Tourism and Artisanry in Italian Colonial Libya in the 1930s

This paper will examine the overlapping histories that saw the construction of an extensive network of modern tourist environments in Libya and the creation of a vital artisanal industry—both of which were in support of the colonial economy. In the first case, it will closely examine the work of Italian architect Florestano di Fausto, who collaborated with interior designer Stefano Gatti Casazza and Sardinian artist Melkiorre Melis in the creation of a number of carefully staged tourist settings. The projects examined will include the Arab Café at the Suq al-Mushir and the Uaddan Hotel and Casino, both in Tripoli, from 1935. In the second, it will examine the dual nature of the artisanal industries in Libya, which were approached differently for Italian and Libyan workers. While for the Italians it offered a freedom of exploration of regional tastes, for the Libyans it bound them to a timeless and unchanging interpretation of their past. Notably, in 1934 Melis was hired by Governor Italo Balbo to direct the School of Muslim Arts and Crafts in Tripoli, where he opened a section dedicated to ceramics that drew upon the artisanry of the local community—and whose work was directly applied to the new tourist facilities. Among the conflicts that will be examined, of particular importance will be the labor-intensive nature of the Libyan artisanal industries that were understood to be both primitive and feminized—as an affirmation of traditional gender roles in Muslim Society that served the purpose of the colonial authorities.