So, in a town beleaguered by hordes of tourists showing up from cruise ships to admire and destroy the authentic beauty of its streets, naturally the locals want to make money from the intrusion. And as always happens, those selling authentic artisanal products are quickly joined by others, who sell industrially produced rubbishy stuff to meet the surging demand. This is the absolutely normal situation in a million tourist venues.
But the people selling the stuff are women. What's more, they are women who aren't young!!!
So, of course, the story is no longer about over-tourism and trading standards, it is about "pasta grannies" endearingly fierce but also endearingly innocent, inexplicably caught up in a battle with the authorities. Not small business people with an eye on the main chance.
Imagine if it had been youngish men trading in this way. It would be regarded as just another example of the cynicism and crapification that is endemic in tourism-generated local economies. And the men would have been regarded as hard-nosed and rational.
But no. Dear grannies! lovely people! Awwww! Sweet!
Because older women aren't quite people are they? More like lovable golden retrievers.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/27/barricades-in-bari-pasta-grannies-under-scrutiny-italy