In the last years, between 2015 and 2022, Abruzzo has lost at about 41.000 inhabitants and decreased by 3,8%, with an intensity equal to double of the rest of Italy. In particular, the decline is spread with the highest intensity in the internal territories, like Sulmona, Colledimezzo, Atessa, and Roio Del Sangro.

The photograph emerges from the latest Istat report, but depopulation started in the fist half of Twentieth Century and, according to forcasts to 2042, it will continue.

A very original example of a strategy to regenerate a remote depopulating area is the creation of the Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI) in the Abruzzo region. The GSSI was created, a publicly funded institution, leveraged on the experience of the territory in hard sciences and on the existence of one of the world’s top laboratories for particle physics, to create a centre of excellence attracting students and teachers from Italy and abroad. The aim is to increase the human capital and economic activities of the territory.