In Levigliani, the municipality offers housing and work for all, but without subsidies.

Giorgio works in the marble quarries and specializes in cutting blocks of stone from the rock. Anna, on the other hand, is a guide and accompanies tourists on visits to the marble quarries. marble Arabescato Corchia, which is extracted on the slopes of the Mount Corchia and has shaped the local economy for generations. Luca is an environmental guide on trekking routes along the paths of the Apuan Alps. Giorgio, Anna, and Luca work in the same cooperative, Sviluppo e Futuro, in the village of Levigliani, in the municipality of Stazzema, in the province of Lucca, where a small miracle has occurred: all the inhabitants (350 residents) have a home and a job.

And this is not thanks to the administration's subsidies, but why in this village a development model has been consolidated in which they share property, work and income. The wealth, as always in these cases, comes from the territory, and in particular from Monte Corchia, one of the largest karst areas in the Apuan Alps, with an underground complex of over 70 km of caves, among which stands out theCorchia cave, one of the largest and most spectacular caves in Italy. The prosperity that thrives in the heart of the mountain comes from two sources: the processing of marble, which is of the highest quality and is found in abundance here; and local tourism, especially speleological tourism, which includes caves, mines, and quarries. open-air museums, where visitors can understand the economic and social history of the area.

The inhabitants of Levigliani They jointly manage their local wealth through a governing body, Beni Comuni, and two cooperatives, Sviluppo e Futuro and Condomini. "Thanks to the sustainability of this model, we're combating depopulation," says Emiliano Babboni, president of the Sviluppo e Futuro Cooperative. He also points out that not only is there no depopulation problem in the village of Levigliani, but there are also some young people who have asked to return to their small hometown.