The numbers:
100 years ago Italy had around 35,000,000 inhabitants
Today Piedmont is the second Italian region in terms of number of municipalities and is at the same time the penultimate region in terms of average inhabitants/municipality.
3 of the 5 least populous municipalities in Italy are in Piedmont: Macra (40) Briga Alta (40) Ingria (43)
The Province of Alessandria, where I live, has 187 Municipalities, several of which converge towards the so-called “4 Provinces” area, i.e. the first hilly and then mountainous area of the Ligurian pre-Apennines.
Observing the demographic data of many Municipalities that are part of this sector, we note that, on average, a recurring average population of around 1000 inhabitants a century ago corresponds today to around a fifth, with exceptions ranging from 350/400 inhabitants of the municipalities better strategically located with respect to services, to the 85 units of Castellania and Carrega
The example of Val Curone, which branches out into Val Museglia and Valle Arzuola as it goes up, is emblematic. Obviously, as you go up, the population on the contrary goes down, making services rarer.
San Sebastiano Curone, the valley floor today has 533 inhabitants compared to 1035 100 years ago, but going up in altitude, in the municipality of Fabbrica Curone, which is 7 km from S. Sebastiano and which covers a vast surface area of over 50 square kilometres, the inhabitants went from 3000 (1911) to 590 (today)
But this supposed mass of people (we always take into account the demographic decline that has characterized Italy since the 90s) has not simply descended to the plain, whose terminal is represented by Tortona (which, see another post, has been decreasing in practice since 1971, with some recent exceptions caused by immigration). This mass moves towards the nearest metropolis, where there are indeed the services that are progressively lacking in the hilly mountain context, but in the face of an exponential increase in costs.
And therefore either we settle in the outer belt of the metropolis, fortunately in Italy not yet as degraded as in other European realities (but we are catching up…), or we go back.
The map (taken from the Atlas of Small Municipalities) illustrates the current state of the data and the areas in which the so-called counter-exodus occurs.
How will it end?