Piccoli mondi a parte? I borghi tra narrazioni retoriche e nuove prospettive. Il caso di Belmonte in Calabria

A growing number of small villages, minor historic towns, and rural areas in Italy are grappling with current economic, social, and environmental fragilities and social and cultural changes. These vulnerable contexts often hold precious material and immaterial heritage, the preservation of which is crucial in the face of ecosystem degradation, cultural impoverishment, loss of traditions, and weakening of social ties. These sites, also known as ‘ghost towns’ or ‘lost villages’, are described through opposite narratives as spaces of decline or places of the extraordinary. These faraway and timeless places are, in particular, appreciated for their authenticity. Local culture and traditions, vernacular architecture and natural idyll, are expressions of their unique sense of place. The ancient villages thus often become stereotyped goods associated with the typical localities’ branding. Minor villages and historic borghi are more frequently identified as tourist destinations rather than places to live. Sometimes, tourism-led strategies turned these villages into stereotyped products to sell through deep processes of commodification. However, these “small worlds apart” suggests critical reflections and opens the way to innovative future perspectives. Some experiences in Italy testify how some place- and community-led interventions in these small villages can trigger a new renaissance. Today, flexible practices and different ways of living, even temporarily, reject the static nature of these “authentic villages”, offering new possibilities to experiment in these places. These emerge as dynamic entities that tell their history but, at the same time, are ready to write their future. To observe these new trends, the paper analyses the experience of a small historic centre in Southern Italy, where a bottom-up territorial reactivation project is underway based on an international network of temporary inhabitants, collaborative research projects, recovery and reuse of heritage, and creative and cultural experimentation. The contribution explores the potential and limits of an initiative that saw a temporary community interact with the local community, transforming an area in depopulation into a lively place of experimentation with new forms of hospitality, entertainment, and sociality. This revolutionary experience promotes interactions and collaboration with the public sphere to maximise shared value by strengthening the connection between inhabitants and places. Beyond the rhetoric, the case study analysis indicates new paths for future social innovation and places valorisation.