Una lettura della marginalità attraverso lo spopolamento e l’abbandono nei piccoli comuni

The research is part of the studies on marginality which, in much of the geographical literature, link the conceptual paradigm to very specific territorial dimensions (mountain areas, inland areas, rural areas). The different approaches, however, consider depopulation as a common condition of fragility, cause, and effect of expressions of spatial marginalization. In this perspective, the demographic connotation of small municipalities is analyzed, in terms of consistency, distribution and structural to highlight the existence of a territorial pattern of dispersion, which is in fact not geographically dichotomous, but widely diffused and consistent throughout the country. On the one hand, the evident depopulation has led to extreme forms of abandonment, recognizable in the existence of numerous "ghost towns", fractions of territory now completely uninhabited. On the other hand, it has produced a constellation of ancient villages, in decay and at risk of abandonment, to which, however, some repopulation initiatives are starting to be initiated. The actions aimed at recovery and enhancement can be traced back to cases that escape an exhaustive survey as well as a planning that is not superordinate, top down, on a national level but entrusted to the action of local and regional actors even if the issue of repopulation of ancient villages is currently at the center of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, testifying to the relevance of the theme.