Staging monuments. How the cultural tourism could affect the conservation strategies

In the contemporary society, not only the traditional fields, as for example history or art, are affirming theirselves as propulsive factors for cultural tourism, but also more popularly spread issues are revealing their force: myths, legends and above all cinema and TV shows. Therefore, it’s not coincidence that a lot of monuments and historical cities had suddenly become worldwide known and visited by the masses. It proves how these forces can hugely increase the tourist flows, modify the perception of these places and even influence the conservation strategies. Starting from the analysis of some case studies, the paper would like to reflect upon the dynamics generated by this kind of tourism, evaluating its limits, looking for good management policies and trying to understand how the restoration approach could or should not answer this kind of tourists’ expectation, in order to establish a balance between conservation and economic issues.