For people of Italian descent in Australia, visiting Italy can be a deeply emotional experience, bridging the gap between their current life and the rich Italian heritage of their ancestors.
We all know that Australia is home to a large Italian community, with many families tracing their origins back to Italy.
Immigration from the Bel Paese began in the 19th century, with large waves of Italians arriving after World War II in search of better economic opportunities and fleeing the hardships of a war-torn continent.
Today, descendants of these immigrants often feel a strong pull toward their roots, driven by a desire to explore their family history and gain a deeper understanding of their cultural identity.
Many of them can also obtain Italian citizenship, a practical way to rebuild connections with their ancestral homeland.
For many Italian Australians, a trip to Italy is not just about visiting popular tourist destinations like Rome, Venice or Florence, but rather about discovering the specific regions, towns and even villages where their ancestors came from.
They might visit their family homes, the churches where their parents or grandparents were married or baptised, and the cemeteries where their ancestors are buried.
These pilgrimages offer an opportunity to connect with extended family members, learn about local traditions, and experience the local way of life.
In various regions of Italy, local tourism has adapted to cater to heritage tourists from around the world, offering services like guided ancestral tours, genealogical research and even language immersion programs to help visitors deepen their connection with Italy.
These personalised experiences can be profoundly moving and often provide visitors with a greater sense of belonging and cultural identity.
This type of tourism also has positive effects on the local economies of those often-rural areas of the Peninsula. By attracting visitors interested in their roots, these communities benefit from the revenue brought by tourism, while helping preserve local culture and traditions.
This is one of the reasons why the Italian government is promoting this type of tourism: with tens of millions of people of Italian descent around the world, the financial benefits can be significant both locally and nationally.
For many Italian Australians, it can be hard to imagine how difficult life was for their parents and grandparents in various regions of Italy before the economic boom of the 1960s.
Today, however, as they experience the breathtaking beauty of the landscapes, the architecture and the local culture and cuisine, many feel an overwhelming sense of nostalgia.
Sometimes, this leads them to make the decision to settle in Italy permanently. And so, it’s no longer just tourism of the roots — it becomes a permanent return.
