My recent research examines the social, cultural, and affective consequences of overtourism and touristification, with a particular focus on how these processes reshape social cohesion, belonging, and people’s relationships with place.
Building on my longstanding work on migration, mobilities, social cohesion, and participatory research, I am increasingly interested in the ways tourism reorganises everyday life, producing both opportunities for resistance and forms of intangible social, cultural and psychological loss that often remain difficult to express and convey through conventional research methods.
Since 2023 I have collaborated with local associations in Venice and the Cinque Terre to develop participatory documentary films that explore how local communities experience and respond to touristification. These projects investigate forms of intangible harm, including the erosion of place attachment, social cohesion, and collective memory, while documenting grassroots practices of care, resistance, and commoning.
I approach co-creative filmmaking as a form of participatory action research in which audiovisual practice is not simply a means of representing research findings but also a collaborative process of knowledge production. The films seek to create spaces in which communities can elaborate and disseminate alternative understandings of place and imagine futures beyond dominant tourism imaginaries. In this sense, they also explore the potential of participatory filmmaking as a form of grassroots counter-branding, capable of challenging extractive representations of destinations while contributing to more situated, democratic, and collectively authored narratives.
Current projects include Vie di Fuga (Venice) and Sciacchetrail (Cinque Terre), both currently in post-production.
Vie di Fuga (Venice)
Vie di Fuga (Escape Routes) follows Fie a Manetta, a women-led boating collective in contemporary Venice who reclaim the city’s canals as spaces of freedom, solidarity, and escape from the pressures of touristification. Developed through a collaborative filmmaking process, the participants shape both the narrative and the visual language of the film, foregrounding everyday practices of care, resistance, and spatial justice while offering an alternative perspective on one of the world’s most visited cities.
Sciacchetrail (Cinque Terre)
Sciacchetrail explores how a trail-running event in the Cinque Terre has become a vehicle for protecting local landscapes, agricultural heritage, and collective identity in the face of increasing touristification. Combining participant-generated footage with collaborative documentary methods, the film reflects on place attachment, environmental stewardship, and the possibilities of community-led resistance to the commodification of place.
Research Themes
- Touristification and overtourism
- Tourism, migration, and mobility
- Social cohesion, belonging, and place attachment
- Solastalgia and environmental loss
- Community responses to touristification
- Participatory and collaborative filmmaking
- Visual and sensory ethnography
Please get in touch if you are interested in collaborating or if you would like to discuss doctoral research under my supervision in any of these areas.
Nicola Mai 