Press. voanews.com.
A sense of foreboding hangs over Italy’s mountainous heartland after
last Wednesday’s town-flattening earthquake and more than 2,000 aftershocks. In
the central regions of Lazio, Umbria and Marche, temblors are just one of the
challenges facing inhabitants who’ve turned increasingly fatalistic about their
prospects and mistrustful of a government they say ignores them and has failed
to follow up on economic development plans.
The postcard-perfect regions – with their pastures of sunflowers and
poppies, abundant vines, rows of ancient olive trees and medieval hilltop stone
towns – have battled for years to offset the decline in commercial agriculture.
They’ve desperately explored ways to refashion themselves as arts venues,
tourist destinations and centers of artisanal trades and crafts.
But the 2008 financial crash sent the regional tourism industry into a
tailspin from which it has not yet recovered, and slowed significantly the flow
of richer north Europeans buying properties as vacation and retirement homes.
Unrealistically high price tags leave properties lingering on the market for
years.
Stagnant economy
Most images of economic hardship focus on the country’s south, the
Mezzogiorno, which has long lagged the north in terms of economic development –
some of it a consequence of not-so-benign neglect by Bourbon monarchs.
But poverty is not unique to the Mezzogiorno, and economic hardship has
been creeping relentlessly farther north with each downturn and cycle of
government cutbacks. Italy’s economy has been stagnant for years: According to
the World Bank, the country’s gross domestic product was at $1.8 trillion last
year, down from a peak of nearly $2.4 trillion in 2008. Economists blame high
taxes, a rigid labor market, government overspending, burdensome regulation and
a bloated bureaucracy, which they say has made Italy uncompetitive.
Demographers also note that Italy is among the world’s most rapidly aging countries.
While tourists might not see much to complain about in Lazio, Umbria and
Marche – with their ravishing beauty, lakes and mountains – the last decade has
been torrid for the regions’ inhabitants. Hardest hit are the young competing
for ever-diminishing job opportunities – seen clearly in villages such as
Amatrice, the community most affected by last week’s quake.
Most of the young have little choice but to leave if they want to find
lasting work – much as Mezzogiorno’s young people in the 1950s and ’60s
migrated north to work in labor-hungry factories around Milano and Torino,
fueling the country’s so-called post-World War II economic miracle.
Veronica Deiana, 23, dreams about leaving Lazio’s ancient village of
Celleno, population 1,000. "I don’t see any future in Lazio. My thought is
to move abroad, possibly to Spain," she says.
Deiana is one of the lucky ones: She has a retail sales job that took
her a year to find, in the town of Viterbo, roughly 18 kilometers away. But it
pays too little for her to think about moving from her parents' home. To save
bus fare, she lunches daily with an aunt in Viterbo.
Slow internet and few jobs
Celleno is built on a spur of light, porous rock, formed from volcanic
ash, that separates two basins along the Tiber River. Located between the lakes
of Bolsena and Alviano, Celleno’s historic center was devastated in an 1855
temblor.
Landslides have marked the village’s history, too. Wednesday’s quake,
whose epicenter was 125 kilometers or almost 78 miles away, shook and shuddered
Celleno’s medieval and modern houses for about 20 seconds. Apart from some
minor cracks, there was little damage.
The threat of quakes adds to a sense of disquiet among some young people
in Celleno and other Lazio villages. Like many others in Italy’s center, they
contend the government has neglected them. "Frankly, I do not think the
government is doing anything for the young," Deiana says.
Others air grievances about the snail-like pace of internet wiring for
rural areas, or shoddy bricks-and-mortar infrastructure, or negligible economic
development. A plan to convert Viterbo’s military airport into a commercial one
was shelved after the 2008 economic crash. A highway intended to link the
nearby rail hub of Orte to the ferry port town of Civitavecchia has been
stopped 50 kilometers short of completion.
Energizing efforts
Yet, slowly but surely, the central regions have been trying to weather
government austerity policies and to pull themselves out of the prolonged
downturn. That inspires Andrea Oramai Sterpino to have more confidence in the
future. The 27-year-old, determined to remain rooted in Celleno, recently
opened a bar and small bed-and-breakfast enterprise, San Rocco. He also plans
to start a restaurant with his mother.
"I have always believed that our countryside and historic center is
more beautiful than sometimes people here appreciate," he says. "For
me, Celleno is a special place," he adds, "and if everyone leaves it
would become just another ghost town. I like creating a community here and I
want to show our traditions to tourists and foreigners. I think in the future
there will be more economic opportunities."
Banking on history – and investment
Celleno’s Mayor Marco Bianchi shares Sterpino’s optimism. His model is
the neighboring town of Bagnoregio, which recently has enjoyed a tourist boom
and increased revenue. It benefits from influential American travel writer Rick
Steves having devoted a book chapter to nearby Civita di Bagnoregio, a
melancholic, once-abandoned hilltop village hewn from a rocky perch. Steves
describes Civita as "this stunning little gem" that "has escaped
the modern age mostly because of topography."
Bianchi has been overseeing the restoration of Celleno’s historic
castle, hoping to copy Bagnoregio’s success. And he’s collaborating with the
neighboring mayor on marketing plans for festivals and arts exhibitions.
"Celleno’s future rests with its history," Bianchi says.
Bianchi says it is important for the Italian government to move forward
with the long-term Home Italy plan that Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced
last week. It envisages overhauling architecture in seismic areas to withstand
earthquakes and other natural disasters. "We need to prevent disasters and
the impact of earthquakes," says Bianchi. "It could help also to
bring jobs."
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