Identitarian Movements in the Touristic City: The Marketing of Hate in Verona

Verona, renowned for its tourist appeal as the city of Romeo and Juliet, also serves as a strategic node for far-right and populist right movements. This study reveals how these groups exploit the city's historical center to construct an exclusionary territorial identity rooted in white supremacy, northern pride, and Catholic fundamentalism. Through practices of bordering and territorialization, they market Verona as a 'model' city for a transnational identitarian network, leveraging its preserved heritage and assumed authenticity to promote anti-modernist nostalgia. The research, based on ethnographic fieldwork, archival analysis, and in-depth interviews, uncovers the mechanisms by which certain historical centers are showcased to build such networks through everyday boundary-drawing practices.

Demirsu, I. (2023). IDENTITARIAN MOVEMENTS IN THE TOURISTIC CITY: The Marketing of Hate in Verona. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 47(5), 725–744. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.13198