Correlation between Socio-Economic Trends and Real Estate Dynamics in the Context of the Urban Regeneration of the Municipality of Gangi

"Over the last decades the municipality of Gangi experienced the lost of population due to the strong emigration of its inhabitants towards more developed areas such as the North of Italy. Gangi is the last town of Palermo county, located 120 Km away; it rises on the Mount Marone to an altitude of 1011 meters on the sea level. To the visitor's eyes it is occurs in all its exceptionality of ""Stone Cone"" of houses leaned to close to each other, compact and chromatically similar, separated by two great valleys, in which the rivers Gangi and RainÚ flow and with an evocative scene in the background, the majestic Etna. Gangi is an historic municipality: the town delineates an increasing organization from mount to valley: the higher part, inside the three hundred town-walls, encloses the historical centre and it is characterised by narrow lanes tightened in ancient cobblestone paving. The lower part, that is expanding, is characterized by residential constructions. This trend affected the real estate market generating vacant spaces and a downward of prices. Currently, the Local Public Authorities start to promote a large project of urban regeneration intended to settle new functions able to attract both tourism and inhabitants. This Paper aims at highlight the different scenarios able to change the current situation and to quantify the effects in terms of price growth, change of population structure and labour market."