Abstract

As a consequence of the Covid-19 crisis, the idea of an «escape from the metropolis» to rural centers has had a sharp follow-up. A suggestion that has remained little practiced over time. Moreover, the contrast between metropolis and villages is not always verified as the territorial hierarchies are subject to more complex processes: the first, in their expansion, can also incorporate small towns, so much that the gaps are also develop within the borders of urban systems. It is interesting to deepen, with two case studies, precisely the different «post-metropolitan borghi» typologies. The «pandemic borghi» are illustrated with the emblematic case of Val Seriana in Northern Italy, where the failures of health management in the first emergency of the pandemic are related to the evolution of the landscape and the territory. The second case study of «digital villages» deals with the very popular theme of the ‘city of fifteen minutes’. The two examples show the profound evolution of settlement forms based on the possible combinations between proximity (typical of borghi) and global flows still looming over the economy, society and culture