Italian Literary Tours from Agrigento to Limana

In recent years, an increasing number of people have chosen to walk in the footsteps of their favourite writers. As a result, travel itineraries have been created or consolidated via the places connected to the authors’ lives or work. They are a form of slow tourism, on foot, by bicycle, on horseback, along nature trails and mostly on unpaved roads or in the historic centres of many Italian cities and villages, often connected by trains. They are a means of literature to enhance the territory. Therefore, itineraries, routes, walks, and paths of varying lengths and difficulties have been created and are still being created. They are promoted by research centres, administrations, institutions, cultural associations, tour operators, and literary parks to respond to an increasingly frequent tourist demand that allows the protection, promotion, and enhancement of the urban or natural landscape crossed by those who walk. These proposals offer a tourist experience that is very different from the so-called mass tourism, allowing the tourists a deep immersion in the territory, in the literary and historical heritage and, very often, in the food and wine culture of the places they visit. This E-Dictionary of Literary Tourism entry offers a concise list of the main Italian tours dedicated to this new type of slow tourism. A brief description of each tour is given along with a hyperlink that allows access to detailed information. Each hyperlink was consulted during the writing of the dictionary entry and was active before its delivery in spring 2024. The literary tours are presented alphabetically and this dictionary entry is complemented by the entry Italian literary tours from Mantova to Vizzini, also in this dictionary.

Agrigento-Caltanissetta. An itinerary of approximately 72 km, crossing the Valley of the Temples. It connects the places of the biography and works of some of the greatest Sicilian writers of the twentieth century: Andrea Camilleri, Pier Maria Rosso di San Secondo, Luigi Pirandello, Leonardo Sciascia, Antonio Russello, Tomasi di Lampedusa, along the SS640 renamed “Strada degli Scrittori”. https://www.stradadegliscrivori.com/ss-640/

Aliano. Five paths for walking among the gullies to discover the lunar landscape of Aliano, sublimely described by Carlo Levi in the work Cristo si è fermato a Eboli (1945). https://www.parcolevi.it/le-attivita/camminare-tra-i-calanchi-di-aliano/

Aliano-Matera-Tursi. From Aliano to Tursi passing through Matera, a journey to discover the places of Cristo si è fermato a Eboli by Carlo Levi and the native landscape of the poet in Italian and in the Tursitano dialect, Albino Pierro. https://www.parchiletterari.com/files/allegati/Parco_Letterario_Carlo_Le...

Anversa degli Abruzzi. Itineraries in the “Gabriele D’Annunzio” literary park, with visits to the D’Annunzio places that inspired La fiaccola sotto il moggio (1905) between Anversa degli Abruzzi, the Gole del Sagittario Nature Reserve, the village of Castrovalva, the Cavuto springs. https://www.parchiletterari.com/files/allegati/Parco_DAnnunzio_2_e_3_gio...

Arquà Petrarca. Itineraries and routes among the Euganean Hills, from the village of Arquà, where Francesco Petrarca lived his last years, to royal residences, villas, gardens and castles where George Gordon Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Ugo Foscolo also stayed. https://www.parchiletterari.com/parchi/francesco-petrarca-e-dei-colli-eu...

Bibbiena. Naturalistic itineraries and literary walks in the footsteps of Emma Perodi and the settings of her Novelle della Nonna (1893), in the “Emma Perodi and the Casentinesi Forests” literary park. https://www.parchiletterari.com/parchi/emma-perodi-e-le-foreste-casentin...

Bobbio. Itinerary in the medieval places of Umberto Eco’s bestseller, Il nome della rosa (1980), the visit includes entry to the Abbey of San Colombano, the Monastery and the diocesan archives with museum displays. https://cattedralepiacenza.it/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Itinerario-Il-n...

Bobbio. A path in Ernest Hemingway’s Val Trebbia, an itinerary that aims to introduce a surprising scenario of Emilia Romagna, in the greenery of the Piacenza Apennines, between Bobbio, Brugnello and Rivalta. https://emiliaromagnaturismo.it/it/itinerari/la-val-trebbia-di-hemingway 

Bologna. An urban and literary map, entitled “Scrittori e Scrittrici”, which allows free itineraries and visits in search of nineteenth-twentieth century literary presences, among houses, salons, cafes and literary institutions. https://www.bibliotecasalaborsa.it/bolognaonline/mappa-degli-scriveri-e-...

Borgo Virgilio. Guided and experiential tour through the Virgilian places of Andes, Pietole and the Mincio reserve to retrace the poet’s bucolic landscape, with readings from the Georgiche to the Eneide. https://www.parchiletterari.com/itinerari-scheda.php?ID=01964 

Bra. Guided tour “A day with Giovanni Arpino” through the places linked to the writer’s life, from the railway station to the palaces, from the tanneries to the cafes, which are also found in his novels and stories. https://www.turismoinbra.it/turismo-a-bra/itinerari/una-giornata-con-gio...

Brancaleone. Itinerary in five stages in the places linked to the political confinement of Cesare Pavese, fictionalized in Carcere (1948): from the arrival station to the Roma hotel, from the rock on the sea to the writer's home, ending with the ancient village of Brancaleone vetus. https://www.prolocobrancaleone.it/2017/11/2637/ 

Camigliatello Silano. Literary itineraries on the Grand Tour routes of travelers in Calabria, starting from the Park “Oldcalabria. Norman Douglas and the Travelers of the Grand Tour”, following the texts of Norman Douglas, Edward Lear, Francois Lenormant, George Gissing, Alexandre Dumas, Vivant Denon, Henry Swinburne and others. https://www.oldcalabria.org 

Castagneto Carducci. Guided tours and itineraries among the Carduccian places of the Maremma, with possible stops at the Museum House and the Archive dedicated to Giosue Carducci, crossing Bolgheri and the Viale dei Cipressi in the places of the poet’s childhood and of the Rime nuove (1887). https://www.turismoletterario.com/attraversando-la-maremma-toscana-giosu...

Castle of Cireglio-Pistoia. Inside the “Policarpo Petrocchi and the Pistoiese Mountains” literary park, itineraries and paths that lead to Pistoia, in the footsteps of the protagonists narrated by Petrocchi in the book Il mio paese, written in 1880 but published posthumously in 1972. https:/ /www.parchiletterari.com/itinerari-scheda.php?ID=04988 

Comano Terme. Sentimental journeys within the “Giovanni Prati” literary park, to get to know the works, the landscape made up of the places dear to the poet, such as the Franciscan cloister, his father’s house, churches and castles between the Dolomites and Lake Garda. https://www.cultura.trentino.it/Appuntamenti/I-Viaggi-Sentimentali-nel-P...

Comiso. Walks and walking tours dedicated to the Sicilian writer Gesualdo Bufalino, including history, art, nature and literature: “The path of water” and “I love you like a country. The places of life”. https://www.parchiletterari.com/eventi-scheda.php?ID=06209 

Como. Itineraries, routes, readings dedicated to Alda Merini, Mary Shelley, Ugo Foscolo and many other writers, along the pedestrian and often wild paths of the Lake Como Poetry Way, regularly organized among the tourist and literary activities of the “Da Plinio a Volta. Journey into the human sciences”. https://parcopliniovolta.it/i-luoghi/ 

Faenza. Itinerary in eight stages in the places of the writer Alfredo Oriani, including his birthplace, the Caffè Orfeo, the Palazzo Comunale, the Manfrediana Library, the municipal art gallery and other sites and museums. https://emiliaromagnaturismo.it/it/itinerari/oriani-a-faenza 

Ferrara. Ludovico Ariosto’s Ferrara; the itinerary dedicated to Ariosto starts from the Estense Castle (perhaps the inspiration for the Castle of the Magician Atlas in Orlando furioso), passes through places remembered in the Satire and in Lena, through Palazzo Strozzi (where his wife Alessandra Benucci lived), the Houses of Ariosto and of course the dedicated square and library, ending after nine stops in the Mirasole district in the final home (“parva sed adapta mihi”, small, but suitable for me) of the poet. https://emiliaromagnaturismo.it/it/itinerari/ludovico-ariosto-ferrara 

Ferrara. The Ferrara of the Grand Tour; four stops in search of the paths of painters and writers who stopped in Ferrara, in the places of Ariosto and Tasso: Addizione Erculea, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Teatro Comunale, Ariosto’s house, the bust of Tasso and other sites in the historic center. https://emiliaromagnaturismo.it/it/itinerari/ferrara-grand-tour 

Ferrara. In Ferrara by bicycle with Giorgio Bassani; eight stops, between Corso Giovecca, the cemetery and the Jewish ghetto, the Massari Park, the Estense Castle and the city walls, in the places of the author and the characters of Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini (1962) and other famous stories set in the city. https://emiliaromagnaturismo.it/it/itinerari/giorgio-bassani-ferrara-in-...

Florence-Ravenna. “The ways of Dante”; series of seven slow itineraries, practicable on foot, by train, by bicycle in the Tuscan-Romagnolo Apennines, from Florence to Ravenna, passing through Mugello and Casentino, on the trail of Dante in exile or of Paolo and Francesca (Inf. V). https://www.viedidante.it 

Galtellì. An animated tour of the childhood places of the Sardinian writer Grazia Deledda, entitled “Walking with Grazia”, to discover the territory that is at the center of her narration in her best-known novel, Canne al vento (1912). https://www.parchiletterari.com/itinerari-scheda.php?ID=01956 

Gradara. Around the castle of Gradara, presumably the tragic and love theater of Paolo and Francesca (Inf. V), a circular route of about 3 km winds its way, an easy walk open to all lovers of the Divine Comedy. https://fringeintravel.com/sentiero-di-paolo-e-francesca-passeggiata-a-g...

Gubbio. A “widespread literary park” across the city, in search of the traces and descriptions left in the books by Dante, D’Annunzio, Hesse, Luzi and other authors, with the aim of supporting the territory through literature. https://www.comune.gubbio.pg.it/viene-forma-il-parco-letterario-diffuso-...

Gubbio-Foligno. Dante’s Way in Umbria, 6 stages, 130 km to discover the traces of Dante in Umbria between Gubbio, Gualdo Tadino, Nocera Umbra, Valfabbrica, Perugia, Assisi and Foligno. Designed by the TULE Center for Literary Tourism of the University for Foreigners of Perugia. https://www.unistrapg.it/sites/default/files/docs/eventi/230521-cammino-...

Island of Ortigia-Syracuse. The sentimental journey “Il garofano rosso” offers an itinerary in the places that saw the writer Elio Vittorini develop as a civil man and man of letters, within the literary park dedicated to him from the island of Ortigia passing through the Temple of Apollo, the Gargallo classical high school to end in the scenographic Piazza Duomo, retracing the pages of the novel Il garofano rosso (1948). https://www.guidasicilia.it/itinerary/il-garofano-rosso-il-parco-lettera...

Lecce-Castro-Venosa. Fascinating guided tours of the three cities, lasting approximately 3 hours each, in the footsteps of the Latin poets Quintus Ennius, Virgil and Horace, among antiquities, archaeological parks, houses and museums. https://www.salentoguideturistiche.it/latini.shtml 

Limana. The path from Limana to Valmorel is about 11 km, hiking but light. It crosses the places with a view of the Belluno Dolomites, where the writer Dino Buzzati sought inspiration. https://www.dolomitiprealpi.it/itinerari/sentiero-buzzati/#/punti-di-int...

How to cite this entry: Mosena, R. (2024). Italian Literary Tours from Agrigento to Limana. In R. Baleiro, G. Capecchi, J. Arcos-Pumarola (Eds.). E-Dictionary of Literary Tourism. University for Foreigners of Perugia.