The abandoned churches of Italy Causes, significances and future management possibilities

To commence this conference, the following essay presents the results of the Church Census for the Diocese of Bologna in comparison with national statistics regarding the number of churches and priests in other Italian dioceses. The Census of Italian Churches is then contextualized in a sequence of historical representations within the ecclesiastical landscape, reflecting an evaluation with regards to a new orderliness and its potential usefulness both in relation to a deeper knowledge of the buildings and to a more efficient management. The distribution of Churches in the dioceses of Bologna confirms the national trend which displays a higher density in rural areas and a residential decline, where the clergy is not interested in starting processes of restoration and promotion. Given these results, it is then necessary to expand social and institutional programs in order to generate territorial plans aimed to manage not a single church but their plurality which emerges in the landscape as a real territorial infrastructure.