Produzione di conoscenze geografiche e turismo sul fronte italiano alla fine dello stato liberale (1916-1922)

Among the phenomena that characterize the period that coincides with the end of the liberal state and the advent of fascism, war tourism takes on a significant social importance. It takes different forms based on the social categories involved. Identifying authors and recipient subjects of textual and iconographic-visual products and activities, related to the “word” (lessons and conferences) and to the terrain (organized trips and hikes), allows us to map the circulation, which is increasingly pervasive within the Italian public sphere of the twentieth century, of a “new geography” that the war contributed to creating: generating flows, narratives and new territorial hierarchies. The chronological context of reference is characterized by the strong presence of bourgeois associationism, not yet absorbed by fascist institutions. Sports, tourism, pedagogical-educational and patriotic associations offer a crucial contribution in terms of production and spread of knowledge, attitudes, stereotypes, interpretations, keywords, towards large portions of the public sphere involved beyond the official paths of academic debate and the more rigid scholastic channels. This paper, therefore, want to analyse war tourism starting from its interpreters and recipients and then focusing on the geographical knowledge and representations that the phenomenon contributes to spreading in society.