'Come and live in the mountains', the slogan sets the standard

For years, Friuli Venezia Giulia has also been grappling with the depopulation of its mountainous areas, which make up about 42% of its territory. The numbers are pitiless. One example is Savogna, a municipality in the Udine area that has lost more than 27% of its inhabitants between 2011 and 2021. At the beginning of April came the announcement of the allocation of EUR 4 million to strengthen essential community services, from schools to transport, in the Torre and Natisone valleys, among the new areas included in the National Strategic Plan for Inner Areas, which already includes the Friulian Dolomites and Upper Carnia. "Friuli Venezia Giulia is an example of resilience and demonstrates how targeted investments can make a difference," said Economy Undersecretary Sandra Savino from Trieste. And indeed, it was precisely from Carnia, a mostly mountainous area in the province of Udine, that an anti-depopulation project was launched in 2023 and has had some success: since then, thirteen families have moved to the seven municipalities involved, including Resia, Resiutta, Stregna, Savogna and Comeglians, and around sixty are waiting to do the same. Come live and work in the mountains, this is the name of the project, was implemented by the Cramars cooperative, from Tolmezzo, with the support of the Friuli Foundation. "We wanted to give the idea of the mountains as a place to live one's life, not just a summer holiday or a holiday in the snow," explains Stefania Marcoccio, president of Cramars. In fact, the cooperative has worked with the municipal councils, but also with the temporary agencies and business services of the region's Central Labour Department, trying to create opportunities for supply and demand to meet. Which there is, indeed. 'So many companies at the moment cannot find staff, there is also a shortage of municipal employees,' Marcoccio observes. The first two calls, in 2023 and 2024, attracted hundreds of applications. This year, although there was no call for applications, one hundred and twenty have arrived and two new municipalities, Lauco and Vito d'Asio, have asked to join the project. The biggest stumbling block? The scarcity of homes, for sale or to rent. "Not all owners want to sell, although they live elsewhere. And the real estate is often old, requiring significant economic investment,' Marcoccio notes.