Sustainable Tourism Law in Italy? Yet to come

The paper addresses the issue of the relationship between sustainable tourism and law. After defining the concept of sustainable tourism and outlining its principles of international law (mainly soft law) and the relevant European policies, the examination focuses on the Italian context. Apart from a few significant interventions, episodic and disconnected from each other, the analysis highlights not only the lack of a systematic regulatory framework, but also the poor ability of public decision-makers to overcome the rhetoric of sustainability, to truly implement the principles of sustainable tourism with the tools of law. This leads to the conclusion that Italian tourism law cannot yet be regarded as ‘sustainable’.