Keywords

• This article presents the concept of an â€
• œ
• imaginaire dialecticâ€
• 
• â€
• “
• a complex process of imagining and re-imagining places â€
• “
• by analysing how the Italian villages of Pietrelcina and San Giovanni Rotondo affect and are affected by tourist imaginaries
• both materially and immaterially. The birthplace of the popular 20th century stigmatic saint
• Padre Pio
• Pietrelcina was â€
• œ
• discoveredâ€
• 
• by tourists amid Pioâ€
• ™
• s canonisation fervor
• and has now been rebuilt to conform to imaginaries of a â€
• œ
• traditionalâ€
• 
• 19th century hill-town that served as a formative environment for the saint. But if Pietrelcina embraced some imaginaries
• it also reacted against others. Arguing that the iconography promulgated by Pioâ€
• ™
• s shrine in San Giovanni Rotondo marginalises Pietrelcina
• locals in the village respond with alternative re-presentations
• such as biographies and images of Pioâ€
• ™
• s childhood. Contending that all groups involved produce and consume tourist imaginaries
• this article reveals the productivity of examining the imaginaire dialectic when researching meaning-making mechanisms at tourist sites