The Municipality of Baião participated in the second technical meeting, within the scope of the PAISACTIVO cross-border project, held on April 5th, in Ostana, an Alpine city located an hour and a half from Turin, northwest of Italy.
At this meeting, the team verified on the ground the regeneration process that began around 40 years ago and its potential for transferability to the two pilot projects in the villages of Infesta (Galicia) and Almofrela (Baião).
Ostana is a small town located in the Western Alps, in the Piedmont region, 1,300 meters above sea level. In the last century, it underwent a strong process of depopulation, going from 1,200 inhabitants in 1921 to 5 in 1985. In order to reverse the situation, based on the motivation of a visionary local administration and public-private cooperation, a process was activated innovative repopulation, meaning that, today, Ostana has 80 inhabitants throughout the year and around 500 tourists during the summer.
Its premise is to consider the mountain not only as a place of leisure, but also as a place to live. Initially, this vision was based on three main factors: the natural environment, alpine architecture and cultural heritage. Later, in the 2000s, the initiative became more complex and holistic, opening up to the creation of new networks, attracting more people and economic, cultural and educational activities.
Ostana was also the first Italian city included in the Smart Rural Areas 21 network in 2021.
Also within the framework of the PAISACTIVO project, in mid-March, the partners carried out their first visit to Kuartango, in Álava (Basque Country), a national experience in active management of rural areas.
In this second meeting, in Italy, the municipality of Baião was represented by coach Dora Pinto. Representatives of the remaining partner entities of the project were also present: Comunidade Intermunicipal do Tâmega e Sousa – CIM-TS; University of Porto; AGADER – Galician Rural Development Agency; University of Santiago de Compostela and Juana de Vega Foundation.
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