Giovani nel margine. Attese di futuro, legami con i luoghi e partecipazione alla vita pubblica nelle aree interne calabresi

The essay focuses on the living conditions and on some aspects of the youth culture in the inner areas, affected by strong depopulation, dejuvenation, and growing desertification of essential services. It offers an in-depth analysis of the young people’s orientation to stay or to leave, their attachment to places and their propensity to take part in public life, and contains a comparison with adults' positions on the same issues. The research is part of the stream of studies on the inner areas in Italy and uses the data collected through a thousand telephone interviews with residents of the inner areas of Calabria (572 with young people aged 18-39 and 428 with parents with minor children) and a focus group with university students from the same towns. It highlights the existence of a majority of young people interested in living in small or very small towns and investigates the reasons for this. Finally, it analyzes the positive link between this desire to stay and the participation in public life.