The Main Orthodox ReligiousPilgrimage Centers of Іtaly

Abstract

The main Orthodox religious-pilgrimage centers of Italy are investigated. The concept of the religious-pilgrimage center is generalized. It is indicated that there are two main functional types of religiouspilgrimage tourism, such as pilgrimage tourism and religious tourism of excursion-cognitive orientation. The significance of religious pilgrimage tourism for the economic development of this state is analyzed. Fact that Italy occupies leading positions in Europe and the world in terms of development of the tourist industry and the number of annual tourists has been noted and grounded. The distribution of the main international religious-pilgrimage centers on the territory of the country is considered and the main shrines are described. Found that the important religious-pilgrimage regions of Italy are North and Central-West. The territorial differences in the location of sacral-pilgrimage centers in Italy are analyzed. The main religious-pilgrimage regions of the country and their key territorial-pilgrimage centers are highlighted. It is established that the modern Italian economy as one of the European state is one of the most developed in the EU, as well as the standard of living of the Italian population as a whole is relatively high not only in Europe but also in the world in particular, therefore, services for tourist services, including pilgrimage, in this country are fairly high. It is noted that religious-pilgrimage tourism in Italy has significant further prospects, through the modern structure of the economy, which allowed Italy to become one of the most developed states in the EU. The differences regarding provision of religious pilgrimage tours in Orthodoxy and Catholicism are revealed. It is noted that the main problems hindering the successful development of modern Italian religious-Orthodox tourism are the fragmentation and localization of the tourist business in the regions due to the lack of effective centralized coordination, the inability to develop new tourist offers, underdeveloped infrastructure, the lack of well-trained tourism staff and guides-translators, difficulties in attracting international investment, due to the lack of a well-established administrative system and excessive bureaucratization of the process. The main problems and the prospects for the development of religious-pilgrimage tourism in Italy are summarized.