Exploring hinking experiences in Northern Italy: organization, socialization, and unstated rules

Abstract

Hiking is often studied for its physical and mental health benefits. Yet little research describes the actual practice of hiking itself as a social activity. Based on a qualitative approach, with in-depth interviews conducted with 7 subjects in Northern Italy during 2019-2020, this study aims to explore how hiking is performed, in terms of its organizational and social dynamics, as well as the shared visions around this practice. The result shows that hiking has specific ways of being performed materially and socially, and that these ways of performing hiking are maintained and reproduced through subjective norms about how hiking should be performed.