As I do my research for Ciao Paulo and learn about Santa Croce, the neighborhood that we saw him in, I think about the letterpress studio, and about people in Italy taking care of their own, their reverence for their cultural history, and for places so improbable they could never exist again. And how they’re dying because people are leaving them. Everything is made for tourists. There are no markets left for the people who live there, and generational Venetians can’t even afford to live there. But there are people who still deeply care, and care for it.

So what can be done?

I’m beginning to believe the act of articulating what you respect and revere about a place makes you aware of its value. But conservation is collective. When you tell compelling stories about a place, you encourage interest in it, and people can decide that it’s of enough cultural significance that it’s worth keeping; worth collectively taking care of so it can continue to exist.

But therein lies the tension. With the way the internet and virality work, too much popularity will ruin a place. As someone who values and reveres these places and wants to visit them, I wonder what makes me a good “tourist”, and not a bad one. Is it about what we give to the local economy? Is it about incentives and subsidies to encourage the locals to live there? Is it the inevitable gentrification of these places? How do you keep them alive? And whose responsibility is that? How do you get people to revere and respect them, and appreciate them in a way that is not extractive or treats them like a living museum? And how do you not ruin a place with tourism?