Memories of a Submerged Town

The identity of a town is its memories.

Vernazza, a small town in the Cinque Terre, is flooded by mass tourism every summer, making life difficult for the locals. The only way to preserve the village’s identity is through its memories, told by some of its oldest inhabitants. These memories are not necessarily positive, they recount a reality, the Second World War, which is rarely associated with such popular destinations, yet still deserves to be remembered. Although tourism is erasing the traces of Vernazza’s past, it remains the foundation of the locals’ economic survival, a compromise they have chosen to live with.