Italian inner areas' strategic plans - A textual network analysis of the Appennino Emiliano and Madonie case studies

In 2012, the Italian government introduced the National Strategy for Inner Areas (SNAI accordingly with the Italian acronym). Local authorities and actors in inner areas were involved in the identification of the strengths and weaknesses of their territory and in the definition of development actions. This study proposes a textual network analysis of the strategic plans produced by two areas participating in the SNAI pilot project, one from the Centre-North of Italy (the Appennino Emiliano area) and one from the Southern part of the country (the Madonie area in Sicily). The analysis reveals that similarities between the two strategic plans emerge when the focus is on the territory and economic-related themes. At the same time, differences arise concerning the meaning and importance attributed to networking