Smart villages in Italy: an innovative model to revitalise local development

In Italy, smart villages are supported by the CAP Strategic Plan (CSP) through two main interventions: cooperation for rural development, local development and smart villages and LEADER. At regional level, ten Regions that have activated the intervention 'SRG07 Smart Villages' (Basilicata, Campania, Liguria, Lombardia, Marche, Piemonte, Sicilia, Toscana, Umbria and Veneto). The aim is to build an integrated and coordinated vision of rural development that addresses common challenges related to local food systems and promotes replicable cooperative models. At local level, smart villages are supported through LEADER, implemented locally by the Local Action Groups (LAGs).

LEADER: the ideal foundation for smart villages

It is within LEADER that smart villages finds the most favourable context, thanks to the convergence between the principles of the two approaches and the role played by Local Action Groups (LAGs) in fostering cooperation, social innovation and local capacity building.

Over half of all Italian LAGs selected for 2023-2027 included at least one smart village related intervention in their strategies. The main topics covered are rural tourism (32%) and food systems (24%), emphasising food communities as integrated networks of local production, processing and consumption that directly involve farmers and agri-food enterprises. Social and economic inclusion initiatives (22%) aim to counter isolation by revitalising shared spaces and strengthening community identity, while environmental sustainability (16%) focuses on rural energy communities and agriculture's contribution to the green transition. In the remaining 6% of cases, no main topic is indicated.

By December 2025, around 30 LEADER calls had been published in support of integrated territorial projects and smart village initiatives, with most LAGs planning to begin implementation in 2026.

Mentoring and co-design

The success of smart villages depends not only on funding but also on structured pathways through mentoring to support communities in designing projects in a participatory manner, as demonstrated by the examples below.

The LAG Escartons e Valli Valdesi in Piedmont developed an exemplary three-stage process for potential beneficiaries: capacity building with expressions of interest and training on participatory planning; financial support to define strategies through the smart village intervention; and investment support via other Local Development Strategy interventions.

The LAG Colline Bergamasche in Lombardy organised community labs on youth, services, environment and agriculture, involving local residents in identifying territorial priorities. The LAG Tradizione delle Terre Occitane organised four training sessions for potential beneficiaries on technical topics like project logic, stakeholder engagement and governance models.

Building on existing experiences

The smart village approach in Italy predates the current programming period. Several LAGs piloted innovative projects during 2014-2022.

Among the most significant experiences are the project communities of LAG Maiella Verde (Abruzzo), integrated initiatives that engaged over 200 local stakeholders – public bodies, farms, associations and citizens – on themes such as social agriculture, experiential tourism, culture and energy. For example, ‘Trigno residenza diffusa’ used telemedicine and home care to improve the quality of life for older people in remote areas. This community project also restored buildings for recreational and cultural purposes, promoting socialisation among the elderly, and introduced essential services such as community transport, telecare and laundry delivery, thus stimulating economic activities and revitalising the territory.

The LEADER transnational cooperation project ‘SEROI+ Smart Villages’ promoted by the LAG Valle d’Aosta with Irish and Finnish partners, countered isolation and gaps in services through digital solutions. Using the SEROI+ (Social, Environmental, Economic Return on Investment+) methodology, local communities co-designed services while assessing their economic, social and environmental impact. In the Valle d'Aosta region, digital help desks were established in libraries and digital literacy courses were launched, promoting inclusion and reducing the digital divide.

Another example, highlighted by the Smart Rural 27 Project as a lighthouse community, is the municipality of Ostana in Piedmont, which has reversed depopulation and transformed itself into an Alpine innovation laboratory by combining sustainable development, active community participation and research collaboration.

The SRG07 Smart Village intervention also draws on the innovative experience of the Community Regeneration Projects (PdC) in Tuscany. These initiatives, based on public-private partnerships and co-design, play a strategic role – through LAG facilitation – in generating economies of scale and collective services for different sectors in rural areas.

The role of the Italian CAP Network

The Italian CAP Network actively supports the smart village approach through initiatives such as Smart Rural Hub, a collaborative laboratory enhancing LAGs' expertise in implementing smart village strategies. Workshops, webinars and labs share practical methodologies and tools, including the Smart Village Methodological Guide.

The workshop ‘Smart Villages and Smart Communities in Local Development Strategies: Methodologies and Operational Tools’, held in Bardonecchia (Turin) in October 2024, offered concrete support for defining and launching smart village strategies and smart community projects, through in-depth discussion of indicators, enabling factors and operational tools. The ‘Community Yards’ initiative (June-July 2025) explored instruments for facilitating cooperation processes and criteria for selecting smart village projects, creating knowledge and expertise across territories.

A glimpse into the future

Smart villages represent a paradigm shift in rural development thinking: not merely bringing technology to small municipalities, but placing communities back at the centre and valuing their knowledge and capacity for innovation.

In a country where inland areas face increasing difficulties, smart villages offer a tangible prospect: territories not passively resisting depopulation, but regenerating through cooperation, innovation and rediscovery of their own value. Success will depend on maintaining active participation and transforming strategies into concrete projects that genuinely improve people's daily lives.

Technical information

In Italy, the CAP is implemented according to a regionalised model, in which the national CAP Strategic Plan (CSP) is accompanied by 21 rural development complements (CSRs), one for each of the 19 regions and two autonomous provinces into which the country is structured.

Smart Villages are supported by the CSP through two main interventions: cooperation for rural development, local development and smart villages (SRG07), and LEADER (SRG06), promoting territorial resilience across four areas: local food systems and supply chains, rural tourism, social and economic inclusion, and environmental sustainability. The approach is multi-sectoral, involving farmers, tourism operators, public bodies and associations.

Financially, projects can be supported in two ways: either through a global grant (covering both cooperation costs and operational activities) or by funding only cooperation costs, while operations are financed through other CSP interventions, or national or European funds.

A total of 469 smart village strategies (Result indicator 40) are expected to be supported by the two CSP interventions of smart villages (SRG07) and LEADER (SRG06) in the Italian CSP. R40 is ‘Smart transition of the rural economy' and measures the 'Number of supported smart-village strategies, broken down as follows: