Abandoned Small Towns in Sicily. Strategies and Proposals for Recovering and Enhancement

The present contribution focuses on the strategies carried out to hinder depopulation and facilitate the recovery of the historical city centres in Sicily in the last fifty years. In particular, the essay analyses if the strategies and initiatives fostered in this field had been respectful of the physical characteristics of these small towns. Furthermore, the present study intends to assess if the improvement of the "quality of life" has been considered among the strategies carried out to contrast depopulation. The scarce efficacy of policies and strategies over the last fifty years, which emerges from this analysis, is partially due to the endemic inability of politicians and local communities to look at these sites as cultural and economic resources. Limited entrepreneurial capacities, and, on the other side, a strong victim complex that characterizes Sicilian people are two of the many reasons for the failure of such strategies. This attitude of the community has influenced the political autonomy of the Region. It has not been seen over time as an opportunity for the political, economic, and cultural growth of the island. Furthermore, the inability to coordinate programs and strategies for urban and territorial planning has to be underlined. Paradoxically, the delay in the development of strategies and policies for urban planning, involved quite good preservation of the historical city centres, mainly in the inner areas of the Region. For this reason, smart and coordinated strategies for the management of urban and territorial transformations could carry out significant results for a better future in a cultural context, which has now been changing.