“There is a love-hate relationship between Neapolitans and their city.”
The idea for my project “Soggiorno Napoletano” came from taking photos on the streets and observing the city’s daily transformation: at this moment in history, Naples is undergoing significant changes due to a veritable “peaceful invasion” of Italian and foreign visitors, and I want to show the delicate balance between tourists and residents.
As a Neapolitan girl in love with the city, I’m happy to see its rebirth and I hope that my project will lead to a greater focus on this topic for a more sustainable development of tourism.
I would advise tourists to experience the city in a responsible way without giving in to stereotypes. The city has a lot to offer and many things are still little known.
This project was definitely inspired by “Small World”, one of Martin Parr’s most popular and important books, a series that explores tourism on a global scale.
I believe that the strong growth of tourism in Naples is the result of several dynamics such as the pandemic and terrorism, but social media has also had a huge influence: Naples has become one of the most clicked Italian cities across all social media platform.
Most Neapolitans are welcoming to tourists, riding the wave and rolling up their sleeves to show off the beauty of the city. My photography shows the ability of Neapolitans to welcome and charm tourists, even providing directions reproduced on handmade signs, but also the understandable need to protect traditions and to stem the effects of over-tourism with “tourist go home” graffiti, which were already widespread before the pandemic in a city such as Barcelona, the anti-tourism capital of Europe.
There is a love-hate relationship between Neapolitans and their city: we hate all the negative stereotypes that follow Naples, and we would like to see a cleaner city but we are still very proud because Naples is a unique city.
All of our thanks to Sofia Scuotto.
All images by Sofia Scuotto.
To learn more about Sofia and follow her work on social media, click here.