Humans of Cinque Terre: 50 portraits and stories combat overtourism

Filippo Lubrano and photographer Andrea Luporini launched 'Humans of Cinque Terre' in 2019, a book collecting 50 portraits and oral histories of locals from the five villages: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso. The project, in collaboration with cultural association Mitilanti, aims to counter overtourism that brought over 3 million visitors annually before the pandemic, mostly Americans, Germans, and Swiss. The book presents unposed, unretouched photographs and verbatim dialogue excerpts, offering an authentic glimpse into the lives of farmers, fishermen, restaurateurs, and builders. Published in Italian and English, it seeks to reveal a territory 'geographically known but anthropologically ignored.' The pandemic temporarily halted tourist flows but reinforced the need to document the region's human stories.