«The villages are not remnants of the past to be mummified but places in which to experiment with new models of coexistence and look to the future. They are testimonies of identity, community, they preserve skilled agriculture, craftsmanship, the right to live in simplicity. We need essential services, connections, transport, efficient healthcare, so that they can be repopulated. This is the commitment that we have made as a national government both with the single SEZ and with the Pnrr funds”. This was said by the Minister for Civil Protection and Maritime Policies, Nello Musumeci, on the sidelines of an initiative on the role of hill and mountain villages and the demographic decline in Gerace, in the province of Reggio Calabria.
«Depopulation and declining birth rates have led to desertification»
«With the digitalized connection, with concrete rebirth projects, we must revitalize the villages. Depopulation on the one hand, the birth rate decline on the other, a sense of resignation that unfortunately depresses us southerners, have in fact determined a good part of the desertification”, added Musumeci.
To repopulate the villages, Musumeci added, «we need awareness from below, that is, the connection with the territory, and the institutions that must allow the communities to be able to live there, stay and imagine development. It is a challenge that becomes particularly challenging in southern Italy.”
«It is useless to rebuild a school where no child will go»
«The villages – said Musumeci – have this function: to give us the challenge of staying there and, possibly, returning. To do this you don’t just need awareness from above, you also need challenge from below. I have the task of rebuilding the villages destroyed by disasters, but it is useless to rebuild a church where no priest will ever go to celebrate mass, it is useless to rebuild a school in a place where no child will ever go when the bell rings.”