Happy shopping Of course, it’s no longer like a few decades ago when this area was also dotted with many shops: the decline has been drastic and there are still shutters that remain closed forever. Even Buonacompra had to leave several victims on the field.
«Until recently – he recalls Liviana Antonioni, the “memory” barmaid of the town -, in addition to my place there were five others in this area; now there are two of us left, but as long as my health holds up I’ll keep going.” In response, the Antolini sisters, who run a historic bakery not far away, recently awarded by Ascom for the service it carries out in favor of the community, confirm that «other shops are no longer there, but we have no intention of giving up, because in addition to the loyal local customers, even people passing by stop by.”
In fact, Buonacompra is a particular case of resistance that is difficult to find in other hamlets, not only in the province of Ferrara. For years now, almost as if it were a war bulletin, Confesercenti has been communicating that in all regions there has been a continuous closure of thousands of shops, over 10 thousand in the last decade, and businesses are certainly not doing any better. The major causes of this state of affairs are known: the birth rate decline, the slowdown in consumption, large-scale distribution and the web. The situation is even more critical for small towns which, lacking what were once called neighborhood shops, find themselves deprived of essential services that made them independent for everyday life and social relations. None of this happened in Buonacompra, a lively town of 390 residents that dots the two sides of Via Bondenese for a short stretch. In this location, as many years ago, there are still essential commercial activities, extremely useful and convenient to avoid having to go to larger centres. The same cannot be said of most countries and communities of much larger dimensions. Sometimes someone complains that things could be better, but Buonacompra in this regard makes us think of the French politician and diplomat Talleyrand, when a couple of centuries ago he said that «when I consider myself I am perplexed, when I compare myself I am exalted». In fact, there is everything you need here: a newsstand and a bar complete with one-euro coffee and in the same square the only fuel station along the road that connects Cento to Bondeno. There is a public place with tobacconists and state monopoly items, a bakery with some of the longest-standing foodstuffs in the area, a well-stocked bazaar that satisfies every request, a hairdresser, a “physical” bank with some employees and a consultation desk. insurance, a mail collection point, a hairdresser and a pharmacy. But also a packaging company that employs 30 people, agricultural service companies, plant engineering and plastic processing companies. And then, again, a graphics laboratory, a carpentry shop and a historic transport cooperative founded over half a century ago. After all, even if the earthquake left deep wounds, as is evident for the church, there is no need to complain too much.
The intervention Adriano Facchini, a well-known marketing and communication expert who knows the social problems of the area in depth, is convinced that the Buonacompra model is an example to imitate: «Because – he says – small towns, if they keep some services open, could be a solution to many problems of present and future society.” The crisis in commercial activities has deep roots, explains Facchini. «Like in the sixties and seventies the exodus from our areas, which reduced the population of small towns. And then from the 90s the birth rate decline. Large-scale distribution also contributed to removing services and consequently sociality, which in addition to the low price policy also moved its sales points outside of urban centres. Behind the slogan “Convenience”, the difference between price and value has been lost.”
Facchini continues his considerations by recalling that in 2019 (5 and 6 December) he provocatively brought a representation of fifteen localists to Brussels, proposing in two meetings (first to the European press and then to a small delegation from the European Parliament) his idea of local acupuncture as therapy for the recovery of sociability and a different relationship with the environment. «Ferrara has over a quarter of its population that is elderly, much of which is in excellent condition and could be extremely useful for the new generations by putting the person back at the centre. Before Artificial Intelligence in the hands of a few was able to cause the disaster. For this reason – concludes Facchini -, virtuous realities like Buonacompra are real laboratories for recovering that social cohesion that has been lost with individualistic well-being”. A new approach to social fabric and to what years ago was defined as “local acupuncture” which can be extended to cities as urban acupuncture”.
