Italy's Senate changes 1930s law which only allows locally-accredited guides to show tourists La Dolce Vita.
If you've ever been on a guided holiday around Italy, you may have wondered why you seem to have two tour guides; your customary expert, who speaks passionately about history, art, architecture and La Dolce Vita, plus another who seems to say or do very little. Or vice versa...
This strange situation is due to an arcane Italian law that dates from the 1930s, and only allows locally-accredited guides to address tourists at over 2,500 historic sites around the country. According to the European Tour Operators Association (ETOA), this restrictive law has often meant that, "teachers, university lecturers, ministers and guides from outside Italy were effectively gagged." Indeed, any non-Italian tour leader who guided their party around the sights of Italy, without a locally-accredited guide, risked arrest and an on-the-spot fine. Hence the strange experience of a local guide unexpectedly supplanting your regular tour leader, causing a divergence from their carefully-planned series of commentaries. Or alternatively, the appearance of a local guide acting as a 'silent escort', effectively being paid to do and say nothing!
Thankfully, this touristic nightmare has now been ended by the Italian Senate who, on March 30th, voted to change the arcane law, allowing overseas tour guides with professional qualifications (such as a degree in art or history) who can speak Italian, and those who are already accredited by their home country or ETOA, to lead their own party around the country.
"This is tremendous news for the tourism industry," commented ETOA's Tom Jenkins to the Travel Industry Review, "We have campaigned against restrictive practices in Italy ever since the Association was established 18 years ago. It now looks as though clients will be free to listen to whomever they want. While this does not mean the immediate end of restrictive guiding monopolies, because that will require the passage of local laws in Italy's 20 regions, it does mark the beginning of the end. [We will] continue to issue certificates to bona fide tour guides and tour managers so they can convince the Italian authorities they are suitably qualified, should it be necessary."