Former correspondent revitalises his village: how Fluminimaggiore is being reborn through the community co-operative
The project offers an all-inclusive service for those who decide to move to the village, which is rich in natural springs and features a range of nature and cultural trails, from the Temple of Antas to industrial heritage sites. ‘From settling into your new home to meal deliveries, as well as transport services for those wishing to go to the theatre or get around’
The dream is to turn things round and create a ‘happier country’. All this whilst tackling the depopulation that has seen over a thousand people leave over the last 30 years.
Marco Corrias, former editor-in-chief of Tg5 and correspondent for Terra, now retired, is the creator of this project, which aims to “revive” Fluminimaggiore, the mining town which, over the last 30 years following the closure of nearby mining operations, has lost more than a thousand residents, leaving its population at 2,500.
A homecoming that began eight years ago with his candidacy and election as mayor for his first term, “although, it must be said, I never actually left my hometown”. “My candidacy was a way of giving something back to Fluminimaggiore,” he says, “and helping the town, which has had to cope with the closure of the mines and relentless depopulation.”
So it was the start of a venture driven by curiosity – ‘that of a journalist’ – followed by ideas ‘to reverse a downward trend’. “We played the culture card,” says Marco Corrias, who previously worked for *La Repubblica* and was a correspondent for the weekly magazine *Epoca*, “and at the same time tried to bring together the wealth of empty houses that the town has to offer.” This led to the creation of the community co-operative, which now has 400 members and of which Corrias – now that he is no longer mayor – has become president.
“Our idea was, and still is, to buy the empty houses in the village, or to have them made available to us by the owners – who may have become partners,” he continues, “and to create a residence for high-spending pensioners from the rest of Italia or even from northern Europe. All this by following examples that I had already seen elsewhere during my professional career.”
