Territori fragili tra spopolamento e sovraffollamento turistico. Il caso di Pyrgos a Santorini (Grecia)

The issue of overtourism takes on different connotations according to the tourist destination: from the famous "beloved to death" art cities, such as Venice, where the turnstiles have been installed to regulate the access to tourists; to the island lost in the ocean suddenly become famous thanks to social media - is the case of the island of Borocay (Philippines), banned from tourists in the last six months of 2018 to restore the ecosystem destroyed by wild concreting practises. Therefore, this kind of phenomenon must be managed from an adequate management of economic development, to avoid changes that can overturn the territorial structure and induce the loss of local identity. The paper illustrates a part of a research-project that investigates these issues with the aim of identifying an approach for managing the transformations related to the diffusion of mass tourism in historical settlements. In this framework, the historical settlement of Pyrgos Kallistis - a village in the island of Santorini - has been selected as case-study for its status, featuring at the same time abandonment and heavy seasonal touristic flow. The current challenge of Pyrgos is to take advantage of new economic opportunities offered by tourism, while preserving its historical identity. In this regard, the study aims at defining guidelines for conservation interventions of the historical built environment, in order to promote a proper and sustainable regeneration of the town. The focus is on the core of the so-called kastelli, of which the built heritage is very fragmented after various transformations due also to an earthquake (1956). The research project proposes a management of the transformations organized in different implementation phases. The objective is the regeneration of the historical site through restoration and reuse of built heritage making sure not to focus just on the seasonal tourism.