Hit-and-run tourism is tearing the heart out of Florence – there is a better way | Cecilie Hollberg

As I learned from managing Michelangelo’s David, visitors can be nudged away from the joyless in-and-out mission for selfies and souvenirs

Florence is an exquisite city. Because of its history and its cultural heritage as the cradle of the Italian Renaissance, it is unique, precious and very fragile. The historic centre – a Unesco world heritage site – occupies a very small space. The city’s 366,000 inhabitants are joined each year by about 11 million tourists. Maintaining the characteristic dignity of the place and meeting the needs of those who live here permanently while managing this volume of tourism, is a great challenge and responsibility. For most of the year, Florence struggles to do either sustainably.

To be clear, tourism is an essential source of income and I am not opposed to tourists. The problem is that many visitors are on a quick in-and-out mission to take selfies in front of a few major sights – Michelangelo’s David, Botticelli’s Primavera, the Piazza della Signoria – to show people at home that they have been to Florence, while essentially trampling the city without contributing anything.