After Schengen: Strategies for a smart reuse of disused areas sites in Pontebba (Italian Eastern Alps)

Abandonment and depopulation are common problems all over the Alps. This is the case of Pontebba, our study area. To react to this problem some years ago the Regional Administration planned a huge investment in winter tourism. By focusing on this way only, could be a risky choice, with a significant impact on environment, society and territory. Bätzing, in his “Le Alpi - una regione unica nel centro dell’Europa”, says that the main risk of a mountain resort turned into a winter tourist place is to suffer from the same problems of a big city: traffic, pollution and a remarkable speed of expansion of settlements. Besides these, he adds the socio-cultural problems: when the entire community is subordinate to the tourism interests, it loses its values and the true meaning of itself (Bätzing, 2005). We do not want that this thing happens and we believe in a different choice. With this paper, we try to support and check a new idea of tourism, mountain society and activities, according to which traditional and modern values are linked together (Bätzing, 2005). We think that an agro-silvo-pastoral development could be necessary, in order to produce an alternative to the monoculture of winter tourism. Agriculture can be a possible solution, not yet explored.