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Too Many Tourists? Crowds Offer an Opportunity for Italy's South

]Tourists stand in Pretoria square, in Palermo, Italy, May 14, 2025. REUTERS/
]Tourists stand in Pretoria square, in Palermo, Italy, May 14, 2025. REUTERS/
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Too Many Tourists? Crowds Offer an Opportunity for Italy's South

]Tourists stand in Pretoria square, in Palermo, Italy, May 14, 2025. REUTERS/
]Tourists stand in Pretoria square, in Palermo, Italy, May 14, 2025. REUTERS/

In a rundown neighbourhood of Sicily's capital Palermo, a whitewashed old farmhouse that accommodates pilgrims now offers two rooms to tourists for bed and breakfast after a renovation.

As foreign visitors flock to Sicily, last year Brother Mauro Billetta, head of the parish in the Danisinni neighbourhood, decided that revenue from B&B guests could help lift the area out of decades of neglect. Two months ago he also opened a cafe at the farmhouse, overlooking the vegetable garden.

"That was our main goal from the start: to open up this part of the city, and also to tourists," said Mauro, sitting in his brown robes in his office at the parish church.

While residents in Rome, Florence and Venice have staged protests, complaining of overcrowded streets and housing shortages due to rising holiday rentals, it's a different story in poorer southern Italy. In Sicily and other parts the tourism boom is helping make some neighbourhoods safer and bringing much needed cash to deprived areas, although residents see risks ahead if it is not controlled.

Danisinni is walking distance from Palermo Cathedral and the Norman Palace, two of the UNESCO World Heritage sites in the Sicilian capital, which welcomed over 800,000 visitors in 2023, up 16% from 2022.

"Our houses became more valuable and some of the businesses that opened in recent years, like the restaurants, are good for the residents as well," said Aurelio Cagnina, while walking his dog near his home by Palermo's ancient port of La Cala.

However, some city residents are starting to complain that local authorities are failing to regulate the tourist boom. Short-term rentals are on the rise - more than 180,000 of Palermo's visitors in 2023 stayed in non-hotel accommodation, up 44% from 2019, official data shows - and residents say the growing night life has brought an increase in drug dealing.

"The lack of intervention is setting the stage for irreversible transformations. The so-called 'showcase' historic centre is what is happening," Palermo resident Massimo Castiglia said. He reflects fears voiced by residents in Florence and Venice that their city centres will become amusement parks as locals are priced out by visitors.

PRESERVATION STRATEGY

A rebound in air travel after the pandemic and more low-cost direct flights have led to a surge in visitor numbers to Europe's tourism hot spots, causing friction in parts of Spain and elsewhere, not just Italy - where tourism accounts for more than 10% of gross domestic product.

Spending by foreign visitors in Italy rose 19% in 2023 to a record 51.4 billion euros ($57.56 billion), according to The World Travel & Tourism Council's latest data.

Sicily drew 5.5 million tourists in 2023, up 14.5% on 2022, according to local government data, and more than the island's resident population of 4.8 million.

"There is no risk of overtourism. The idea that the historical areas will become a desert, sold out to short-term rentals does not exist in Palermo at present," said Alessandro Anello, councillor responsible for tourism in Palermo.

Yet he acknowledged a strategy was needed to preserve the city's character. The municipality was considering building student quarters in the city center, he said, and last month it passed rules to prevent the opening of more mini food markets for the next 18 months.

"Otherwise, there would be a risk that it becomes an open-air street food market," Anello said.

REVAMPED IMAGE

Tourism has helped Palermo to revamp its image after difficult decades that long overshadowed its beauty.

Memorial plaques in honour of the victims of the Cosa Nostra Mafia wars of the 1980s and 1990s are scattered across the city, sometimes hidden among shiny shop windows or restaurants serving typical Sicilian food.

A car bomb exploded in 1983 in a residential street near the elegant Viale della Liberta boulevard, killing anti-mafia magistrate Rocco Chinnici, two police officers escorting him and the doorman of the building where he lived.

Claudia Lombardo, who rents apartments to tourists with her daughter a few metres from the site, believes much has changed since then.

"There is a different air, a more open mentality, and I believe the opportunity to interact with tourists has helped a lot," she said.

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Varieties

Coffee Regions Hit by Extra Days of Extreme Heat, Say Scientists 

17 April 2012, North Rhine-Westphalia, Vluyn: A general view of Arabica Coffee beans. (dpa)
17 April 2012, North Rhine-Westphalia, Vluyn: A general view of Arabica Coffee beans. (dpa)
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Coffee Regions Hit by Extra Days of Extreme Heat, Say Scientists 

17 April 2012, North Rhine-Westphalia, Vluyn: A general view of Arabica Coffee beans. (dpa)
17 April 2012, North Rhine-Westphalia, Vluyn: A general view of Arabica Coffee beans. (dpa)

The world's main coffee-growing regions are roasting under additional days of climate change-driven heat every year, threatening harvests and contributing to higher prices, researchers said Wednesday.

An analysis found that there were 47 extra days of harmful heat per year on average in 25 countries representing nearly all global coffee production between 2021 and 2025, according to independent research group Climate Central.

Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Ethiopia and Indonesia -- which supply 75 percent of the world's coffee -- experienced on average 57 additional days of temperatures exceeding the threshold of 30C.

"Climate change is coming for our coffee. Nearly every major coffee-producing country is now experiencing more days of extreme heat that can harm coffee plants, reduce yields, and affect quality," said Kristina Dahl, Climate Central's vice president for science.

"In time, these impacts may ripple outward from farms to consumers, right into the quality and cost of your daily brew," Dahl said in a statement.

US tariffs on imports from Brazil, which supplies a third of coffee consumed in the United States, contributed to higher prices this past year, Climate Central said.

But extreme weather in the world's coffee-growing regions is "at least partly to blame" for the recent surge in prices, it added.

Coffee cultivation needs optimal temperatures and rainfall to thrive.

Temperatures above 30C are "extremely harmful" to arabica coffee plants and "suboptimal" for the robusta variety, Climate Central said. Those two plant species produce the majority of the global coffee supply.

For its analysis, Climate Central estimated how many days each year would have stayed below 30C in a world without carbon pollution but instead exceeded that level in reality -- revealing the number of hot days added by climate change.

The last three years have been the hottest on record, according to climate monitors.

Varieties

Dog Gives Olympics Organizers Paws for Thought

A dog wanders on the ski trail during the women's team cross country free sprint qualification event of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium in Lago di Tesero (Val di Fiemme), on February 18, 2026. (Photo by Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP)
A dog wanders on the ski trail during the women's team cross country free sprint qualification event of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium in Lago di Tesero (Val di Fiemme), on February 18, 2026. (Photo by Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP)
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Dog Gives Olympics Organizers Paws for Thought

A dog wanders on the ski trail during the women's team cross country free sprint qualification event of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium in Lago di Tesero (Val di Fiemme), on February 18, 2026. (Photo by Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP)
A dog wanders on the ski trail during the women's team cross country free sprint qualification event of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium in Lago di Tesero (Val di Fiemme), on February 18, 2026. (Photo by Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP)

A dog decided he would bid for an unlikely Olympic medal on Wednesday as he joined the women's cross country team free sprint in the Milan-Cortina Games.

The dog ran onto the piste in Tesero in northern Italy and gamely, even without skis, ran behind two of the competitors, Greece's Konstantina Charalampidou and Tena Hadzic of Croatia.

He crossed the finishing line, his moment of glory curtailed as he was collared by the organizers and led away -- his owner no doubt will have a bone to pick with him when they are reunited.

Varieties

Olives, Opera and a Climate-Neutral Goal: How a Mural in Greece Won ‘Best in the World’ 

A building with the mural entitled “Kalamata” depicting opera legend Maria Callas by artist Kleomenis Kostopoulos is seen in Kalamata town, about 240 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of Athens, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP) 
A building with the mural entitled “Kalamata” depicting opera legend Maria Callas by artist Kleomenis Kostopoulos is seen in Kalamata town, about 240 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of Athens, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP) 
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Olives, Opera and a Climate-Neutral Goal: How a Mural in Greece Won ‘Best in the World’ 

A building with the mural entitled “Kalamata” depicting opera legend Maria Callas by artist Kleomenis Kostopoulos is seen in Kalamata town, about 240 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of Athens, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP) 
A building with the mural entitled “Kalamata” depicting opera legend Maria Callas by artist Kleomenis Kostopoulos is seen in Kalamata town, about 240 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of Athens, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP) 

Long known for its olives and seaside charm, the southern Greek city of Kalamata has found itself in the spotlight thanks to a towering mural that reimagines legendary soprano Maria Callas as an allegory for the city itself.

The massive artwork on the side of a prominent building in the city center has been named 2025’s “Best Mural of the World” by Street Art Cities, a global platform celebrating street art.

Residents of Kalamata, approximately 240 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of Athens, cultivate the world-renowned olives, figs and grapes that feature prominently on the mural.

That was precisely the point.

Vassilis Papaefstathiou, deputy mayor of strategic planning and climate neutrality, explained Kalamata is one of the few Greek cities with the ambitious goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2030. He and other city leaders wanted a way to make abstract concepts, including sustainable development, agri-food initiatives, and local economic growth, more tangible for the city’s nearly 73,000 residents.

That’s how the idea of a massive mural in a public space was born.

“We wanted it to reflect a very clear and distinct message of what sustainable development means for a regional city such as Kalamata,” Papaefstathiou said. “We wanted to create an image that combines the humble products of the land, such as olives and olive oil — which, let’s be honest, are famous all over the world and have put Kalamata on the map — with the high-level art.”

“By bringing together what is very elevated with ... the humbleness of the land, our aim was to empower the people and, in doing so, strengthen their identity. We want them to be proud to be Kalamatians.”

Southern Greece has faced heatwaves, droughts and wildfires in recent years, all of which affect the olive groves on which the region’s economy is hugely dependent.

The image chosen to represent the city was Maria Callas, widely hailed as one of the greatest opera singers of the 20th century and revered in Greece as a national cultural symbol. She may have been born in New York to Greek immigrant parents, but her father came from a village south of Kalamata. For locals, she is one of their own.

This connection is also reflected in practice: the alumni association at Kalamata’s music school is named for Callas, and the cultural center houses an exhibition dedicated to her, which includes letters from her personal archive.

Artist Kleomenis Kostopoulos, 52, said the mural “is not actually called ‘Maria Callas,’ but ‘Kalamata’ and my attempt was to paint Kalamata (the city) allegorically.”

Rather than portraying a stylized image of the diva, Kostopoulos said he aimed for a more grounded and human depiction. He incorporated elements that connect the people to their land: tree branches — which he considers the above-ground extension of roots — birds native to the area, and the well-known agricultural products.

“The dress I create on Maria Callas in ‘Kalamata’ is essentially all of this, all of this bloom, all of this fruition,” he said. “The blessed land that Kalamata itself has ... is where all of these elements of nature come from.”

Creating the mural was no small feat. Kostopoulos said it took around two weeks of actual work spread over a month due to bad weather. He primarily used brushes but also incorporated spray paint and a cherry-picker to reach all edges of the massive wall.

Papaefstathiou, the deputy mayor, said the mural has become a focal point.

“We believe this mural has helped us significantly in many ways, including in strengthening the city’s promotion as a tourist destination,” he said.

Beyond tourism, the mural has sparked conversations about art in public spaces. More building owners in Kalamata have already expressed interest in hosting murals.

“All of us — residents, and I personally — feel immense pride,” said tourism educator Dimitra Kourmouli.

Kostopoulos said he hopes the award will have a wider impact on the art community and make public art more visible in Greece.

“We see that such modern interventions in public space bring tremendous cultural, social, educational and economic benefits to a place,” he said. “These are good springboards to start nice conversations that I hope someday will happen in our country, as well.”