Is International Retirement Migration (IRM) a Possible Strategy for the Regeneration of the Inland Areas? The Case Study of Irsina in Basilicata: Preliminary Insights.

While demographic decline continues to reshape several regions of the Italian peninsula, particularly its inland areas, where depopulation has reinforced their “marginal” status, tangible initiatives are taking root to revitalize these areas through local social, cultural, and economic innovation. Rather than defaulting to conventional tourism-centric approaches, these efforts aim to strengthen territorial assets, including collective expertise, environmental resources, and traditional trades, while integrating the needs of residents and local actors to breathe new life into these inland areas. Numerous examples of territorial regeneration exemplify what we may term the “re-centralization of the margin”, showcasing ingenious strategies for the re-functionalization and adaptive reuse of abandoned and forgotten housing heritage, as well as bottom-up experiments that prefigure new housing possibilities and tentative “instances” of repopulation. These encouraging developments provide the context for the case study of Irsina, a municipality in the province of Matera (Basilicata), which, despite partial abandonment, is witnessing efforts – led by its inhabitants and municipal administration – to revitalize its social and economic fabric through a “repopulation” project by pre-retirement and retirement foreign citizens. Though still limited in scale, this initiative, which capitalizes on the phenomenon of International Retirement Migration (IRM), represents a promising step toward the regeneration of this small town and other marginal territories in Italy.