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FrancoAngeli Journals

Papers

No. 4 (2022)

History (still) to eat. The impact of the pandemic on the catering sector in the historical centre of Florence

  • Mirella Loda
  • Matteo Puttilli
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3280/rgioa4-2022oa14992
Submitted
novembre 22, 2022
Published
2022-12-20

Abstract

Especially in the historic centres of the most touristicized cities, catering activities have been one of the most impacted sectors by the containment measures of the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in the interruption of an expanding process that in previous works has been defined as foodification. This concept was intended to express a broader functional transformation of the central areas into places increasingly dedicated to leisure activities and temporary experiences, and where the reference target was largely embodied by occasional visitors and frequenters. Starting from the analysis of data collected over a period of almost twenty years and further updated in the last two, the contribution analyzes the impact of the pandemic on the catering sector in the historic centre of Florence and questions possible post-pandemic scenarios. The results, which show the overall resilience of the sector, reveal the physiological and irreversible nature of the transformations underway in historic centres; nevertheless, some solutions aimed at containing the most disruptive effects of such transformations are also suggested.

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