by Sarah Simon, MCP’24
My project seeks to understand the challenges and opportunities around rural economic development in inland Sicily, and to propose specific strategies for the village of Centuripe. In particular, I focus on ways that the surrounding countryside could contribute to and even drive the revitalization of the villages and the region as a whole. I focus on the particular landscape characteristics of the area around Centuripe, using the recommendations and analysis in the recently completed regional landscape plan for Sicily as a starting point. I also consider the cultural and political context, drawing on case studies including another economically successful Sicilian village, Troina, to highlight the particular qualities and governance dynamics that enabled their success (namely, a dynamic mayor willing and able to resist the influence of organized crime.) Finally, I turn to case studies from other comparable villages in Italy and southern Spain to see examples of economically successful rural development projects.
From this research I developed a list of key parameters with which to evaluate new strategies and projects around Centuripe. In these strategies, I emphasize the need to successfully deploy readily available public funding (and related governance challenges) as well as the need for community ownership and investment in the projects and results, even if the funding comes from elsewhere. I also suggest that rural projects rooted in agriculture and food will best suit the Sicilian context, and that the best strategy for local economic success in the current agricultural economy is to focus on value-added, direct-marketed products and to consider the formation of agricultural cooperatives as both an effective marketing tool and a way to resist organized crime. At the same time, I propose that it is important to consider the way other business opportunities can add value to agricultural enterprises. In particular, given the interest in developing solar arrays around Centuripe and the existing pasture-based livestock operations, I suggest exploring agrivoltaics, which is a way of combining solar energy production with sheep grazing operations that has been successful in other geographies and is the subject of new subsidies from the Italian government.
The practicum gave me the opportunity to explore rural economic development in the fascinating contexts of Sicily and Valtellina. Food, heritage and landscape are central to Italian culture, and in my final project I hope to suggest ways that these values can contribute to economic revitalization in small villages in Italy.
Sarah Simon