Rievocazioni storiche e sviluppo locale: tra dinamiche di radicamento e promozione del turismo

This paper aims to analyze the historical re-enactment events as opportunities in the definition and planning of local development projects and in the promotion of new forms of tourism. Two theoretical approaches are used to interpret the phenomenon. In the first one, the central focus is on the embeddedness dynamics and on the attribution of value to the cultural heritage – in our case, the historical re-enactment – by the local communities and by the main actors. In the second case, starting from the literature on cultural and experience economy, it is important to analyze the territorial impact of these initiatives, in terms of visitors flows, related activities and tourism strategies. Inspired from these perspectives, the empirical work focuses on the case of a small Italian town, Volterra, and, in particular, on the role that the main re-enactment event (“Volterra AD1398”) has for the people, for the economic and social impact and for the development of the experience tourism.