In recent years, the number of residents in the communities above 600 meters above sea level has grown by 100 thousand units. Merit of greater tranquility, more low prices and decentralized work. But also of the PNRR funding.
The mountain takes its revenge. Considered until a few years ago as the destination of a small number of alpinism and trekking enthusiasts, or as the good summer retreat of elderly people fleeing from hot cities and not attracted by the nightlife of sea resorts, life at altitude is experiencing a season of great interest. And it is not limited to the holiday period. In the mountains we also move to take root, to find a less stressful dimension that is the characteristic of increasingly chaotic and noisy cities and, last but not least, to save money. The real estate market in the mountain centers still offers interesting opportunities. The idealist sale site recently reported the announcement of 25 houses, including huts, rustics and chalets scattered between Alps and Apennines, on sale for less than 100 thousand euros.
And if there were still the problems of poor digital infrastructure and deficient transport until a few years ago, now the funds of the PNRR have allowed important investments. Just a computer and a hut in the middle of the woods turns into an office. So between 2019 and 2023 the residents of the 387 Italian mountain communities (above 600 meters high) grew by almost 100 thousand units, as was detected by the Montagne Italia 2025 report, presented by UNCEM (National Union of Common Communities Mountain Bodies).
Of course there have been some factors that pushed in this direction, starting with the period of the Lockdown during Covid who has released many work activities from the physical place of the offices by promoting smartworking, but also the diffusion of greater environmental sensitivity, the quality of life placed as priority in the scale of values, not only by young people, who made the pleasure of the slow rhythm of the days at high altitude, of less marked rhythms, of the simplicity of social relationships in small communities.
Then there is the tourism of the roots, With the descendants of the Italian emigrants who return to the country of origin of their family, sometimes choosing them as a destination of life. The UNCEM report confirms the increase in residents of the Alps and the Apennines, with a turnaround especially in Northern Italy.
The regions with the greatest increase in inhabitants at altitude are Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Liguria and Piedmontwith increases of 4.67 percent respectively, 3.7 percent, 3.2 percent and 2.6 percent. Then follow the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano, often mentioned as models for policies in favor of the repopulation of the locations at high altitude. Overall, in 137 of the 386 mountain communities analyzed, the population grew by at least 2 percent.
However, the phenomenon is not generalized. While in the north the villages return to live, in the South, strong spoping flows persist: Calabria, Basilicata and Sicily record significant decrements, respectively by 2.19 percent, 1.83 percent and 1.5 percent, confirming the gap between the north and south also in mountain areas.
Marco Bussone, president of Uncem, speaks to us of a “season of awakening” for the Italian mountains who have been able to react with innovations and strategies “from below” to demographic and environmental crises. “We cannot surrender to the idea of depopulation as an ineluctable destiny of these areas. Today there are clear signs of a turnaround that deserve political attention ». And something in this direction is moving. The awakening of the mountain would not have been possible if, upstream (a fitting play of words) there had been no PNRR funds and some legislative initiatives to relaunch those locations, also dense with history and naturalistic beauties, but abandoned in the last decade because they are uncomfortable for lack of services and job opportunities.
Starting from the initiative of the Minister for Regional Affairs, Roberto Calderoli, who signed a bill for a fund of 200 million euros aimed at supporting the development of Italian mountain areas. Important help came from the PNRR which made the development of infrastructures such as broadband, transport and educational services possible. “Today 1,500 municipalities and 40 areas are financed with 135 million euros in the PNRR while another 160 areas are awaiting funds,” says Bussone. Some administrations promote initiatives to attract new residents, such as the sale of houses at the symbolic price of one euro to encourage the recovery of the building heritage of the villages. The last in order of time is “small Dolomites” of the Montana Pasubio Piccolo Dolomiti Montana, a project that affects 10 Municipalities and concerns over 10 thousand properties in a state of abandonment sold at one euro in exchange for the commitment of the new owners to bear the costs of recovery, restoration, restoration and safety of the building, with the final objective of establishing your residence.
The list of these initiatives is constantly evolving, but among the regions where the formula of real estate sales at symbolic prices has had some success there are Piedmont, the Aosta Valley, Tuscany, Abruzzo, Molise, Liguria, and then Sardinia and Basilicata. Just scroll through the sites of the municipalities scattered between the Alps and the Apennines and continuous calls and incentives are discovered to attract new inhabitants. To have an idea of the importance of this phenomenon, just think that the Italian mountain territory includes 3,471 municipalities, with almost 9 million residents, equal to 14.7 percent of the national population. The UNCEM report underlines how two thirds of these realities have had a positive migratory balance in the last two years, with a net of new residents greater than 12 every thousand inhabitants.
Bussone adds that “the most interesting aspect of the choice of life at altitude is that it is above all the Italians who move to the mountains even if in these villages the welcome of foreigners works better than in large urban centers”. The high altitude also creates employment as well as tourism. Bussone makes this example: “There are 12 million hectares of forest on the rise, which means thousands of jobs in the forestry”. And remember the periodic calls of the Lombardy Region dedicated to the restoration and conservation of terraces and dry stone walls to preserve rural landscapes. An operation that has repercussions on employment.
The initiatives, however, collide with parochialism. The solution is always the same: to team up, make a union of more common, says Bussone. But this is the eternal deficit of our peninsula.
