Supra-municipal policies for conservation and enhancement of local identities: strategic plans for “revitalization” of small historic centers

The case-study of Castelvecchio Calvisio allows to delineate the phenomenon of small historic centers abandonment as a crucial factor compromising the conservation of this heritage. The long-term consequences of the phenomenon seems to be even more relentless than 2009 earthquake’s. In order to give social and economic vitality back to the small historic centers, it is necessary an organic approach that not only allows the restoration/conservation of historical buildings and the requalification of public spaces, but also the improvement of public infrastructures, services and activities. Exactly for this purpose, public announcements has been issued in support of small municipalities, in the first half of 2013 (e.g., the public announcement “PUC3 – Complex Integrated Programs, region of Umbria, Italy). The calls tie together public and private interventions and propose actions aimed at fostering the development of territories characterized by small-size urban areas. The announcements support both the development and the repopulation of small urban centers through co-financed assignments. They consist of an integrated system of interventions aimed at supporting the “revitalization” of the small sites through restoration interventions (including interventions for reduction of urban seismic vulnerability); the settlement and the development both of economic and receptive-touristic activities; the offering of services for inhabitants. The announcements tackle important topics such as the acknowledgement of small centers non-self-sufficiency and the incapability to meet the needs of their residents in terms of quality of life and active livelihood. As a result, the emerging trend is the improvement of the cooperation among local governments through co-financed programs concerning aggregates of small inhabited centers. The paper intends to draw a critical framework about the main orientations and the first outcomes of Italian and European public announcements aimed at setting up a “territorial or thematic system” among small centers. The purpose is enhancing local vocations on the matters of building conservation, residentiality, welcoming strategies and safety, reached through the improvement of social, economic and commercial activities diffused on a “super-municipal” territory.