Prohibitions, Pleasures, and Disasters: Entering the Online “Red zone” as an Experience of Digital Dark Tourism in Time of COVID-19

On February 2020, the Sars-Cov-2 reached Europe striking in Northern Italy. On February 21st, the police began to set manned checkpoints around quarantined towns: Codogno, Vo’Euganeo, and other 9 municipalities near Lodi district borders were renamed as “zone rosse” (red zones), and heavy mobility...

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Main Authors: Felice Addeo, Gabriella Punziano, Giuseppe Michele Padricelli
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Salerno 2021-10-01
Series:Culture e Studi del Sociale
Online Access:https://www.cussoc.it/journal/article/view/177
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author Felice Addeo
Gabriella Punziano
Giuseppe Michele Padricelli
author_facet Felice Addeo
Gabriella Punziano
Giuseppe Michele Padricelli
author_sort Felice Addeo
collection DOAJ
description On February 2020, the Sars-Cov-2 reached Europe striking in Northern Italy. On February 21st, the police began to set manned checkpoints around quarantined towns: Codogno, Vo’Euganeo, and other 9 municipalities near Lodi district borders were renamed as “zone rosse” (red zones), and heavy mobility restrictions were applied”. The situation consequently has shaped the social media discourse: Facebook groups originally describing the peaceful daily life of the red zone became privileged arenas to understand the lockdown experience. This paper aims at understanding if dark tourism activities, defined as tripping to «places that either witnessed or represent death, destruction, suffering, or calamity (McDaniel, K., 2018, p.2), took place on the Facebook pages of the red zone cities, by analyzing the online behaviors and the interactions of out-of-towner people who joined these groups at the beginning of the lockdown period. Research design adopts a Digital Ethnography approach usingunobtrusive techniques to test the paradigmatic application of digital methods. The results of our research aim to recreate the history of the action practiced through the Social Networks and will shed light on the culture and social implications of behaving and interacting online during an unforeseen event, like the COVD-19 pandemic.
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spelling doaj-art-86dfb4563e024aff932192fb6b38b99b2025-08-20T02:49:43ZengUniversity of SalernoCulture e Studi del Sociale2531-39752021-10-0161, SpecialProhibitions, Pleasures, and Disasters: Entering the Online “Red zone” as an Experience of Digital Dark Tourism in Time of COVID-19Felice Addeo0Gabriella Punziano1Giuseppe Michele Padricelli2University of Salerno, ItalyUniversity of Naples Federico II, ItalyUniversity of Naples Federico II, Italy On February 2020, the Sars-Cov-2 reached Europe striking in Northern Italy. On February 21st, the police began to set manned checkpoints around quarantined towns: Codogno, Vo’Euganeo, and other 9 municipalities near Lodi district borders were renamed as “zone rosse” (red zones), and heavy mobility restrictions were applied”. The situation consequently has shaped the social media discourse: Facebook groups originally describing the peaceful daily life of the red zone became privileged arenas to understand the lockdown experience. This paper aims at understanding if dark tourism activities, defined as tripping to «places that either witnessed or represent death, destruction, suffering, or calamity (McDaniel, K., 2018, p.2), took place on the Facebook pages of the red zone cities, by analyzing the online behaviors and the interactions of out-of-towner people who joined these groups at the beginning of the lockdown period. Research design adopts a Digital Ethnography approach usingunobtrusive techniques to test the paradigmatic application of digital methods. The results of our research aim to recreate the history of the action practiced through the Social Networks and will shed light on the culture and social implications of behaving and interacting online during an unforeseen event, like the COVD-19 pandemic. https://www.cussoc.it/journal/article/view/177
spellingShingle Felice Addeo
Gabriella Punziano
Giuseppe Michele Padricelli
Prohibitions, Pleasures, and Disasters: Entering the Online “Red zone” as an Experience of Digital Dark Tourism in Time of COVID-19
Culture e Studi del Sociale
title Prohibitions, Pleasures, and Disasters: Entering the Online “Red zone” as an Experience of Digital Dark Tourism in Time of COVID-19
title_full Prohibitions, Pleasures, and Disasters: Entering the Online “Red zone” as an Experience of Digital Dark Tourism in Time of COVID-19
title_fullStr Prohibitions, Pleasures, and Disasters: Entering the Online “Red zone” as an Experience of Digital Dark Tourism in Time of COVID-19
title_full_unstemmed Prohibitions, Pleasures, and Disasters: Entering the Online “Red zone” as an Experience of Digital Dark Tourism in Time of COVID-19
title_short Prohibitions, Pleasures, and Disasters: Entering the Online “Red zone” as an Experience of Digital Dark Tourism in Time of COVID-19
title_sort prohibitions pleasures and disasters entering the online red zone as an experience of digital dark tourism in time of covid 19
url https://www.cussoc.it/journal/article/view/177
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AT gabriellapunziano prohibitionspleasuresanddisastersenteringtheonlineredzoneasanexperienceofdigitaldarktourismintimeofcovid19
AT giuseppemichelepadricelli prohibitionspleasuresanddisastersenteringtheonlineredzoneasanexperienceofdigitaldarktourismintimeofcovid19