The rediscovery of an ancient community event in a language minority village: the case of Bova (Italy)

The transition from mass to postmodern tourism has been focused on the rediscovery of territory. Tourists nowadays often avoid mass holidays and standard packages, preferring instead to discover the more authentic aspects of a destination and, particularly, those linked with local history, traditions, way of life, and culture (MacCannell, 1973). As a consequence though, tourists look for more memorable and unique experiences that involve them physically and mentally, often through a deeper link with local culture and people. They desire to perceive the everyday life of the visited places (MacCannell, 1973, 1976) and, therefore, look for more direct and deep relationships with a destination’s residents (Frochot & Batat, 2013; Kim, Richie & McCormick, 2012). Community, events and festivals, both recent, or more frequently, inherited from tradition, are moments of aggregation; in these occasions the community strengthens its social and cultural fabric exploiting a sense of belonging (Biaett, 2012, 2015; Pedrana, 2015). In many cases they are also instruments for the representation of a distinctive spirit of the place or genius loci, that, together with local memories, offer visitors and tourists memorable and unique experiences linked with authentic aspects of local culture (Kinnunen & Haahti, 2015). From this point of view, an event that takes place in a destination with distinctive characteristics, especially in terms of the natural environment, and is part of the community life, could become a source of great tourist attractiveness.