Abstract

Since 2014, initiatives have been developed for the protection and enhancement of the small municipalities that constitute the soul of Italian material and immaterial culture. The villages are in fact widespread museums and, at the same time, communities with deep historical roots. The borghi are often surrounded by walls with an intact historic center. But they can also simply consist of small residential complexes lost in the mountains and sparsely inhabited. The abandonment of small towns is a result of industrial and urban society. Approximately one third of the Italian territory is estimated to have undergone processes of abandonment and depopulation in the last seventy years. The policies of the Ministry of Culture intended to respond to the abandonment of villages, especially the more peripheral ones, with interventions capable of developing cultural activities and sustainable tourism. A strategy that is also useful for rebalancing the congestion of large cities of art. In this regard, the structures of the Ministry have operated, and continue to operate, in collaboration with a Coordination Committee of the Borghi (villages) in which Regions, Municipalities, Associations and other public bodies participate. With the «Year of the Borghi 2017», an intervention strategy took shape which culminated with the inclusion in the Next Generation EU program, of a specific investment of one billion euros for the cultural regeneration of the villages. In June 2022, the 250 winning projects were defined and the intervention was concretely started. The next step identified by the Ministry concerns the definition of a «National Plan for the Borghi» lasting three years