ABSTRACT
This chapter1 tries to reflect on the issue of local development in marginal rural areas and to analyse the role played in such processes by social capital. The association between the two concepts derives from the dissatisfaction with the way local development topics are often dealt with by economics and in particular with the brevity of attention paid to the local community in such a literature. The concept of ‘social capital’ can indeed prove very useful in trying to interpret what are some of the prerequisites for the implementation of efficacious actions and projects aimed at the socio-economic development of disadvantaged communities and how certain ‘motionless’ and backward regions can start up unexpected development processes.
