“La terra dove fioriscono i limoni”. La Sicilia dei viaggiatori, globetrotter e instagrammer russi

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to make a comparative analysis between the grand tour of Sicily undertaken by Russians in the past and the traveling to the Italian island and its exploring by Russian tourists nowadays. The study will be based on several types of supporting evidence: 1) some works of nineteenth-century odeporics (Norov 1822; Čertkov 1835-1836) and of the early twentieth century (Puare 1910); 2) a selection of Russian television programmes devoted to travels around the world by presenters M. Kožuchov (V pojskach priključenij, 2005), D. Krylov (Neputëvye zametki, 2006-2008), N. Tabašnikov (Maksimal’noe približenie, 2010), I. Urgant and V. Pozner (Ich Italija, 2012); 3) and finally examples from new media and social networks such as YouTube and Instagram (the profiles of I. Jankovskij or T. Navka). An essential overview of motifs (the classical heritage, festivities, the behavior of the Sicilians, the Mafia) will show that, despite technological progress and different ways of sharing travel experiences, the image of the island does not seem to have changed or, rather, that the receptive variations correspond to archetypes already developed in the past and the (few) novelties are incorporated into a consolidated paradigm in accordance with stereotypes and previous modules.