In Great Yarmouth there are some signs of regeneration: the vast glass palace of the Winter Gardens is being refurbished and the ornate Cafe 1903 next to the historic Hippodrome is busy. But the bustling tourist industry of the Edwardian era is long gone. “When Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show came in 1903, the tent held 5,000,” says local historian Roger Silver. “A couple of years earlier the Bass Brewery brought 10,000 workers on a day trip from Burton upon Trent. It took 16 trains.”
Coincidentally, that is the same number of visitors who poured into the Italian mountain village of Roccaraso (population 1,500) in January, drawn by the presence of Tik Tok influencer Rita de Crescenzo. But the similarities end there. The Yarmouth invasion received no complaints, while the residents of Roccaraso reacted with horror. The mayor, Francesco Di Donato, threatened to call in the army.
