‘When in Rome…?’: Literary tourism in Rome from a South African perspective.

Abstract

The post-NRF phase of KZN Literary Tourism in South Africa has seen the development of a number

of literary trails throughout the province, funded by area-based municipalities and the National Arts Council of the

country. Those supported by the local municipalities also include a community guide training component which

strengthens considerably the community outreach component of the project. To date seven literary trails have

been compiled and printed: two on stand-alone authors who are both linked to exiting tourist sites in KZN, with the

rest being smaller area-based (writer) trails. A literary trail in essence, ‘links’ sites together and is inevitably a

construct: in effect, a strung together narrative linking places sequentially in an environment which may in fact

have had a far less seamless coexistence with the writer. This paper moves from a discussion of literary tourism, to

the concept of literary tourism sites and projects in the KZN province in South Africa, to a discussion of the

literary trail in Rome, Italy. It does this however, by presenting an insider view on ‘experiencing of the trail’ by a

South African tourist.