Culture driving Italy's tourism boom, new report says

 

Cultural experiences remain a major driver of tourism to Italy, but the country’s visitor economy is increasingly concentrated in a limited number of destinations, a new report reveals. 

The annual Federculture Report, Cultural Enterprise – The Culture that Changes Territories was presented at Italy’s Ministry of Culture in Rome earlier this month and highlights the growing importance of cultural tourism while warning that its economic and social benefits are unevenly distributed across the country.

Italy recorded 476.4 million overnight visitor stays in 2025, up 2.2% from 2024 and 9.8% above pre-Covid pandemic 2019 levels. 

But almost two-thirds of those stays were concentrated in just 1,024 municipalities (equivalent to only 13% of Italy’s municipalities) identified as destinations with strong cultural and scenic assets.

These cultural destinations accounted for 63% of all overnight stays, reinforcing the central role that museums, historic cities, UNESCO World Heritage sites and cultural landscapes continue to play in attracting visitors, news hub Travel Mole reported.

Foreign visitors now represent more than 55% of tourism in Italy’s cultural territories, rising to 58% in municipalities with a strong cultural vocation and 73% in the country’s major art cities.

The report also highlighted growing public participation in cultural activities. In 2025, 48.2% of Italians went to the cinema, while 35.8% visited museums and exhibitions, up from 33.6% a year earlier. Theatre attendance reached 24.3% of the population.

“The growth in audiences confirms that demand for culture in Italy is strong,” said Andrea Cancellato, president of Federculture. 

He called for more stable support for the sector, including strengthening initiatives such as the Art Bonus and the Culture Fund, to reduce regional inequalities and help cultural organizations meet growing demand.

Image: Pisa

Tribute to Springsteen: New edifice is born to run

Fans of Bruce Springsteen will want to note that the new Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music at Monmouth University opens next month.

The Springsteen Center will be officially inaugurated on June 13 on the college campus in New Jersey. 

The 30,000-square-foot structure is largely inspired by Springsteen's music and includes a 240-seat theatre for intimate performances.

The Center promises to "preserve the legacy of Bruce Springsteen and celebrates the history of American music and its diversity of artists and genres". 

As the home of the Bruce Springsteen Archives, the Center serves as the official repository for materials related to Springsteen and the E Street Band, including photographs, historic memorabilia, and oral histories. 

The Center also explores American music more broadly by producing exhibitions, concerts, and educational programming that interprets and honours the cultural impact of American music past, present, and future.

The collection consists of thousands of rare photographs, documents, recordings, artefacts, and more related primarily to Springsteen and The E Street Band.

It stands just a short walk from the New Jersey shore where Springsteen wrote Born to Run.

Robert Santelli, the centre’s founding executive director, said the building places Springsteen within the wider story of American music rather than treating him in isolation. 

Recalling the moment he first put the proposal to the musician, Santelli said Springsteen told him he would prefer to be seen as a chapter in that ongoing story.

See https://springsteencenter.org/

25Hours to revitalise a Sydney landmark location

One of Sydney's most famous addresses is to be re-born as a hip hotel later this month.

25hours Hotel The Olympia in Paddington will open its doors in Sydney on September 25.

The new 109-guest rooms venue is located on the heritage-listed site of the former West Olympia Theatre and the Grand Pacific Blue Room.

Pre-opening publicity says the hotel will be "deeply rooted in Sydney’s creative past and pays tribute to these iconic establishments that once shaped the city’s art and social scene".

The Olympia Theatre on Oxford Street has a creative history stretching back to 1911 and the new hotel will showcase an offspring of the famous The Palomar restaurant in London's Soho.

Cocktail and wine bar The Mulwray, coffee shop Jacob the Angel and and Monica Rooftop Bar (above) will also share the venue.

The name ‘25hours Hotel’ embodies the idea that 24hours simply aren’t enough. The brand specialises in trendy locations, so will be hoping to revive the once-hip Paddington strip.

The first 25hours Hotel opened in Hamburg in 2003 in a former factory building, part of the company ethos of breathing life back into historic landmarks and respecting the culture and heritage of the communities in which they are located.

In Sydney's case the former theatre was renovated and reinvented multiple times, screening everything from cult films to arthouse productions.

In the 1990s, the building reinvented itself as the Grand Pacific Blue Room, one of Sydney’s most fashionable nightclubs.

Each 25hours Hotel comes with its own hotel mascot - and the chosen creatures for 25hours Hotel The Olympia are a rainbow lorikeet and a frill-neck lizard.

25hours Hotel The Olympia will have six hire bikes available for guests to explore the neighbourhood of boutiques, galleries and restaurants.

See https://25hours-hotels.com/sydney/the-olympia/