Mio nuovo articolo – in inglese, su Al-Monitor – dedicato al professor Francesco D’Andria e alla missione archeologica italiana a Hierapolis/Pamukkale: grande scoperte scientifiche, ma anche un grande lavoro per attirare turismo di qualità e non solo turismo di massa.
LEGGI ANCHE: In vacanza in Turchia, Pamukkale e Hierapolis
Come al solito, vi metto qui un paio di paragrafi e poi vi leggete con calma l’articolo completo – How Italian scientist saved Turkey’s ‘cotton castle’ from careless tourism (il titolo non è mio) – sul sito di Al-Monitor.
Hierapolis is the most popular archaeological site in Turkey, with its peak of 2 million tourists in 2014 and a comparable number anticipated for 2018. In fact, most of them — largely Russians on day trips from Antalya — see only the natural features of the place: the white cascades of travertine created by thermal waters flowing downhill. The venue is better known in Turkish as Pamukkale, literally the “cotton castle,” whose light blue natural pools are featured in every tourism brochure.
LEGGI ANCHE: Gli archeologi italiani di Hierapolis
The Italian archaeologist is not against mass tourism, but he would prefer more of what he calls “slow, quality” tourism: people who spend more time among the monumental ruins and visit the whole city, who learn about how the ancient world functioned. To this end, he devised an alternative route to St. Philip’s Hill that skirts the thermal area. He has also suggested an “archeo-seismological” itinerary that explores and explains unique geological phenomena and the effects of earthquakes on monuments.