Il ruolo degli eventi e delle attività culturali nelle recenti dinamiche del turismo

The contribution investigates the role that cultural events and activities play in the current dynamics of tourism. After an excursus on the debate that animates the social sciences, and the geography in particular, on the growing importance of the events in the processes of urban transformation, the paper analyzes the different ways of classifying the events themselves, highlighting the overlap and confusion that often has been linked to the various attempts to classify the different types of events. With regard to cultural events, it is proposed, therefore, to distinguish between events designed to enhance the value of existing cultural resources and those that focus on creating new mechanisms for appeal by relying on creativity. After having examined the spatial and temporal dimensions of events, the attention is focussed on the difficult issues linked to their management, exploring the role of actors and that of urban and cultural policies.