The Phenomenon of the Depopulation of Tourist Villages. A Graphic Approach for the Enhancement of the Amalfi Coast Small Towns

The phenomenon of the depopulation of smaller towns, which has been increasingly evident in recent years, represents a complex problem to be faced. In some cases, this problem also concerns areas with a strong tourist vocation but which seem to offer few job opportunities. This is due to endogenous factors of a geomorphological or economic nature. The Amalfi Coast is a particularly significant example: it is sensitive to the relocation of the population – above all due to the inaccessible nature of the places – in favour of more easily accessible and better equipped urbanized contexts. In these cases, it is essential to trigger a virtuous mechanism that, by exploiting the positive impact of tourism on local communities, can contribute to their concrete development. In this, a fundamental role is played by representation: it constitutes an indispensable premise for the enhancement of a context and the dissemination of Cultural Heritage. The contribution wanted to illustrate the role of representation as an instrument of knowledge and communication of even complex realities. Drawing allows us to focus on the visible aspects of the cultural heritage – architectural, artistic, naturalistic; at the same time, to interpret intangible elements, decode the aggregative logic, the dynamics of the flows that run through it, the consistency or variability over time of the phenomena that distinguish it. Reading space through drawing, therefore, means following a critical approach that leads to deeper knowledge, not limited to the external aspect of the forms but rather aimed at relationships, spatiality, phenomenological processes that generate the built reality of those villages, contributing as well as to their enhancement and promotion.