The mountainous areas of Friuli-Venezia Giulia between social and economic exclusion and new
settlement models. Is it a trend inversion?
This article aims to demonstrate that migration phenomena improve the appearance and socio-economic
position in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia mountain areas. In this area, mountain villages have been suffering
from a long-term decline in population, economic activity, deteriorating infrastructure, decreasing services,
and social isolation for almost half a century (since the 1950s). These depopulated villages are also referred
to as »ghost villages«. However, the trend is now reversing, as evidenced by this research. The study is based
on an analysis of the current situation, official statistical data, and primary data from interviews conducted
in the area. The results show that newcomers bring innovations in agriculture, tourism, arts, and culture
and play a key role in renovating existing structures, reusing land, and establishing a creative dynamic. Their
activities increasingly enable the regeneration and maintenance of alpine cultural landscapes, resulting in
the emergence of new social and agricultural structures with novel farming practices. The processes of regeneration
may serve as a good practice example for other partially abandoned settlements in mountain areas
