“Keep calm and enjoy”: Italian village enlists ‘street tutors’ to ease overtourism

The Guardian‘s Italian correspondent, Angela Giuffrida, was in Sirmione to delve into the solutions adopted by the Municipal Administration after the very crowded weekend last May. The British magazine dedicated an article to the topic full of contributions and analyses, which we reproduce here.

“When Sirmione became jammed with visitors during a particularly busy May Day weekend, it proved a tipping point.

In the era of overtourism, every popular holiday destination has its tipping point. For Sirmione, a sliver of land lapped by the blue-green waters of Lake Garda, that watershed moment came during Italy’s long May Day holiday weekend, and has led the medieval Italian village to introduce “street tutors” to manage the visitor flow and ensure good behaviour. The village, considered a pearl in Lombardy’s lake district, was caught off-guard on 2 May when a crowd of people became jammed as they endeavoured to walk over its tiny stone bridge, which once served as a drawbridge, and into its warren of narrow lanes.

Read the full article by Angela Giuffrida on The Guardian

Francesca Roman on Giornale di Brescia also dedicates an article to street tutors (article in Italian only)