Beach tourism has transformed small seaside towns. An architect (and photographer) explains how and why

Architect and photographer Silvia Vespasiani has spent years studying how Italy's coastal towns were transformed by the post-war economic boom and mass tourism. Through her publications *Città stagionali* and *Vistamare*, she reconstructs the birth and evolution of seaside resorts, focusing on the role of second homes, urban planning policies, and the intensive development of the Adriatic coastline. In an interview with Artribune, she discusses how architecture and photography together allow her to capture the hybrid, kaleidoscopic nature of these places.

This analysis matters because it connects visual culture, urbanism, and tourism to understand a defining feature of modern Italian identity: the reshaping of the entire peninsula's coastline for leisure. Vespasiani's work challenges superficial views of beach tourism by revealing the political, economic, and social forces behind the transformation of natural beaches into densely built-up zones. It offers a critical lens on how profit-driven development and zoning have reorganized both space and social life in Italy's coastal cities.