The invention of mass tourism - or: Why Rome has been fully booked for 1600 years

More than 60 million people visited Rome in 2025 - the city experienced a Holy Year in a state of emergency. Yet overtourism on the Tiber is actually nothing new. Travelers have been coming here continuously since 400 AD, and the number of pilgrims already exceeded the number of locals in the Middle Ages. From a place of longing for Christian seekers of salvation, the Eternal City became the dream destination of Europe's privileged on their Grand Tour, and finally the picturesque destination of modern consumer tourism. A huge business for some, a huge disaster for others.

How Rome invented tourism and how tourism invented Rome will be the topic of this evening. The journalist Birgit Schönau, long-time Italy correspondent for DIE ZEIT, has lived in the heart of the city for 35 years. Her most recent book on Rome's cultural history is "Die Geheimnisse des Tibers. Rome and its eternal river" (C.H.Beck).

Event on January 21 at 6 p.m. in the Klemperer Hall of the SLUB, Dresden.