Space · Neighbourhood or village
Riace
Riace (Reggio Calabria) · Calabria · Italy
A small Calabrian municipality that since 1998 has hosted refugees and asylum seekers in the empty houses of its old town, to halt demographic decline. The Riace model, driven by mayor Domenico Lucano, became an international reference for reception as rural revival, and also the centre of a judicial process over the management of public funds. The Supreme Court upheld a conviction for document forgery with a suspended sentence in 2025, and in 2026 Lucano was still mayor, re-elected in 2024, with the possible loss of office still unresolved.
- Led by
- The Città Futura association and Riace town council, driven by Domenico Lucano
- Status
- Active
- Participation
- Institution led, participatory
- Visitable
- Freely accessible village, with murals from the welcome project in the old town
- Website
- www.comune.riace.rc.it ↗
- Contact
- No public contact on record
- Last reviewed
- 1 September 2026
Verification
Partially verified
This place has at least one source on record and awaits a second one for contrast. Full verification will arrive in the review phase of the atlas.
- Verified two sources including a primary one, or first-hand knowledge of the place
- Partial one source on record
- Unverified starting knowledge, sources pending
Sources
- La storia di Mimmo Lucano e del modello Riace: ascesa e caduta ↗ · secondary source · consulted on 1 September 2026 · Quotidiano Nazionale
- Caso Riace, Lucano condannato a 18 mesi, la Cassazione conferma ↗ · secondary source · consulted on 1 September 2026 · AGI
- Mimmo Lucano torna sindaco di Riace: sospesa la decadenza in attesa della Cassazione ↗ · secondary source · consulted on 1 September 2026 · Il Fatto Quotidiano