Ama il profugo tuo: migranti e territorio ritrovato a Riace

Love Your Refugee: Migrants and the Rediscovered Territory in Riace This essay focuses on the municipal area of Riace, a small village of 2,300 inhabitant, among the hills of Southern Ionian Calabria, where migrants, mainly sub-Saharan Africans, are an important component of the resident population. Over the last fifteen years, promoting integration has created a social, economic and territorial revival for Riace. The inclusive policy welcoming refugees and asylum seekers has allowed the revitalization of services and activities previously under threat. The improvement of scholastic services and waste recycling are significant examples. In terms of activities, agriculture, farming, tourism and building recovery are representative cases. The methodology used is field work, framed within the geography. Riace could serve as an analytical model of spatial data, revealing how a demographic injection of foreign citizens, in critical areas, could be transformed into socio-economic development, and mitigate the decline of village life.