For the Love of Baby Jesus, Please Stop Visiting Italy in July

On Sustainable Travel

A few weeks ago, I intended to write an essay, "Please don't travel to Antarctica." If you follow many travel accounts on social media, you may have noticed, like me, that so-called influencers are traveling to Antarctica in droves. While Antarctica is indeed a place of unrivaled natural beauty, I don't believe anyone who is not a scientist on a research mission should be traveling there. It is one of the Earth's last great unpeopled and untouched continents, where thousands of marine species go to feed, and our presence disrupts that. I am sure a polar plunge into the Southern Ocean looks good on Instagram, but it's not a good look, and unlike loads of other destinations, the presence of tourists does nothing but damage; there is no local economy to support, and Antarctica doesn't need people to `raise awareness.' Earlier this month, The Atlantic published an excellent think piece called The Last Place on Earth Any Tourist Should Go To. by Sara Clemence, a superb writer focused on mindful and sustainable travel. She put in the research I would have never been able to and makes such succinct points you'll rethink the entire concept of The Bucketlist. Go check out her website. She is truly on a mission to help us be better tourists.

Now, travel and tourism can be sustainable. According to National Geographic, "Sustainable travel is about traveling in a way that's sensitive to the climate and nature emergencies while ensuring that the wellbeing of the places we visit gain long-term benefit from us traveling there. It's a balancing act between maximizing the positives of travel while reducing or eliminating the negatives." In 2022, Italy received a record 64,500,000 tourists. Memes about how everyone and their dog was in Italy circulated on social media, and those who work in the industry felt the weight of it. That is about six million more visitors to Italy than residents and citizens. Tourism is essential to our economy, and I am directly impacted by this industry as my partner and I have been guiding in Italy since 2007. When Covid hit, we went from a two-income household to a no-income household overnight. It was not easy, and we were lucky the government at the time was very generous to people in the industry. While I depend on the Italian tourism industry, I must beg people to stop traveling here in July for various reasons. 

It's hot as fuck. Over the last three summers, we have experienced extreme heatwaves named after the fiery depths of the underworld. Lucifer, Charon, Cerberus, etc. These are intense heat waves when the temperatures soar over 40°C/100°F for multiple days. When the government issues a red warning, the temperatures are so severe it puts even healthy people at risk. Wildfires can get out of control quickly, hospitals fill up with people suffering from dehydration and heat stroke, and cities have been experiencing rolling blackouts as Italy's electric grid hit record consumption. It's an outdated grid, much of the electricity is imported from France. These blackouts don't occur in the city center, where most hotels and restaurants are. The authorities cut it for hours in less popular, less wealthy, but still highly populated neighborhoods such as Alessandrino, and Tor Sapienza, sometimes up to 12 hours. And it's not just Rome. Blackouts are occurring throughout the peninsula, but tourists will not experience them. It is regular, working-class Italians, the elderly, and little children. The government recommends we stay indoors during the hottest hours, but tour guides cannot do that. We can't take a day off of work due to heat exhaustion. After all, we need to work during the boom months because we have three to four months of almost no tours. It's a boom-and-bust economy. Most of the companies you are booking tours with keep their booking open without having extra guides on hand should someone get sick. Tour guides are literally putting their lives at risk because we are freelancers, and there aren't enough guides in Italy for the demand. So instead of closing up their booking portals, companies are just throwing more money at us, that they know we can't say no to because come October, we will need more work. It hurts to know that all that matters is their bottom line, not our health. 

July is regularly Italy's hottest month and most crowded. Italy is a popular destination worldwide. People flock here to experience the food, wine, culture, history, and natural beauty, and we welcome you but beg you to consider coming here off-season, or at least not in July. Tourism is a huge burden on our crumbling infrastructure. During the red alert this week, multiple ambulances parked at the Colosseum were in use all day. In some cities, hospitals have recorded more than a 20% increase in arrivals due to dehydration or exhaustion, and according to the Guardian, "In the southern city of Naples, the Cardarelli hospital said 231 patients had accessed emergency care there within the last 24 hours – the equivalent of one patient every six minutes and the highest daily number since the coronavirus pandemic in 2020." And it is not just the elderly, the people being admitted include tourists all ages. The intake has gotten so busy in some cities authorities have had to ask people to only come in case of a real emergency. The system can only take so much, and of course, in Italy, nobody is turned away for lack of local health insurance. If you need emergency medical care, you will receive it and the bill will be next to nothing.

Considering the government issued red alerts for 23 cities across Italy this week, the show must go on in tourism. Swarms of people were still out visiting the Forum and Colosseum in 40°C/100°F degree heat. While I understand that for some, this might be a trip of a lifetime, or summer might be the only time you can travel because you have kids, there are other options. For years I have noticed travel media telling tourists to stay away in August because of the sweltering heat and the fact that many businesses are closed, but actually, August is often cooler than July, at least in Rome, and the city remains uncrowded. You can bask in the delights of your hotel air conditioning without worrying that you are burdening the system because so many businesses aren't using it, and a massive proportion of people in Italian cities have poured out of the cities for their own holidays to the sea or mountains. It's not true that the best restaurants are closed. Many stay open in August and take a closure at a later time. My friend Elyssa at Rome Wise always has an updated post on August in Rome that is worth a look. If you can travel outside of the summer months, come to Italy during the off-season. The tour groups are smaller, the guides aren't overworked and exhausted, and service people aren't on edge because they also suffer in the sweltering heat. The healthcare system isn't burdened, people and businesses don't need to have their air conditioning on full blast 24/7 just to stay safe, and it is a more enjoyable experience for you, the visitor. 

As corporate greed has taken over the tourism industry, those of us who are freelancers or with small businesses can't compete with bigger corporate companies or resellers like Viator or Get Your Guide. These companies don't turn off their booking systems, and museums like the Vatican don't seem to care that they put people at risk by allowing an average of 20,000 people to go through the Sistine Chapel per day during the summer. I am literally begging people to think about traveling differently. Think about what they will get from a city and how their visit impacts us. Tourism represents about 9.1% of the GDP in Italy. Visitors are important, but so are locals who often feel like they don't belong to the very towns and cities they are residents of. Mass tourism is not sustainable anywhere. Sustainable travel is the future of tourism and a two-way street. Tourism boards must make a point of marketing off-season times before the off-season. Influencers have a role in this as well. Start by sharing the beautiful golden light in Italy in November, the brilliance of the autumn colors in the vineyards, and show us empty museums and piazzas during an aperitivo in February. Show us how the ZTL is off in August in Rome, how it is so easy to find parking, and how you can always find a seat on public transport. This week alone, there have been extreme fires in Sicily. Deadly hailstorms near Venice and a tornado near Milan are just a few of the extreme weather events we have experienced this week in Italy. Severe weather in July is now the new normal. 

There were over 60,000 heat-related deaths across Europe last year. That number brings chills down my spine because, with the correct measures, most of those deaths could have been prevented. Climate scientists have predicted our summers will only get hotter, and the Italian government is not doing much for us. It is the most vulnerable of the population who will be affected. The mass tourism problem in Italy needs to be addressed by visitors, tourism professionals, and the Ministry of Tourism because the solution seems obvious. Let's all reconsider ‘Bucketlist’ travel. Visitors can rethink the time of year they will visit Italy. It is a country where the most important places are open to the public all year. National and regional tourism boards must work together to create campaigns encouraging visitors to visit lesser-visited towns and cities with incredible works of art, archeological sites, award-winning food and wine, beaches, and national parks. I've been a champion of Lazio for the last eighteen years, and it blows my mind that people will stay in Rome for two or three days and then go up to Tuscany for a day trip for wine and food when we have some of the most well preserved medieval towns in Italy, as well as incredible enogastromy. Tour companies offering tours must create content that draws more visitors to Italy during the off-season and make museums other than the Vatican appealing. Encourage visits to the Capitoline Museums. Create day trips to a winery in Olevano Romano instead of Tuscany. We all must do better for this country as residents and visitors. The Italian government can start by divesting fossil fuels. 

I'd also encourage you to think about the country of Georgia. It is the birthplace of wine, with some 8000 years of winemaking history. It is protected from the extreme heat that southern Europe experiences due to the Caucasus mountains and has no problem with over-tourism. And as you all may know, I own a tour company in Tbilisi, Georgia, called Taste Georgia. I'd love to host you. 

If Georgia is not the place for you right now, I highly encourage people to donate to rewilding projects in the areas you love to visit. These projects aren't just aimed at plating massive amounts of non-native trees but at restoring natural habitats, which includes tree planting. 

As a young Girl Scout, I was taught to always leave a place better than I found it. If you are at the beach, spend ten minutes picking up trash. If you are a visitor in Italy, avoid July, and try to make a point to be off the beaten path, support local artists and small businesses. Think about how your visit will impact the local economy, environment, and infrastructure. Climate change is a reality now. We can and should all do better in our own communities and where we are visitors. 

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