Mountain:another 230 million subsidies from the government for the ski "monoculture".

With a provision published a few days before the elections, the Meloni government has allocated another 230 million euros of public funds (after 200 last year) for the benefit of new ski lifts and artificial snow systems for ski slopes.The decision not only contrasts with what has been reported for many years by committees and mountain communities which denounce how mass skiing is harmful to the territories from a social and environmental point of view, but also with what was recently put in black and white by the Bank of Italy in 2022 which, in a report, explained how artificial snow (and the practice of alpine skiing) are no longer economically sustainable due to the ever decreasing presence of snowfall due to overheating.Furthermore, artificial snow causes great water consumption and pollution of the territories due to the chemical substances used in the production of synthetic snow, and is therefore particularly impacting on an environmental level.

THE'announcement of the Ministry of Tourism was released on 3 June, just 5 days after European elections 2024.According to the new I notify, will be financed just under 230 million of euros for the ski lifts and the so-called practices of snow farming, i.e. that series of techniques that produce, accumulate and conserve artificial snow beyond the winter period in established storage sites ad hoc.Specifically, these 230 million will be valid for the five-year period 2024-2028, even if the executive always has the power to update the allocation annually.From what we read in the document, the 60% of the total sum will be dedicated to the Alpine areas, while the 40% to those of the Apennines;beyond that, the 15% of the amount would be reserved "for companies with the characteristics of Microenterprise or Small Enterprise".Of the total sum, then, 1.5 million will be directed to the projects of snow farming, While 5 million will be dedicated to the "reconstruction of the Mottarone cable car, following the accident of 23 May 2021".To apply, interested companies must be engaged in carrying out an activity referring to three different ATECO codes, and must spend a figure not less than 300,000;refunds exceeding 10 million euros per individual company will not be guaranteed.

Faced with the continuous relaunch of funding to keep the sector afloat, activities related to mass skiing have been the subject of criticism and doubts from numerous entities for years.From an economic point of view, the same thing was said Bank of Italy in a short report written jointly by Gioia Maria Mariani and Diego Scalise, and published in December 2022.According to the data analyzes advanced by the researchers, there is no correlation between the use of snow cannons and tourist flow:essentially, the use of artificial snow would not increase tourist flows in such a way as to be able to cover the costs, which are particularly large.Furthermore, given the effects of climate change, within a few years these systems they just can't be used in structures located at low altitude, for reasons due to the excessive rise in temperature.In short, according to the study by the Bank of Italy, the use of cannons and artificial snow production technologies would not be economically sustainable, and would indeed be the source of a significant financial, environmental and energy impact.

Various groups have arrived to look at the problem from a broader perspective, and the many protests that have hit Italy over the years have taken care of it, starting from Brescia to get to everything Veneto.Also the Italian Alpine Club in 2020 he drafted a document entitled “Climate change, snow, ski industry:analysis of the context, perspectives and proposals", in which he proposes a new model on which to base the life of mountain communities.According to the CAI, the problems of the mountains are systemic, and cannot be solved by trying to save an unsustainable model based on mass tourism.To do so, rather, the entire social fabric would need to be re-signified and it would be necessary “guarantee certainty in the availability and diffusion of essential services and infrastructures"such as schools, pharmacies, functioning means of transport, community centers, banking services... in short, the entire structure should change, which is based on a "monoculture" of skiing, and a more sustainable, diversified and citizen-friendly community model.

[by Dario Lucisano]