When History Repeats: Heritage Regeneration and Emergent Authenticity in the Marche’s Peripheral Areas

This article looks at the way in which historical re-enactments contribute both to the development of a peculiar tourism experience and to the regeneration of the historical and cultural heritage, adding up value and a certain “sense of place” to areas normally considered “marginal” from a variety of points of view. This will be achieved through the analysis of two events — the historical Palio “Giuoco dell’Oca” in Cagli and the Battle of the Nations in Sentinum (now Sassoferrato) — and specifically of the role that such “staged” events play in the regeneration of cultural heritage as well as of their role in creating collective identities. Moreover, it will be discussed whether such happenings can help develop a kind of cultural tourism based on the fruition of authentic experiences. The data were collected through ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2016 in the scope of a wider research project on the “National Strategy for Inner Areas in Italy”, a development strategy launched in 2012 by the Italian Minister for Territorial Cohesion at the time, aimed at creating tools likely to foster a series of basic services access improvements in the Italian peripheral areas

Lanzarote, “l’isola differente”. Turismo, place branding e la creazione della "Marca Lanzarote”

The article deals with the influence that Lanzarote-born artist César Manrique has had on the development of tourism in Lanzarote from the 1960s on, and in particular, with how his aesthetic ideals have affected the appearance of the Island today. The article aims at demonstrating that the peculiar tourism development that occurred in Lanzarote can be considered as a pioneer attempt at enacting a particular marketing strategy today known as “place branding”. Considering the effects caused by Manrique’s work and by his environmental ecologic activism, it is evident how the marketing of Lanzarote as an Island with no equals has highly influenced its appearance, in accordance with the image that was created for it. Undoubtedly, this process has differentiated Lanzarote from other destinations in the tourist market; yet, as a result, a conflict between identity, authenticity and thematization has arisen, culminating in the creation of the so-called “Lanzarote trade-mark”

Tourism Planning and Tourism Development in the Italian Inner Areas:Assessing Coherence in Policy-Making Strategies

The purpose of this chapter is, thus, to contribute to the extant studies on tourism development as a component of local development policies, through amixed research strategy, at the intersections of the qualitative and quantitative traditions.More specifically, we contribute to this debate by constructing a theoretical space on which the planning documents produced by SNAI’s 22 pilot inner areas can be properly classified in order to assess the coherence with respect to their goals. This theoretical space was built on the basis of a literature review carried out through an anthropological lens, highlighting the role of communities and their cultures in bottom-up, placebased, and participative policy-making strategies. This review stresses the necessity of studying policy narratives to effectively categorise planned tourism interventions within the intersections between different policy approaches (spatially bling vs. place-based) and tourism development possibilities (based on emergent or existing resources). Hence, within the tradition of socio-statistical methods, we perform a content analysis of the planning documents using textual statistics techniques

La corruzione come "malattia": implicazioni sociali e culturali del considerare la corruzione come una patologia dello Stato italiano

The article looks at how the use of the metaphor of "corruption as disease" has shaped the current public discourse on corruption and anti-corruption in Italy, through the use of a variegated terminology borrowed from the semantic field of biomedicine. In doing so the paradigms of medical anthropology will be applied to the symbolic representation of corruption as a pathology of the State, bringing examples of its usage both from academic works, politics and everyday rhetoric. In particular, it will be shown how the metaphor of "corruption as disease", which has found much space in the Italian media coverage on the phenomenon, acquires a special significance in how the circumstance is discursively constituted and consequently dealt with. The article is based on data collected through fieldwork research carried out in Lombardy between 2013 and 2015 as a part of the ANTICORRP.eu research project (WP4), and takes its cue from the most recent debate on corruption in Italy

Coerenza tra le pratiche di pianificazione e il capitale territoriale nelle strategie di sviluppo turistico per le aree interne italiane

ABSTRACT The structural development policies of the last decade see the fundamental opposition between spatially-blind strategies and place-based interventions. This article aims at contributing to the current debate on this topic by analyzing the results of decision-making processes related to the implementation of the National Strategy for Inner Areas (SNAI) considering a specific planning sector: tourism. In particular, the discursive and narrative practices emerging in the planning documents of tourism strategies have been analyzed to identify the elements of coherence between the planning practices – based on the knowledge of the territorial capital – and the actual territorial capital

Tourism Planning and Tourism Development in the Italian Inner Areas: Assessing Coherence in Policy-Making Strategies

This contribution explores the outcomes of tourism-related policy-making processes within the framework of the Italian National Strategy for Inner Areas (SNAI), a development strategy launched by the Italian Government in 2012. The strategy aims at improving the living conditions in those territories located far from urban hubs, which have been suffering from progressive social and economic marginalisation. Exploiting the synergies emerging from the combination of anthropological perspectives and socio-statistical techniques, this study performs a content analysis on the planning documents produced by SNAI’s 22 pilot areas, relating to the never-ending debate between spatially blind and place-based development policies. The main objective is to investigate whether and how the planned tourism strategies in these areas are coherent with the policy framework and the guidelines proposed by SNAI. The results highlight different degrees of coherence, identifying how some tourism strategies reflect imprecise knowledge of the territory and the needs of those living there

Bortezomib-thalidomide-dexamethasone is superior to thalidomide-dexamethasone as consolidation therapy after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma

In a randomized, phase 3 study, superior complete/near-complete response (CR/nCR) rates and extended progression-free survival were demonstrated with bortezomib-thalidomide-dexamethasone (VTD) versus thalidomide-dexamethasone (TD) as induction therapy before, and consolidation after, double autologous stem cell transplantation for newly diagnosed myeloma patients (intention-to-treat analysis; VTD, n = 236; TD, n = 238). This per-protocol analysis (VTD, n = 160; TD, n = 161) specifically assessed the efficacy and safety of consolidation with VTD or TD. Before starting consolidation, CR/nCR rates were not significantly different in the VTD (63.1%) and TD arms (54.7%). After consolidation, CR (60.6% vs 46.6%) and CR/nCR (73.1% vs 60.9%) rates were significantly higher for VTD-treated versus TD-treated patients. VTD consolidation significantly increased CR and CR/nCR rates, but TD did not (McNemar test). With a median follow-up of 30.4 months from start of consolidation, 3-year progression-free survival was significantly longer for the VTD group (60% vs 48% for TD). Grade 2 or 3 peripheral neuropathy (8.1% vs 2.4%) was more frequent with VTD (grade 3, 0.6%) versus TD consolidation. The superior efficacy of VTD versus TD as induction was retained despite readministration as consolidation therapy after double autologous transplantation. VTD consolidation therapy significantly contributed to improved clinical outcomes observed for patients randomly assigned to the VTD arm of the study. The study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT01134484. (Blood. 2012;120(1):9-19)In a randomized, phase 3 study, superior complete/near-complete response (CR/nCR) rates and extended progression-free survival were demonstrated with bortezomib-thalidomide-dexamethasone (VTD) versus thalidomide-dexamethasone (TD) as induction therapy before, and consolidation after, double autologous stem cell transplantation for newly diagnosed myeloma patients (intention-to-treat analysis; VTD, n = 236; TD, n = 238). This per-protocol analysis (VTD, n = 160; TD, n = 161) specifically assessed the efficacy and safety of consolidation with VTD or TD. Before starting consolidation, CR/nCR rates were not significantly different in the VTD (63.1%) and TD arms (54.7%). After consolidation, CR (60.6% vs 46.6%) and CR/nCR (73.1% vs 60.9%) rates were significantly higher for VTD-treated versus TD-treated patients. VTD consolidation significantly increased CR and CR/nCR rates, but TD did not (McNemar test). With a median follow-up of 30.4 months from start of consolidation, 3-year progression-free survival was significantly longer for the VTD group (60% vs 48% for TD). Grade 2 or 3 peripheral neuropathy (8.1% vs 2.4%) was more frequent with VTD (grade 3, 0.6%) versus TD consolidation. The superior efficacy of VTD versus TD as induction was retained despite readministration as consolidation therapy after double autologous transplantation. VTD consolidation therapy significantly contributed to improved clinical outcomes observed for patients randomly assigned to the VTD arm of the study. The study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT01134484