‘We need a strategy for villages: tourism alone will not halt depopulation’

It’s a story that began without smartphones, digital platforms or artificial intelligence. Just a poster written in felt-tip pen which, almost 25 years on, has set a record on social media: two million followers. Fiorello Primi is the founder and, to date, sole president of ‘Borghi più belli d’Italia’ (Italy’s Most Beautiful Villages), the association that promotes small, charming Italian villages. These Italian gems are seen as an antidote to the overtourism that plagues major destinations, whilst also serving as a means of mitigating the sharp seasonal fluctuations in visitor numbers. Born in 1950, Primi has the straightforward and pragmatic demeanour one would expect from someone who has served as mayor of a small town: in his case, Castiglione del Lago (Perugia), a town on the western shore of Lake Trasimeno which he led from the mid-1990s until 2004, having previously worked for IBM Italia. His political career has been entirely within the left-wing movement, beginning with his election as a town councillor for the then Italian Communist Party (PCI). Politics and music: he is the drummer for the Trasimeno Rock Band, a Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute band, and a regular guest at local festivals and party events. At the Festa dell’Unità in Villastrada in the summer of 2023, he was on stage keeping time for PD secretary Elly Schlein as she played the guitar.

My third passion is tourism. “I’ve always had a soft spot for this sector,” he says, speaking with a Tuscan-Perugian accent at the association’s headquarters in Porta Portese, Rome, “it’s in my DNA, partly because I come from a family of restaurateurs. When I was mayor, I was a member of the ANCI’s National Council of Tourist Municipalities. As the administrator of a small town, however, I had no say in the matter. So, in 2001, I had an idea: I proposed to the then coordinator of the Council, the mayor of L’Aquila, Antonio Centi, that we create a section reserved for the ‘small’ towns so that we could make our voices heard and be taken seriously. During the meeting, I displayed a sign on a tripod, written in marker pen, announcing the initiative. We realised straight away that it would work: the room filled up, and a queue of mayors formed outside. I had to improvise. At the time, there were few mobile phones, so to keep in touch we collected fax numbers.’ It was the right intuition, but it still needed to be structured. “We learnt that a similar association existed in France, Les Plus Beaux Villages de France. We obtained the articles of association, translated them and adapted the name to our language: ‘I borghi più belli d’Italia’.”

A club of municipalities with fewer than 15,000 inhabitants and a historic village with no more than 2,000 residents: having started with around thirty members, it now stands at 382. Selection for inclusion among these ‘localities of excellence’ is carried out through an ISO 9001-certified process and a ‘quality charter’ that has been updated on several occasions. ‘The assessment system is quite complex and divided into four areas,’ he explains. “The first two relate to aesthetic beauty and the quality of life for residents. Together, they must achieve a minimum score; otherwise, the assessment is halted immediately: if a resident does not live well in the village, neither will the tourist. Only if this first hurdle is cleared do we move on to the other two stages, which focus on services for visitors and environmental protection.’ The assessors carry out unannounced visits, much like a food critic who turns up without warning the restaurant owner. ‘We have to assess not so much the beautiful aspects but, I would say, the ugly ones: identifying what detracts from the village.’ Over the years, the association has become a highly sought-after organisation and has accompanied the growing interest in these villages. “We’ve received a thousand applications; we carry out around 30 visits a year and accept one in three candidates.” Popular seaside resorts and inland villages waiting to be discovered: everyone wants to obtain the quality mark to display on the town hall. The list of members includes La Maddalena (2.4 million passengers ferried from Palau each year) and Cusano Mutri (Benevento), a medieval village admitted with conditions only after nine years and three attempts. ‘The local council has committed to substantial structural investments,’ acknowledges Primi. The ‘Borghi più belli d’Italia’ plaque is a magnet for online searches from both Italia and abroad and guarantees ‘a huge return in terms of reputation’. The award gives those admitted a boost in overnight stays (“at least 8 per cent a year”) but, at the same time, “places a great responsibility on mayors. In recent years, our work has focused on enhancing the brand and its reputation’.

Geopolitical uncertainty, oil prices, inflation: nothing seems to deter international travellers. Airbnb has just raised its revenue forecasts for 2026, banking on global travel demand holding up. And for 2027, Oxford Economics forecasts a further acceleration. Rome hasn’t even had time to catch its breath after the Jubilee, but overcrowding is also a given for art cities such as Venice or Florence. Is it possible to move from toxic concentration to more even distribution? ‘We all agree: overtourism in a handful of destinations is a problem. But we always stop at this observation. As an association, there is little we can do; we represent a small proportion of overnight stays: 23 million out of a total of 450 million. We need a strategy with guidelines issued by the Ministry of Tourism in consultation with the Ministries of Culture, Made in Italy and Transport. My idea is simple: ask tour operators to include offers in the surrounding areas as part of international package tours to cities of art. This would take the pressure off the main city centre and extend the length of stay.”

Just like palm trees, villages have their own red palm weevil: it’s called depopulation. Between 2011 and 2025, the population has fallen by 5.9 per cent – more than three times the national average (-1.7 per cent). And Istat forecasts predict a 7 per cent decline by 2043. ‘One thing is certain: tourism alone cannot counteract a phenomenon that is only partly linked to demographic decline. To persuade a young family to live in a village, we need a transport system that guarantees access to basic healthcare and education, and ensures physical and digital accessibility. That is why our priority has long been to devise measures for repopulation.’ The association has no shortage of success stories. Take, for example, the Alpine village of Ostana (Cuneo), an Occitan village in the Po Valley at the foot of Mount Monviso: in the 1980s it was at risk of being abandoned; now it is listed among the ‘Most Beautiful Villages in Italia’. ‘Over the years, I’ve received some very welcome phone calls: once to let us know that, after 40 years, a grocery shop had reopened; another to announce that, after 28 years, a baby boy, Pablo, had been born. Then came the bakery, the B&Bs and a restaurant. People began moving here from the city and the village’s population exceeded one hundred. After fifty years, a school has reopened.’ There are other successful initiatives, such as those in Sambuca di Sicilia, Novara di Sicilia and San Marco d’Alunzio, involving ‘affordable homes’ to attract new residents: many are former emigrants from Australia and South America returning to their homelands. The limitation, Primi points out, is that ‘these are elderly people’.