Spopolamento e abbandono nei paesi montani d’Abruzzo: degrado e risorsa. Un processo reversibile? (Depopulation and Abandonment in the Mountain Villages of Abruzzo: Degradation and Resource. A Reversible Process?)

The topic of depopulated towns was generally approached aiming at finding a new use but sometimes this produces results unrelated to the history and the meanings that those places represent. Adopting a different perspective, this abandonment can be considered a resource, and not just a cause of degradation. The abandonment preserves the autenticity of these places and today is an important source of attraction, especially when seen in the context of the landscape. Whilst the re-use contributes towards the conservation of such buildings, there is the risk that they are mutilated by insensitive interventions. The earthquakes of 2009 and 2016-17 have resulted in further abandoned villages and sites, together with reconstruction works that significantly alter the towns and the landscape. Considering the results in progress, there is a general lack of understanding of historical buildings considered exclusively as “real estate” to refurbish. The study of depopulated sites cannot focus solely upon their reuse but exam other solutions based upon the conservation of the identity and intrinsic value of these places. The history and the relationship with the territory prefigure other possibilities; today new approaches encourage the “returns” to mountains as alternative choices towards the models of today’s society. Mountain villages offer the possibility of experimenting with a new social, economic and hospitaliy construct, but they must be considered as an integral part of the landscape to protected.