Perspectives and Potential for Revitalization of the Inner Areas of Southern Italy

The paper intends to present, in a perspective of socio-economic revitalization, the situation of small municipalities in inner areas, many of which are subject to phenomena of progressive depopulation and depletion of resources. The recognition of a territorial network of marginality, very widespread and consistent throughout Southern Italy, already at the centre of the attention of the national and European political agenda, requires a cognitive and interpretative effort that can support the adoption of territorialized policies and facilitate trend reversal. The reference is to the identification of conditions that can usefully be considered and activated in order to generate the allocation of public and private investments and, therefore, to support demographic resettlement and the localization of economic activities.