Abstract: What does an empty square mean for the future of a rural community? This question has been buzzing in my head since spring 2020 when my country, Italy, entered its first lockdown period due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I am an economic anthropologist. Since the mid-2000s my research has focused on the development of local communities in rural areas of Italy. Specifically, I have been investigating the role played by folk food festivals, the so-called sagre, using ethnographic research in north-western Italy, an area often studied by anthropologist...
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