The theoretical reflection on development policies, at national and international level, has
focused attention on the need to identify new strategies for social inclusion able to promote
local development by putting in the center the quality of life and the rights of citizenship.
This is all the more valid in the rural and marginal areas of our country, where the lack of
access to essential resources and services and the distance from the central poles of supplying
basic services are a strong limit to the wellbeing of the inhabitants and the development
of their capacity for actively live and therefore promote the development of the territory. In
Italy, internal areas are historically affected by migratory routes and the rooting of a new
population is the lever through which to combat depopulation. The substantial presence of
the population with non-Italian citizens reveals some exogenous criticalities of the new approaches
(resident foreigners are not citizens with full rights), but can constitute a potential
for regenerating the identity and economies of the internal areas, if the policies public authorities
are able to include and activate the skills of this portion of the population according
to a model of sustainable local development.
