the post-war period in Venezia Giulia; which target groups of tourists did it focus on; and how or whether the tourism industry managed to adjust to the new circumstances; and in what way and how did it (if it actually did) upgrade the tourist offer with new content (e.g. visits of World War I battlefields) – also open up entirely new thematic horizons in Slovenian historiography.
The results involved in such a study will contribute to a
better understanding of the historical development of one of the most important
and constantly growing economic industries in the world. The emphasis will be on
analysing the efforts for the “nationalisation” of tourism and promotion of
Italian tourist destinations in the new provinces as a direct reflection of the
fascist ideology. Due to the need for the integration of the newly acquired
territories into the Italian reality, the state aimed to prove the level of
the
Italianisation
of this area and the continuity of its presence. In the
Italian perception, especially political, this region represented the final
“redemption” of the provinces that had been associated with the long Venetian
presence and heritage, which was used as a justification for the Italian
territorial appetites since the 19th century (especially by the irredentist movement). Such an in-depth study will thus offer a different evaluation of the studied period, which is, in the Slovenian historiography, mostly considered from the perspective of the national assimilation politics carried out by the fascist regime and the resistance movement of the Slovenian (and Croatian) population. The study aims to show the multiplicity of the Italian fascist system and its impact on the social and economic fields. It addresses these phenomena in a comprehensive analysis of the different typologies of tourist destinations, present in this area during the interwar period. It thus poses questions about the involvement of the radical national political ideology propaganda in the economic sector (tourism) in the region of Venezia Giulia.
Prispevek se osredotoča na obravnavo turističnega razvoja
nekdanje italijanske province Julijske krajine (Venezia Giulia). V
ospredju zanimanja je torej obdobje med obema vojnama. Območje, ki je predmet
analize, predstavlja zanimivo študijo primera, ki še ni bila deležna zadostne
historične znanstvene obravnave, vsaj glede področja turističnega razvoja. Namen
prispevka je analiza povezave med ukrepi za konsolidacijo političnega režima in
težnjo po nacionalni afirmaciji na eni ter turističnim sektorjem na drugi
strani. Obravnavan je turistični razvoj današnje zahodne Slovenije, to je
območje, ki je po prvi svetovni vojni prešlo iz ene politične strukture
(Avstro-Ogrska) v drugo (Kraljevina Italija). Pri tem se je teritorij (oziroma
njegovo prebivalstvo) v okviru nove države kmalu moral soočiti z naraščajočim
totalitarnim političnim režimom, fašizmom, ki je tudi uradno stopil na oblast
leta 1922. V ospredju zanimanja je ugotoviti, kako je posameznim turističnim
krajem (»starim« in »novim« destinacijam) uspelo prilagoditi svojo ponudbo v
spremenjenih političnih okoliščinah. Obmorske turistične destinacije in podzemne
jame so bile prepoznavne in uveljavljene turistične točke že v avstrijskem
obdobju. Zanima me, ali je na njihov nadaljnji razvoj močno vplivala nova
politična doktrina. Poleg že uveljavljenih, »starih« turističnih atrakcij so se
na območju, pogorišču bitk prve svetovne vojne, razvijale tudi »nove« oblike
turistične ponudbe. Slednje so bile povezane s sekularnim romanjem, žalovanjem
in spominom na gloriozno žrtvovanje za nacijo. V okviru praks, ki so se na
območju nekdanjih bojišč pojavile po koncu vojne (spomeniki neznanim junakom,
pokopališča, grobišča in monumentalni spomeniki ali cone spomina), se je razvila
tudi nova tipologija turistične ponudbe (temni turizem, turizem obiskovanja
bojišč).