A reopened flight route, a surname spotted on the village bell tower, a recipe scribbled in pencil: sometimes that is all it takes to trigger a return ticket. This is what’s known as roots tourism, a phenomenon in which millions of people of Italian descent choose to set foot again in their grandparents’ hometowns.
People search parish registers, meet cousins they have never seen before, and taste the cooking they grew up hearing about. At the same time, direct connections to less-served Italian airports are increasing again, and there are more opportunities to stay in small villages, including the one-euro house schemes launched in several areas.
