6 awards among the 190 villages that aim to rediscover the Italian towns as places to live, sustain and preserve: they are the Authentic Villages in Emilia-Romagna.

Discover them one by one with the specific blogposts, created for our column about villages:

1. Berceto, border country
2. Savignano sul Panaro, between vineyards and oaks
3. Bertinoro, a city of wine and hospitality
4. Modigliana, the medieval fortress of the Guidi Counts
5. Predappio, a rationalist inheritance
6. The Romagna hill-town Municipalities around Forlì.

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  Berceto (PR) | Ph. Bjørn-Christian-Tørrissen

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  Savignano sul Panaro (MO) | Ph. Tania Bertoni via TerrediCastelli

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  Bertinoro (FC) | Ph. Era Dajci

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  Modigliana (FC) | Ph. @mile_di87

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  Predappio (FC) | Ph. Perkele

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  The hill-town municipalities around Forlì, Meldola Fortress | Ph. Umberto Paganini Paganelli

Borghi Autentici d’Italia (Italy’s Authentic Villages) is an association that brings together small and medium-sized municipalities. The protagonists are the communities, administrators along with the economic, social and cultural operators of the places that are committed to a present and a future of quality, sustainability and innovation.

These are realities that do not complain about problems and decadency. They are aware that they own the resources and the opportunities to create a new development.

First of all, in order to join, the Municipalities must take a look at the Manifesto of the Authentic Villages, which states that the Communities should be open, supportive and aware, run by effective governance.

Most importantly the Communities need to sit in a village, a stage of cultural production. The presence of young people – the real future of the village – is also required, as well as productive know-how.

Adhering is a real path of development that teaches how to use current assets, resources and opportunities for concrete strategies to improve the social, environmental and local production context. Living and working in that place becomes something appealing for the inhabitants.

Therefore the local community must be conceived as a decisive element of development. Good living, taste, traditions, creative know-how, and a soft social dimension will be the basis of that “Hospitable Community”, the protagonist of a new “Soft Economy” that’s ready to open up to the outside and to the tourism.

Visiting one of the 190 Authentic Villages of Italy means discovering a hidden Italy, deciding to accompany the communities along this path and sharing, consciously, the philosophy and their way of living.