Drive for Commercial Desertification in Mountain Areas: Evidence from the Province of Sondrio (Italy), 2010–2022

	No. of municipalities	Resident population				No. of growing municipalities 2010–2022
	No. of municipalities	No. 2022	Total (%)	Balance 2010–2022	Δ% 2010–2022	No. of growing municipalities 2010–2022
Mountain communities
Valchiavenna	12	24,440	13.7	−169	−0.7	4
Valtellina di Morbegno	25	47,112	26.4	840	1.8	12
Valtellina di Sondrio	22	54,323	30.4	−2780	−4.9	3
Valtellina di Tirano	12	27,952	15.6	−1226	−4.2	2
Alta Valtellina	6	24,957	13.9	499	2.0	3
Altitude bands
Up to 300 m a.s.l.	19	50,137	28.0	1248	2.6	11
301–600 m a.s.l.	29	78,512	43.9	−2408	−3.0	7
601–900 m a.s.l.	13	16,594	9.3	−1156	−6.5	2
901–1200 m a.s.l.	10	15,382	8.6	−1244	−7.5	2
Over 1200 m a.s.l.	6	18,159	10.2	724	4.2	2
Total	77	178,784	100.0	−2836	−1.6	24

Table 2.

Local units and employees in the province of Sondrio by altitude bands, 2011 and 2020, based on ISTAT data (statistical archive of active enterprises).

Altitude bands	Total economic activities (%)		Retail trade sector (%)
Altitude bands	2011	2020	2011	2020
Local units
Up to 300 m a.s.l.	25.8	25.9	23.9	25.0
301–600 m a.s.l.	44.3	43.2	42.8	41.0
601–900 m a.s.l.	6.8	6.5	6.7	6.3
901–1200 m a.s.l.	8.7	8.2	7.5	7.7
Over 1200 m a.s.l.	14.3	16.2	19.1	20.0
Employees
Up to 300 m a.s.l.	28.8	30.4	26.0	29.7
301–600 m a.s.l.	40.6	42.2	39.7	39.6
601–900 m a.s.l.	5.9	5.7	5.0	4.4
901–1200 m a.s.l.	8.0	7.0	6.7	6.2
Over 1200 m a.s.l.	16.7	14.7	22.6	20.4
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

Table 3.

Structure of retail in the province of Sondrio, 2010 and 2022, based on Lombardy Regional Trade Observatory data and ISTAT data (population and households database).

Variables / Years	Neighbourhood shops	Medium-sized sales facilities	Large sales facilities	Total	Neighbourhood shops in total (%)
No. of shops
2010	3123	292	8	3423	91.2
2022	2850	303	9	3162	90.1
Balance	−273	11	1	−261	−1.1
Food sqm
2010	49,622	27,987	13,022	90,631	54.8
2022	46,717	31,207	13,091	91,015	51.3
Balance	−2905	3220	69	384	−3.5
Non-food sqm
2010	137,980	93,277	32,382	263,639	52.3
2022	127,429	106,494	41,373	275,296	46.3
Balance	−10,551	13,217	8991	11,657	−6.0
Total sqm
2010	187,602	121,264	45,404	354,270	53.0
2022	174,146	137,701	54,464	366,311	47.5
Balance	−13,456	16,437	9060	12,041	−5.5

Food retail density indices in the province of Sondrio, 2010 and 2022 based on Lombardy Regional Trade Observatory data and ISTAT data (population and households database).

Table 4.

Cases of under-provision and absence of food retail in the province of Sondrio, 2022, based on Lombardy Regional Trade Observatory data and ISTAT data (population and households database).

	Total no. of municipalities	Compared to: shops			Compared to: sales area
	Total no. of municipalities	No. of municipalities	Resident population	Resident population (%)	No. of municipalities	Resident population	Resident population (%)
Mountain communities
Valchiavenna	12	7	11,862	48.5	8	12,829	52.5
Valtellina di Morbegno	25	11	15,911	33.8	15	16,918	35.9
Valtellina di Sondrio	22	9	18,121	33.4	10	17,725	32.6
Valtellina di Tirano	12	3	1705	6.1	7	20,946	74.9
Alta Valtellina	6	3	10,226	41.0	4	14,156	56.7
Altitude bands
Up to 300 m a.s.l.	19	9	20,876	41.6	9	20,005	39.9
301–600 m a.s.l.	29	15	24,088	30.7	17	31,525	40.2
601–900 m a.s.l.	13	4	2309	13.9	10	15,059	90.7
901–1200 m a.s.l.	10	3	3920	25.5	6	9353	60.8
Oltre 1200 m a.s.l.	6	2	6632	36.5	2	6632	36.5
Total	77	33	57,825	32.3	44	82,574	46.2

Classification of municipalities according to food retail density and profile of municipalities A and C based on ISTAT data, various databases (population and households, tourism, general population census, statistical archive of active enterprises).

Table 5.

Profile of the 29 municipalities of types A and C, average values based on ISTAT data, various databases (population and households, tourism, general population census, statistical archive of active enterprises).

Variables	Municipalities profile A (6)	Municipalities profile C (23)	Total municipalities province of Sondrio (77)
Change in resident population, 2010–2022 (%)	−1.8	−2.6	−3.5
Inhabitants / sq km, 2022	57.6	94.8	117.2
Beds in hotel and non-hotel facilities / 100 inhabitants, 2019	6.2	13.6	20.8
Employees / 100 inhabitants, 2020	9.6	22.5	26.6
Index of attraction in settlement networks, 2011	18.7	19.6	24.1
Index of self-containment, 2019	12.1	24.2	30.5

1 Index of attraction in settlement networks = [De / (De + Du + Di)] × 100,

1 Index of self-containment = [Di / (Di + Du)] × 100,

1 where: De – labour displacements entering the municipality; Du – labour displacements out of the municipality; Di – movements for work within the municipality.