Tourism as a panacea for historic centres' development. Limits and opportunities for a sustainable future

This comparative paper focuses on Rome and Asolo, two historic cities of Italy, which well enucleate and represent the contemporary debate on the subject. On the one hand, a big city and world heritage site (one among the 40 sites Italy has) which continues to attract mass tourism, supported also by a creative cultural industry. On the other hand, a small city, a jewel in Northern Italy's still intact landscape, where tourism has fostered a strong regeneration process but whose population has shrunk. Both historic cores have been transformed by tourism, both have been musealised, in both quality of life has declined. However, while in Rome tourism contributes to the city's economic growth, this is not true for Asolo. Monitoring the transformation of these two cities, with the PreservingPlaces method, it has been revealed that the impact of tourism can be guided and that urban policies are, at times, equally responsible of urban decay. More specifically, the creation of pedestrian streets in Rome's historic centre and the transfer of public services from Asolo, have undermined the identity and urban qualities of these respective places, creating a domino effect. The paper aims, in this context, to describe both the PreservingPlaces method and its outcomes, underlining the importance of integrated enhancement policies for a sustainable future.