Turismo sociale: identità collettiva e processi psicosociali nelle colonie e nei villaggi del lavoro tra XX e XXI secolo

The article analyzes social tourism as a means of constructing collective identity and as a privileged space for activating psychosocial processes, tracing its evolution between the 20th and 21st centuries. Starting with the fascist colonies, understood as symbolic and normative environments with a high ideological intensity, the contribution examines the role of these structures in forced socialization, in the discipline of bodies, and in the production of a collective memory, including through the analysis of the cine-information of the Istituto Luce. After World War II, attention shifted to the forms of corporate welfare promoted by large companies and trade unions, which reinterpreted colonies and tourist villages as instruments of well-being, cohesion, and belonging, in a mitigated and community-oriented paternalistic framework. The work also considers contemporary cases of territorial patronage and the conversion of industrial and social heritage into tourism and culture, focusing on the dynamics of memory, identity, and well-being that characterize post-industrial heritage sites. Through an interdisciplinary perspective that integrates tourism psychology, social history, and spatial studies, the article highlights the continuity and discontinuity between social tourism and industrial tourism, highlighting opportunities and critical issues related to the processes of enhancement, regeneration, and commodification of collective memory.