The great beauty of Italy's cultural heritage is once again winning over foreign and domestic visitors. And art cities are bidding for the leading role in the summer: between June and August, 27.4 million presences are expected, more than 5.5 million more than in 2021 (+24.6 percent).

This boom is mainly due to the return of tourists from abroad: foreign tourist presences are expected to be over 17.5 million, 34 percent more than last summer. This summer, cultural tourism will grow by +24.6 percent over the previous year, the largest increase among all segments of tourism offerings and the overall industry average (+14.3 percent).

Although still not enough to fully recover the levels of 2019, when there were 44 million visitors to art cities, the increase nevertheless confirms the newfound vitality of cultural tourism, which already recorded a total of 30.3 million overnight stays in the first 5 months of 2022.