January 20, 2024

Italian “internal areas” cover 60% of the country’s total surface area. They include 52% of the municipalities and 22% of the population. These are fragile territories, far from essential service centers, often abandoned to themselves, and whose main need is to combat depopulation and develop conditions for revival. Many migrants have left these areas, and many Italian-descendants return to these areas, sometimes to reside and sometimes, as root travelers, to learn about the lands of origin of their parents or grandparents.

UNCEM – National Union of Municipalities, Mountain Communities and Entities, calling for a new policy to support these areas, today recalled the attention to the words that Pope Francis dedicated to them:

“The small municipalities, especially those that are part of the so-called internal areas, and which are the majority, are often neglected and find themselves in a condition of marginality. The citizens who live there, a significant portion of the population, experience significant gaps in terms of opportunities, and this remains a source of inequality. […] From the past, and even today, it is the marginal areas that can become laboratories of social innovation, starting from a perspective – that of the margins – that allows us to see the dynamics of society in a different way, discovering opportunities where others see only constraints, or resources in what others consider waste. Innovative social practices, which rediscover forms of mutuality and reciprocity and which reconfigure the relationship with the environment in the key of care – from new forms of agriculture to community welfare experiences – need to be recognized and supported, in order to feed an alternative paradigm to the benefit of all.”

It is therefore necessary to support small municipalities, local authorities, and communities that want to combat depopulation and abandonment. Replace the logic of “US” with that of “ME”, grow relationships and connections, reduce inequalities and promote dialogue, meeting, reorganization of citizen services, co-responsibility. And to demand new laws that are more adequate to respond to the needs of the communities of internal and mountain areas, in Italy and in Europe.