Piccoli paesi nell’ondata del virus. Resistenza, democrazia, comunità

Abstract

As part of the reflections on how Covid-19 has acted in Italian disadvantaged non-urban areas we ask if the lockdown has enhanced – through comparisons with cities – the demand for a higher quality of life; we also try to understand what kind of new subjectivity can strenghten the scene of small villages engaged in this rebirth and which conflicts or growth process regarding new communitarian forms are developing. After a review of the new forms of contemporary community and the identification of the frequent element of conflict for the new undertakings of “Riabitare l’Italia”, we analyse evidence of quality of life in places with lower social density, but also extreme loneliness and heightened sense of abandonment due to the lack of post Covid strong investment policies for marginal areas. The final reflection takes note of the fact that the current debates tend to not see a connection between the social and economic aspects and the symbolic and ritualistic aspects of the social life in small villages, and that points to the need for a recomposition of different aspects of life in terms of analysis and project.

Keywords

• communities
• disadvantaged non-urban areas
• small villages
• local development
• marginality