Page 16 - Dispatches - Winter 2022

www.washingtonpost.com
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2021
THE WORLD

Taking in sights — and issues

In Rome, tourists explore ancient ruins and current topics such as church sex abuse

By STEFANO PITRELLI

ROME — On the first day of their trip, the
American tourists climbed to the top of St. Pe-
ter’s dome, admiring Michelangelo’s architec-
tural marvel and its panoramic view.
On the second day, they met up with their
tour group to visit ancient Roman aqueducts
and enjoy a traditional pasta lunch. And in the
afternoon, they listened to a man who had been
abused by a Catholic priest talk them through
his own personal hell.
“We came here for St. Peter and the Colos-
seum, but when they offered us this experience,
I just wanted to go,” said Joseph Purdy, 72, a
retiree from Rehoboth Beach, Del.
The juxtaposition of scenic and tragic is
hardly new to European tourism. As Purdy not-
ed, “You may go to Germany for the beer and
the castles, but the Holocaust did happen there,
Hitler happened, so you wouldn’t understand
German history if you didn’t take into account
concentration camps, as well.”
But as people begin to travel the world
again for the first time since the start of the
pandemic, there may be an increase in demand
for the sort of tourism that involves more than
stunning sites.
“This is what mass tourism has been gradu-
ally morphing into,” said Vincenzo Nocifora,
professor of the sociology of tourism at Rome’s
Sapienza University. “I’m no longer leaving so
as to just ‘see’ things. I’m seeking an experi-
ence. I want to go home enriched by something
meaningful.”
The United States has seen that instinct
evident in people making pilgrimages along the
PHOTOS BY STEFANO PITRELLI/THE WASHINGTON POST
new Civil Rights Trail. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Bette Robbins, 74, of Metamora, Ill., follows her group of fellow tourists
at Rome’s Parco degli Acquedotti, or Park of the Aqueducts. The group, seen resting next to an ancient
U.S.-based tour operator Overseas Adven-
Roman aqueduct, combined traditional sightseeing with an afternoon of discussion with an Italian
ture Travel has included what it calls “contro- clerical-abuse survivor — an experience organized by the tour operator. Francesco Zanardi, 51, founder
versial topics” in its programs for many years. of a clerical-abuse survivors group, arrives to talk with the tourists at an artist studio in Rome.
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