Italy villages fight for life

By Suzanne Bush
Vallinfreda, Italy

Perched on a hilltop in the glorious March sunshine, Vallinfreda, to the east of Rome, is a perfect example of picture postcard Italy.

Beautiful villages are struggling to survive

The houses wind their way up along a maze of pristine, newly-cobbled alleys, with the top of the church bell tower marking the highest point.

But as beautiful as it is, it has its problems - like other small communities around Italy.

Important services like schools being shut down, there are priest shortages, and the populations are ever-ageing and often declining.

Vallinfreda has just 300 inhabitants or so throughout the year, though in the summer this rises to 3,000 as people escape the heat of the city.

This weekend, the main square was bustling with more activity than usual, as Vallinfreda took part in a national day to celebrate and promote small communities.

It's really beautiful... At night it's quiet, you can relax, no-one bothers you, you can even leave your keys in the door Resident Annamaria, pictured with friend Loretta In pictures: Vallinfreda life

At midday the bells rang out, along with the bells of around 1,400 other places taking part the length and breadth of Italy.

Seventy-two per cent of Italian communities have fewer than 5,000 inhabitants.

Yesterday the Environmental League drew them together for this nationwide festival as part of their "Little Big Italy" campaign which aims to draw attention, and people, away from the cities and into the small towns and village which they say are the real heart of Italy.

"We often use "Chiantishire" in Tuscany as an example," says Alessandra Bonfanti, from the Environmental League.

"It's an area whose beauty has been well and truly discovered, but in Italy there are Chiantishires everywhere, it's just that people don't know about them and this is a real loss, but maybe it's something we can turn into an opportunity."

That opportunity looks even more promising because of a new law, awaiting final approval, which hopes to breath new life into these places.

Guided tours show off the village highlights

It is designed to raise their profile, promote local produce, improve computer access, ensure every village has a post office service and somewhere selling fuel, and offer financial incentives to encourage people to relocate from larger towns and cities.

Back in Vallinfreda, Father Antonio Casamelli is taking people on a tour of the church, as the bells continue to ring out across the valley.

"The men and women used to sit on different sides of the aisle," he tells the assembled group. "Men to the right, women to the left. And some of the older people still adhere to that tradition."

Afterwards though, he explains that these days there are only a dozen or so regular church-goers.

At 77, and after 18 years as priest here, he has passed retirement age, but has vowed not to abandon his church, partly because he fears they wouldn't be able to find a priest to replace him.

"It's difficult to find them because there are few young priests. It could be that they will merge the parish with two or three other small communities."

There are few young priests. It could be that they will merge the parish with two or three other small communities Father Antonio, 77, on why he is not retiring

Vallinfreda has three shops, a post office, pharmacy, bar, restaurant and police station. It has already lost its only school though, 10 years ago when the Government decided it couldn't justify the cost for only 50 pupils.

In 1915 the village's population was 1,500, but by the 1960s this had dropped to around 700, and then to the 300 of today, 50% of whom are elderly.

Despite this, the mayor, Piero Chirletti, remains positive about its future.

"A few more children are being born here in Vallinfreda than in the past because some young people have decided to settle here, given that it isn't far from Rome, the air is good, the atmosphere is pleasant, there's no pollution and the food and life here are pretty healthy."

Like mayors in all the participating communities, he was leading a guided tour around the village along with the deputy mayor, to show off the best of its beauty, history and culture.

Fruit of the land

Once the tour is over, everyone returns to the main square for the most important activity of the day - tasting the local produce.

VILLAGE FACTS 72% of communities in Italy have fewer than 5,000 inhabitants 19% of the whole population lives in these communities 99.5% of small communities in Italy have their own officially certified local products

There are 26,000 parishes, but only 22,000 of these have their own priest.

People swarm around a stall laden with a vast array of cakes and biscuits, as well as cheese, salami, wine and beans, special to Vallinfreda, which contain a protein that cuts the level of fat in the arteries.

Behind one stall are two of the village's older residents, Annamaria and Loretta, who are decked out in local costume. Loretta explains that she was born here, moved to Rome as a child, but has recently retired back here with her husband.

It is lacking some services they say, "but it's really beautiful," explains Annamaria. "At night it's quiet, you can relax, no-one bothers you, you can even leave your keys in the door."

They wouldn't live anywhere else. They just want to make sure everyone else knows what a great place it is, so the beautiful villages Italy is so famous for don't die out.