The Italian National Strategy for Inner Areas: A Place-Based Approach to Regional Development

Italy has been characterised by a wide north–south divide since its unification and regional development policies have traditionally followed suit. The reform of the EU cohesion policy in 1988 did not break this pattern, with southern regions that continued to receive larger amounts of resources for structural interventions, while northern ones focused on industrial reconversion and innovation. A place-based experimental turn in Italian regional policy took place in 2012, with the development of the so-called National Strategy for Inner Areas, as a way to tailor the integrated expenditure of EU and domestic funds to the territorial specificities of the lagging areas of each region. Building on the results of two ESPON Targeted Analyses, the chapter critically elaborates on this experience, reflecting on its element of success and pitfalls, with particular reference to the Piedmont and Liguria regions.