Federico Vitella

The touristic film (film turistico) is one of the most interesting, underestimated subgenre of the Italian comedy of the fifties. Such films as Racconti d’estate (Franciolini, 1958), Vacanze d’inverno (Mastrocinque, 1959), Vacanze a Ischia (Camerini, 1957) or Souvenir d’Italie (Pietrangeli, 1957) not only attest Italy’s admission to the stage of ‘mass tourism’, but also trigger the general mobilization of the Italians towards seaside and mountain resorts, spa towns and cities of arts. Vacanze a Ischia by Mario Camerini – first step of a cycle completed by Appuntamento a Ischia (Mattioli, 1960) and Ischia operazione amore (Sala, 1965) – deserves special attention in the light of its representativeness. This essay aims at studying the film as a agent of turistization, highlighting the tendentious work of narrative integration of consumers, consumption and patterns of gaze for promotional purposes.