Reducing Pandemic Risks Might Revive 2,300 Abandoned Italian Villages

A deserted San Marco square in Venice on Sunday (March 8), the
first day of the lockdown. AFP.
A deserted San Marco square in Venice on Sunday (March 8), the first day of the lockdown. AFP.
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Reducing Pandemic Risks Might Revive 2,300 Abandoned Italian Villages

A deserted San Marco square in Venice on Sunday (March 8), the
first day of the lockdown. AFP.
A deserted San Marco square in Venice on Sunday (March 8), the first day of the lockdown. AFP.

Italian architects are urging to reduce the risk of future pandemics by encouraging people to leave cities and repopulate abandoned villages in the mountains and countryside.

Simply returning to life as it was before the new coronavirus ravaged northern Italy and forced a nationwide lockdown would be foolish, said architect Stefano Boeri, who is known for his ecologically friendly skyscrapers in Milan.

"Normality is one of the causes of this disaster. It's time to take courageous and pragmatic decisions," said Boeri, whose tree-covered, high-rise apartment blocks dominate the skyline in the capital of the Lombardy region.

According to AFP, Boeri has joined up with other architects, sociologists, anthropologists and town planners to draw up suggestions for how the emergency can be used to change the way people live and prevent cities from becoming "contamination bombs."

Massimiliano Fuksas, one of Europe's most renowned architects, said he predicted a sharp jump in people leaving the cities for the countryside as the lockdown gradually lifts, just as happened in Italy in the 1970s.
"Young people fled cities beset by terrorism, the economic crisis and drugs. It'll happen again," he said in an interview with the Repubblica daily.

"Scientists say the virus is weaker in the countryside, not just because there are fewer social contacts but because the wind blows, there's less metal and plastic, and if you're close to the sea the air is full of iodine," added Fuksas, who is behind the Zenith music hall in Strasbourg and Milan Exhibition Center.

Italy has 5,800 villages with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants each. More than 2,300 of those villages are virtually abandoned, according to Boeri.

From the mountaintop hamlet of Ligosullo in northern Italy to the medieval village of Casalvecchio Siculo in the Sicilian south, numerous already-small territories have shrunk by over half in the last 50 years, official figures show.

The government could "adopt" them and lure new residents there, thus relieving pressure on cities, by providing tax incentives as well as improving transport links and installing broadband to allow working from home.

Italy's culture ministry is mulling the idea of subsidizing holidays to help the tourism industry recover once the lockdown ends, and hopes to prevent overcrowded beaches by persuading some Italians to visit historic hamlets instead.



Iceland Engulfed by Volcanic Cloud

Smoke and lava rise from a volcano eruption near Reykjanes, Iceland, 19 July 2025. EPA/JAKOB VEGERFORS
Smoke and lava rise from a volcano eruption near Reykjanes, Iceland, 19 July 2025. EPA/JAKOB VEGERFORS
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Iceland Engulfed by Volcanic Cloud

Smoke and lava rise from a volcano eruption near Reykjanes, Iceland, 19 July 2025. EPA/JAKOB VEGERFORS
Smoke and lava rise from a volcano eruption near Reykjanes, Iceland, 19 July 2025. EPA/JAKOB VEGERFORS

Iceland experts on Monday blamed a lack of wind for a volcanic cloud that has lingered over much of the island since an eruption last week.

Two craters of a volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula spewed out the sulphur-packed cloud on Wednesday, AFP reported.

The thick haze has left the capital Reykjavik and the southwest of the country in a pollution red alert, the highest level in Iceland's monitoring system.

Hylnur Arnason of the Icelandic Energy and Environment Agency said that volcanic eruptions normally cause air pollution, mainly from the sulphur dioxide that is emitted. The gas becomes sulfate in the atmosphere, creating a volcanic fog.

"It's completely misty in large parts of the country," said Arnason.

"Usually in Iceland we have lots of wind, which would carry the pollution away, but right now we don't," the expert added. "Now it's kind of just sitting over the whole country."

Arnason said the gas was not toxic but could be an "irritant".

The environment agency has recommended that vulnerable people should remain at home and take precautions against the pollution. The wind was expected to start strengthening again late Monday.