International reporting

In Italy, Recoaro Terme dreams of a new lease of life thanks to European funds

Audio 02:35

A view of the thermal baths of Recoaro Terme, a mid-mountain village in northern Italy.

(Illustration image taken in 2014) UCG/Universal Images Group via G - UCG

By: Pauline Gleize Follow

3 mins

Italy, the first country to benefit from the Next-Generation EU European recovery plan, dedicates part of its funds to the revitalization of abandoned or declining villages.

An envelope of one billion euros should give a boost to 250 villages.

Most will be able to get just over a million and a half euros.

A few lucky ones, one per region, are entitled to 20 million euros.

In Veneto, the lucky winner is Recoaro Terme 

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On this market day, Recoaro Terme is bustling.

The spa is not a ghost town, but the mayor, Armando Cunegato, sees the number of his constituents eroding.

“ 

Unfortunately, there has been no generational renewal.

The young people leave.

It's a village of "old people"

 , he regrets.

Tourism has collapsed.

Of the 200,000 visitors in 1997, only 15,000 remain. The town bears the marks of this disaffection.

“ 

That's an abandoned hotel restaurant.

One of many.

 “, deplores the mayor again.

A blow for this village which once attracted the elite seduced by its thermal baths nestled in a green setting.

In the thermal baths, not a curist since 2019. Only the voices of a small group on a working visit resound.

The town hall concentrates its efforts on this place.

We have earmarked 11 million euros for the thermal complex to restore it at least in part, to modernize it with swimming pools... Because we must have medical services, but also leisure activities.

 »

Armando Cunegato hopes that a public-private partnership will make it possible to enlarge the envelope.

The remaining 9 million will mainly be spent in the center of the village.

“ 

We are on the main street.

On the right, we have the municipal theater whose interior must be renovated.

We are also going to restore the town hall and we have planned to redo the facades of the old houses in the Art Nouveau style,

specifies the mayor

.

And there, we have the Caffé Nazionale.

We will create a hotel reserved for artists.

 And not all funds will go to stone.

“ 

We have allocated funds to financing start-ups.

We must bring young people back, recreate jobs to regenerate the territory 

, ”insists the city councilor.

Attract investors

In her perfumery, Erica Santagiuliana salutes the project, in particular the effort made on the thermal baths.

“ 

We hope that the recovery plan is only a first straw and that then it brings in other investors, and above all that it gives us a little confidence, because we really need it.

 »

Confident, Francesco Dora, of the Al Castello hotel, is not completely confident.

He would have liked traders to be more involved.

Francesco Dora hopes in any case that the project will be well managed.

“ 

You have to be very careful, because there is so much money.

From an extraordinary development opportunity, these funds could become the tombstone of the village,

worries the hotelier

.

The thermal baths completely under construction would not be usable, work left in plan would be destructive. 

»

The work must be completed by mid-2026 at the latest.

A tight deadline, recognizes Armando Cunegato.

So the mayor pleads for a reduction in bureaucracy.

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