Italian Inner Peripheral Areas: Earthquakes and Collaborative Experiences of Heritage Recovery

Abstract

The internal Italian peripheral areas are characterized by a geomorphological conformation that exposes them to altimetric isolation and seismic hazard. In particular, this last has rarely been the direct cause of the depopulation; the frequent seismic events have, more often, exacerbated mainly socio-economic causes. In some cases, the long-term effects of post-earthquake reconstruction interventions include interesting “resistance/resilience” dynamics.

The paper reports the results of the preliminary phase of a research carried out on the case study of Aquilonia, in the pilot area “Upper Irpinia”, involved in the cohesion policy of the National Strategy of Internal Areas (SNAI). The main objective of the research is to highlight the processes, in terms of Heritage Community and Community Resilience, that seismic events, and post-earthquake reconstruction policies, can trigger in Italian internal areas. The first results show that very often the modalities of reconstruction of the heritage destroyed and/or damaged by telluric events that do not take into account psychological and social aspects can affect in the long term the dynamics of communities. At the same time, those traumatic events can stimulate processes of rediscovery of material and immaterial heritage by the community and start cooperation actions towards the construction of Heritage Communities, the reduction of vulnerability components and Community Resilience.