La grande scommessa. Turismo e pandemia a Firenze

This paper is centred on the analysis of some recent developments of the touristic system in the Italian city of Firenze. The COVID-19 pandemic hit hard the urban economic system of the city, which in the last years had increasingly become dependent on tourism. We analyse how the pandemic has been exploited by some local actors to develop their own narratives of the touristic future of the city, in light of a rebranding attempt, which was meant to reposition Firenze as an «elite» touristic destination. We explore the contradictions between different ideas of how tourism should affect the urban fabric, to show that tourism is a contested local issue.