Madonna is very attached to her Abruzzo origins, Francis Ford Coppola in Bernalda, near Matera, where her great-grandparents Carmine and Filomena Coppola were born. Two successful Italian Americans who have kept their roots firmly in Italy, the homeland of their ancestors. There are about 80 million second and third generation Italians who could be protagonists of “tourism of the roots”. “These Italians abroad have a very strong bond with our country and their families of origin and want to return both to learn about the history of their family and their roots, and because they want to visit Italy” says Daniela Santanchè, Minister of Tourism presenting the Pnnr project “Tourism of the roots: an integrated strategy for the recovery of the tourism sector in post Covid-19 Italy”. These descendants ask for nothing better than to reconstruct the history lived by their ancestors and visit what is basically their country of origin, its food, art, culture but also by searching for the birth certificates of their ancestors to reconstruct the family tree. In the pre-pandemic era «we have come to count 10 million tourists from the roots, while in 2021 there were 6 million. Important numbers – points out the minister – which are strengthened by some elements associated with them, i.e. the length of the period that the ‘roots tourists’ stay in Italy, which is at least 6 days, and a turnover which was 4.2 billion euros in 2021 alone”. Then there are those who have done more, returning to invest in Italy. This is what the Coppola family did in Berlando where Francis Ford Coppola and his daughter Sofia restored Palazzo Margherita in Berlanda, a luxury resort that offers only nine suites. «I affectionately call her Bernaldabella, because that’s what my grandfather called her, with just one word – recalls the director of the Godfather saga -. He died when I was just five years old, but the thousand stories he told when he was young to Bella have continued to fuel our imaginations. They were intriguing and very funny stories, and when I first came to Bernalda I was not disappointed».
The Roots Tourism project is attracting the interest of various local administrations. «It is a great opportunity for the territories of the peripheral areas that often have no voice – said Matteo Mastrini, mayor of Tresana (Massa Carrara) in Lunigiana -. It also means bringing our identity and contributing to being part of the project». In this sense Tresana, 2,000 inhabitants and about 400 residing abroad, has important numbers. «It is a territory like any other in Italy which was depopulated after the war due to economic difficulties. Those who don’t come back or come back less often will have one more chance. We are already working in this direction and we will try to identify this tender to offer something more and better than what has been offered so far”. «With the third and fourth generation it is more complicated because young people go around the world. So we must be attractive by involving local realities – points out Vincenzo Nunno, mayor of Bovino (Foggia) -. At various times of the year I have thought of involving citizens who live within the village, in its alleys, to cook what was cooked in the past. In this way those perfumes that have been lost come out and visitors are involved in a strong emotional way».