Territories at risk of abandonment in Italy and hypothesis of repopulation

The research is framed within the framework of studies on marginality which, in most of the Italian geographical literature, link the conceptual paradigm to much 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. With respect to this perspective, the demographic connotation of small municipalities is analyzed in terms of consistency, distribution and structure, in order to highlight the existence of a territorial pattern of dispersion, which is not geographically dichotomous, but widely spread and consistent throughout the country. Extreme forms of depopulation have also led to cases of abandonment, recognisable in the existence of numerous ’ghost towns’, fractions of territory that are now completely uninhabited; on the other hand, it has produced a constellation of ancient villages, in decay and at risk of abandonment, with respect to which, however, some repopulation hypotheses are beginning to be launched. Actions aimed at recovering and enhancing with the purpose of a new residentiality can be traced back to cases that escape an exhaustive recognition as well as to a superordinate, top-down planning, at a national level, but are 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. With respect to this scenario, revitalization hypotheses by local communities seem to be more effective, by regaining awareness of their own and non-reproducible territorial values and following an action in favour of a ’consciousness of place’ in relation to contemporaneity.