The Amatrician economy before the earthquake
Prior to the August 2016 earthquake, the local economy supported a variety of productive activities in the Amatrice Valley. Periodic “cashflow injections” were limited to the arrival of tourists over the weekends or during summertime months (specifically July and August) and from particular cultural and gastronomic events – such as the Spaghetti all’Amatriciana Festival and the footrace -Amatrice-Cofigno. These events increased the marketing of local products.
After ther earthquake
The earthquake abruptly interrupted the economic cycle. The use of infrastructure and organizational tools offer solutions for eco-sustainability activities for the economic recovery of the Amatriciana Valley – a “crucial” territory of central Italy throughout history.
The structural problems of the local economy – linked to the small size of local companies – have been aggravated by the earthquake, despite the high demand for Amatrice products in the marketplace.
Valorization of the territory
The rationalization of products and consortium unions between small companies can represent solutions aimed to increase the quantity, particularly the quality of Amatrician products in the marketplace. One of the starting points is the enhancement of the DeCo products available in the area.
The synergy between the Municipality and DeCo producers is necessary to strengthen the production chain and help companies that were badly affected by the earthquake. Thus, the Association intends to provide financial and technical resources to producers interested in resuming their activities. In this perspective, scholarships have been activated, in collaboration with the Department of Agricultural and Forest Sciences (DAFNE) of the University of Tuscia, on the topic of use or reuse of arable land by planting high quality fruit or nut trees.
There is no need to invest substantial amounts of money to implement micro-operations such as providing storage containers for local products. The use of machinery for artisans or small companies also increases the amount of jobs in the region.
The productive and corporate sectors of Amatrice are historically characterized by small-scale operations. Business plans and targeted content may be adequate to purchase and manage support machinery. However, small local businesses often lack simple but essential items such as a kneading machine, a kiln, or an oven. To overcome these shortcomings, regular meetings were held between DeCo producers and Amatrice dealers.
The brand Made in Amatrice
After the earthquake, the market rediscovered the products from Amatrice. However, manipulative traders – to take advantage of the situation – bought products outside of Amatrice to sell them as authentic. To stop speculations, the brand “MADE IN AMATRICE” was created. The brand is a free-of-charge concession given to the AMATRICE Municipality. In addition, we proposed the creation of an official Amatrice store to sell products in the country.
For this purpose, we are planning to construct a store located in Via Salaria. This location will be where all authentic Amatrician products can be found, including the contact of all producers. This is similar to an Autogrill service area along the highway, which sells only local products.
Popularize the brand "Made in Amatrice"
Along with the current DeCo products, it is appropriate to introduce additional products, to serve as a reminder of the area – For example, it would be beneficial to provide guide books, maps, DVDs, hoodies, and T-shirts with the brand AMATRICE.
In addition, the installation of recharging columns for electric cars and free Wi-Fi will allow users to be contacted and notified of precise events in the area during the year.
These potential ideas for projects are inspired by strong values, experiences, and analyzes carried out on other territorial and market contexts in Italy and abroad.
The proposed project described above was presented to institutional representatives of the Lazio Region, and received positive feedback for the content, approach, and consolidated vision of the difficult situation. The Association Terra di Amatrice ONLUS has also expanded an implementation methodology to make the phases of project development and operational deployment more effective and efficient.