Italy has built up a set of legal mechanisms over decades to prevent its historic centers from becoming tourist destinations devoid of local identity. The process was neither quick nor linear, but today it serves as a reference for countries that arrive at the same problem years later.
The starting point is a diagnosis shared by cities like Rome, Florença And Venice: when traditional workshops, historic cafes, independent bookstores, and cultural associations give way to standardized chains and souvenir shops, the historic center remains physically intact, but loses what made it relevant. Tourism consumes exactly what it destroys.
What Rome did
Roma has held the title since 1997. Albo delle Botteghe Storiche, Official registry of establishments whose historical commercial vocation must be preserved. In 2022, the Lazio region It formalized the protection through Regional Law No. 1, creating a unified system for the recognition of botteghe storiche throughout the regional territory.
According to an official document from the city hall, the active registry includes 204 recognized historical businesses, distributed among artisan workshops, commercial establishments, and food and beverage establishments. Most are concentrated in the historical center, which the administration itself acknowledges as a problem to be solved.
“Rome is a very large city, it has 15 districts, but almost all of these historic businesses and shops are in the historic center,” stated Monica Lucarelli, trade advisor for the Rome city government. “We need to seek out the historic shops in the peripheral areas.”
Lucarelli also identified two vectors of pressure on historic Roman commerce besides real estate speculation: mass tourism and e-commerce. “In 2022, Rome received more than 15 million tourists, with a strong impact on hospitality and tourism activities, but not so strong on commerce,” she said. Regarding e-commerce, she was direct: “We need to work to manage the competition from e-commerce, which is generally positive, but in relation to historic businesses it can become unfair, with very different taxation logics.”
The central problem, however, persists: historic businesses are being gradually suffocated by competition from large chains and low-cost establishments that increasingly occupy the historic center. Symbolic recognition is not enough. Without effective contractual and urban planning protection, the commemorative plaque remains while the business closes.
What Florence decided
The Florentine response was more direct and more recent. In November 2024, the Florence City Council approved the "Measures to protect commercial characteristics within and outside the UNESCO area," covering 42 streets and squares in the city.
The plan reserves 19 streets in the historic center exclusively for prestigious businesses, such as bookstores, art galleries, antique shops, design, and traditional crafts. On another 21 streets, the opening of new restaurants and food businesses is prohibited, in order to preserve historic and local establishments and avoid competition from chains primarily catering to tourists.
This measure became possible with Law 214 of 2023, which modified the criteria for granting commercial licenses in public spaces and expanded the powers of municipalities for this type of limitation.
The contradiction that Florence tried to resolve through legislation is known in every city that depends on tourism: the more the historic center specializes in serving visitors, the less it is the authentic place that visitors were looking for.
A model that other countries are already observing.
The Italian experience was not limited to Italy. In 2015, Lisbon created the "Shops with History" program, a pioneering initiative in Portugal, and inspired similar initiatives in other Portuguese cities, such as... Traditional Port and equivalent programs in Funchal and Braga.
More recently, Cascais It has begun drafting the "Cascais with History" regulation, aimed at inventorying and recognizing establishments and entities of local historical, cultural, or social interest, including shops, restaurants, bars, and sports and cultural associations.
The lesson Italy learned earlier, and that Portugal is beginning to assimilate, is that symbolic recognition is rarely enough. Florence not only rewarded its workshopsIt restricted what could replace them. The difference between the two approaches is precisely what defines whether a historical center survives as a living space or becomes a product.
Preserved facades don't keep neighborhoods alive. A city continues to exist socially when it preserves its everyday connections: family-run bakeries, independent bookstores, cultural associations, and artisan workshops.
When that disappears, the historic center remains standing. But it is no longer a city.
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