Italy tackles rural exodus | DW Documentary

More Italians are migrating to big cities, and every year around 200,000 leave to go abroad. Entire villages now stand empty. So small towns are providing incentives for incomers - like rent-free homes in Campania or one euro house prices in Sicily.

The Italian countryside is full of hilly landscapes, breathtaking panoramas and picturesque hamlets. Yet small towns and villages are dying out. Lack of jobs and poor infrastructure are driving people to leave. In the coming years, some 2,500 places could become ghost towns, although the Coronavirus pandemic has slowed this development.

During the strict lockdown, the Vittoria family from Naples decided to escape the confines of the big city. In the fall of 2020 they packed their belongings and moved to Teora in Campania. Here mayor Stefano Farina is trying to repopulate his small town by paying newcomers‘ rent for two years if they enroll their children in the local school. That’s also enticed the Greenwoods to move from Manchester, in the UK, to Teora with their four children. The town has acquired some thirty new residents from around the world and ensured the survival of its school.

Seven hundred kilometers to the south, Mussomeli in Sicily is selling abandoned homes in its old town for just one euro. Here, too, more than half of the buildings stand empty. The initiative has proved so successful an agency had to be founded to deal with prospective foreign buyers. They must commit to renovating the house within the next three years, but are not obliged to reside in Italy. Mussomeli is most concerned with saving its dilapidated town center.

#documentary #Italy #rurallife
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[akirebara]

If these tiny towns entice young people (those who can work from home with their companies) with high-speed internet, this is one way they'll live there.

[gg_ingy]

I haven't seen it yet, but wanting to state the obvious, put down proper fiber internet on the country sides. That's how it is in Sweden, so anyone that CAN work from home/online, can move to the countryside.

[MikeArthas]

I moved out of big city last year, best decision ever!!

[zeAristotle]

Respect to the one Italian family who actually want to live there

[nicolek]

The woman from Malta will be sadly disappointed. The culture she is so keen on protecting is embodied in the people of the village not in the buildings. Buying a house as a holiday let is not going to achieve her stated goal.

[SFKelvin]

The critical thing about a town like Teora is a good railroad connection to major city centers.

[renjiths.]

I'm addicted to this beautiful documentary. This is the way I'm getting to know about the things which is far far away from my place. From Kerala, India

[margyiphillips]

I am proud of the efforts of the Mayor. The pandemic was a terrible experience. Maybe the city is experiencing a rebirth.

[danielwawone]

we, the young people, just need stable internet, electricity, clean water, and logistics, to live everywhere. Many jobs right now can be done through online, as well as commerce. So living in rural area won't be a challenge for us.

[ParaParagon]

They're delusional if they actually think they can sell fish & chips to the Italians in a small village like that...
I don't think you could even do that succesfully in Milan.

[Cathy]

I would say, when you do move to a new place be open to how things work there, instead of trying to make it like the place you came from ask questions to understand before deciding something is bad. Sometimes things like building codes, rules, etc are based off things like climate and things that happened in the past, and you don’t know at first why they are that way when they may seem different for you. Families who have been there for centuries can explain these things to you. You need to talk to the locals and ask them questions and be open and friendly. But don’t be stupid either.

[TRATTORE]

All my sympathy for the family from Manchester, I moved in Australia from a little village in Italy 15 years ago and I didn’t speak 1 word in English, I made it and I’m still in OZ...

[pakde]

I have a background in horticulture and would definitely be interested in starting a small farm in Italy, if only I was a citizen of the EU . To live in the Italian country side is a dream of so many people. They should be more creative in offering assistance to local young people to start businesses in the rural areas. Training, small loans and access to markets could help so many rural communities and relieve crowding in large cities.

[sanantreass]

I wish they do that in Greece, we have hundreds of abandoned villages with >100 people.

[abdikayse]

I love the guy letting his wife struggle in italian😂

[malikjawad]

Only if Italian central government was as good as this mayor many many people would have never left in first place

[apepatch]

A large problem with living in small villages is the attitude and closed conservatism.. people are generally happy to have you economically but over time the differences in experience can leave you feeling isolated . 90 % of our neighbours would not talk to me and when in social situations would not want to be seen knowing me as it would make them look bad. The reason…I have tattoos . I don’t drink or do drugs at all…however they believed that having tattoos I must be a dealer or have been to prison. A local builder worked on our house for a few months and told people I wasn’t any of those things.

[TheFedaykiin]

Italy is absolutely beautiful, from the old towns to the culture and food, the size of history the nation carries is astounding, Good luck to those old towns as it would be a lost to the world if those places were to be torn down and replaced with generic glass and steel modern cities

[bookinsights]

This is basically a story about demographic transition.

[arianaraquel]

The Major of Teora is doing an AMAZING job for his comunity!