resettlement plan is only modest in size compared to the continuing high numbers of arrivals . As such , there still persists a dilemma for how to handle the many refugees and asylum-seekers who remain in EU border countries such as Italy and Greece .
One model for how to constructively deal with this crisis has emerged throughout southern Italy . As many as 6,000 ghost towns exist in Italy that have been partially or entirely abandoned over the years due to reasons as varied as pirate sacks , war bombings , harsh conditions , natural disasters , and emigration . Many other small towns on the peninsula are shrinking due to high levels of youth unemployment as the younger generation relocates to the cities , leaving behind an aging population . In these towns , there are too few workers and too many retirees to fill the labor gap for jobs most Italians are unwilling to do , such as manual labor of picking olives and oranges .
As an alternative to relegating refugees and asylum-seekers into refugee camps , some small towns across southern Italy have decided to host them instead , rejuvenating their dying towns and filling this labor gap in the process . For example , the small , impoverished town of Satriano in the Calabria region of Italy has shrunk by 75 % over the past 50 years ( from its prior population of 4,000 in the 1960s ) as people have emigrated elsewhere for work . Since 2014 , however , it has hosted 21 migrants from Pakistan , Somalia , and Mali . The 1,500- inhabitant town of Sutera in central Sicily has taken hosting refugees one step further . After the Lampedusa tragedy in October 2013 in which 366 migrants died off the coast of an Italian island in a shipwreck , the mayor of Sutera opened the town to refugees , now hosting 34 from the Middle East and Africa . However , “[ u ] nlike in other Italian towns and cities where migrants are placed in vacant buildings on the edge of town and left to fend for themselves , in Sutera each refugee is entrusted to a local family charged with helping them to integrate ,” ( Browne ). Sutera ’ s refugees are also taught Italian lessons , and the town celebrates a “ festival of hospitality ” to showcase the refugees ’ cultures .
Across southern Italy , small , often poor , and isolated Italian towns are thus showing remarkable generosity to recent refugees and making them feel welcome , remembering times past when Italians have had to emigrate and have found welcome across the world as migrants themselves . Satriano and other Italian villages now form part of SPRAR – the Protection System of Refugees and Asylum Seekers – a national network created by the Italian government and composed of 382 municipalities working together to resettle people and rejuvenate towns . SPRAR hopes to offer a potential model to be used across Europe as many EU countries continue to face the challenge of swiftly increasing migrant populations .
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