Borghi abbandonati in Liguria. Valorizzazione turistica e trasformazione del senso del luogo

Liguria is a land rich in coastal villages, for which it is famous all over the world, but it has numerous centers scattered inland, perhaps less visible, where the steepness of the hills has allowed the settlement. A subsistence economy characterized these centers; it was based on the exploitation of the chestnut woods, on a cultivation on terraces or on the exploitation of mineral resources. Normally they were formed only by an agglomeration of a few houses, but they played a fundamental role for the creation and maintenance of the Ligurian landscape. A balance that remained at least until the end of the nineteenth century when, on the one hand, some strong earthquakes and, on the other, the tumultuous industrial and port development of the cities of Genoa, Savona and La Spezia, - with the consequent recall of manpower - have led people to move and in many cases to empty the hinterland. Exemplary cases of these circumstances are the story of the village of Balestrino in the province of Savona, evacuated by the landslide of the land and the earthquake of 1887 and that of small rural areas behind the city of Genoa abandoned around the 50s-60s of the Twentieth century when the few inhabitants, who worked in the city, no longer endured the lack of a connection with the city. The recipes are different but an effective reflection must go to the root of the question: the change of role and meaning of Cultural Heritage when it becomes part of the economic circuit and of the tourist industry.