Italy’s remarkable plan to revitalize 250 almost fully abandoned villages

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15 years ago, the world has achieved a very significant milestone: for the first time in history, 50% of the human population was living in urban areas. This percentage rose up to 56,2% in 2020 while it is estimated that by 2050, nearly 7 of 10 people in the world will live in urban areas.

Cities offer a great deal of advantages and one of the most important is certainly great opportunities for employment. Having all this in mind, it comes with no surprise that some of the small towns and villages are at a risk of being completely abandoned.

Italy has decided to face this issue and to relaunch 250 villages which are in danger of becoming ghost places. Each Italian region chose one village at risk of abandonment and it will now be financed with 20 million euro with the aim of creating sustainable and quality growth through the economic and social revitalization.

The National Recovery and Resilience plan (NRRP) has provided a  total budget of EUR 1 billion: 420 million euro will be spent for regeneration of 21 villages identified by regions and provinces. The rest of the budget is intended for another 229 villages which will be selected through a public notice addressed to the municipalities.

Italy’s Minister of Culture Dario Franceschini stated: Twenty-one extraordinary villages will come back to life. A virtuous mechanism wanted by the Ministry of Culture has led the regions to identify ambitious projects that will give new vocations to wonderful places. We have to run on the NRRP; there is a stringent time schedule, and we are respecting it”.

The second line of action aims at the implementation of local cultural regeneration projects of at least 229 historic villages, integrating the objectives of protecting the cultural heritage with the needs of social and economic revitalization, employment revival, and contrasting depopulation, reports Eturbonews.

After the technical committees assess the consistency of the project proposals with the implementation processes and timing of the NRRP, in May 2022, the resources will be allocated. Then, a new call will be launched. It will assign additional 200 million euro to businesses that will carry out cultural, tourist, commercial and all the other activities. (photo credit: La Repubblica)