La tipicità “esposta”. Cibi e nomi nei siti web dei comuni della Sicilia centro-occidentale

Abstract

More and more frequently, Italian municipalities, including those in Sicily, are intent on building an 'identity' profile through initiatives of various kinds. These include the use of displaying (mainly for tourism purposes) their landscape, architectural, historical and cultural assets in general on their websites. In these telematic showcases a more or less ample space is sometimes dedicated to food 'typicality', pursuing - consciously or unconsciously - the more general strategies of 'marketing nostalgia'. My aim in this essay is simply to make a reconnaissance and an initial summary examination of the gastronomic categories and specific dishes that are more or less frequently perceived as characteristic (or typical) and of the linguistic choices adopted to 'expose' them in the telematic network. Beyond the results that emerged on this occasion, a survey of this kind would, in my opinion, acquire greater interest in the perspective of a periodic monitoring of the same websites considered here. It would be even more significant, in fact, to be able to assess the data in their temporal variation, in order to identify trends relating to the construction of 'identity' sub specie alimentare, both in terms of content and forms, and among these, obviously, those of a linguistic nature.