‘When in Rome…?’: Literary Tourism in Rome from a South African Perspective

Abstract

The post-NRF phase of KZN Literary Tourism in South Africa has seen the development of a number of literary trails throughout the province, funded by area-based municipalities and the National Arts Council of the country. Those supported by the local municipalities also include a community guide training component which strengthens considerably the community outreach component of the project. To date seven literary tra ils have been compiled and printed: two on stand-alone authors who are both linked to exiting tourist sites in KZN, with the rest being smaller area-based (writer) trails. A literary trail in essence, 'links' sites together and is inevitably a construct: in effect, a strung together narrative linking places sequentially in an environment which may in fact have had a far less seamless coexistence with the writer. This paper moves from a discussion of literary tourism, to the concept of literary tourism sites and projects in the KZN province in South Africa, to a discussion of the literary trail in Rome, Italy. It does this however, by presenting an insider view on 'experiencing of the trail' by a South African tourist.