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The city of Rosario in Argentina was until recently known more for drug violence than for tourism. City leaders are trying to change that image with help from the city's most famous son, Lionel Messi. Manuel Rueda has this story.
MANUEL RUEDA: Lionel Messi's humble childhood home has become somewhat of a pilgrimage site for soccer fans. Its metal fence is covered with flags that have been left behind by visitors from all over the world.
NATHAN SHANELY: Messi is probably my favorite player ever. He's certainly, in my opinion, the greatest ever.
RUEDA: Nathan Shanely, a traveler from Michigan, stopped by to take some photos and get a feel for where it all started for the world's most famous soccer player.
SHANELY: I think it's a very cool stop to get to come and see his beginnings, his origin.
RUEDA: Many of the flags have messages on them. People thank Messi for helping them to fall in love with soccer or showing them that dreams are possible with hard work and humility.
SHANELY: To see the hope and the joy that one man has been able to bring through the game when you read these flags, I just think it's beautiful. I think it's absolutely beautiful.
RUEDA: Just a few years ago, Rosario was making headlines for something very different - for being a rough city plagued by drug violence. Rosario faces the Parana River, one of the longest in South America, and it's long been an important port for beef and soy exports. But Rosario's location along a big shipping route has also made this a coveted spot for drug traffickers. Three years ago, a war broke out between rival gangs. They shot and kidnapped civilians as they tried to assert territorial control.
BRUNO REARTE: (Speaking Spanish).
RUEDA: "We had journalists from Buenos Aires doing live shots from the city center wearing bulletproof vests," says Bruno Rearte, the head of the local tourism promotion agency. "It was quite a blow for us." Since then, the city has lowered the crime rate by making prisons more secure, cutting off communication between jailed Mafia bosses and their underlings. Argentina's government has also sent hundreds of federal police to Rosario. You can still come across their foot patrols as you walk through the center of town.
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RUEDA: As the city cracks down on crime, it's also trying to reinvent itself as a tourist destination. And at the center of that effort is Lionel Messi, who lived in Rosario until he was 13. All around the city, there are colorful murals of Argentina's captain and signs next to places that were important to his childhood, like his elementary school or his first soccer club, where you can still see kids practicing in the evenings.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Spanish).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking Spanish).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Speaking Spanish).
RUEDA: Alejandro Di Ponti, a tour guide in Rosario, says that Messi has helped to put the city on the map.
ALEJANDRO DI PONTI: (Speaking Spanish).
RUEDA: "In the past, many people who visited Argentina would skip Rosario. But now they might come on day trips from Buenos Aires or stay for a couple of nights," Di Ponti says. As more people stop in Rosario, there are other attractions the city wants to highlight.
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RUEDA: Like an annual rock festival held in October, or a waterfront where old warehouses have been turned into art galleries. This is a walkable city that is dotted with cozy cafes and pedestrian boulevards lined with late 19th century buildings.
REARTE: (Speaking Spanish).
RUEDA: "We are small," says Rearte, the tourism promoter. "But we can also offer everything the big city has to offer." But rebuilding Rosario's image won't happen overnight.
FLOR WOLF: (Speaking Spanish).
RUEDA: "It's taken some time for people to trust in our city again, says Flor Wolf, the owner of a hostel in the city center. She hopes visitors will come to see a different side of Rosario - its character and the places that shaped Lionel Messi.
WOLF: (Speaking Spanish).
RUEDA: "You're going to feel happy here," she says. "Even Messi spends his vacations in this town." For NPR News, I'm Manuel Rueda in Rosario, Argentina. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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