Drawing on the existing investigations on the relationship between tourism and artistic expressions such as literature and cinema, the ‘verticality’ of a place indicates the capacity to cross that specific space by contemplating the historical, cultural and, above all, narrative or “mimetic” stratifications that have settled there over time (Capecchi 2021: 10). In the first place, a “vertical” approach, i.e. one delving into and deciphering the signs in space, characterizes the gaze of the “traveller”, who goes beyond the horizontality which is typical, instead, of the attitude of the “tourist”: the latter is generally more attracted by the surface of the city or the landscape in front of his or her eyes, as it is often provided by pre-established reading keys – guidebooks, road signs, etc. – while often not being clear enough to understand the place.