The book deals with the stereotyped image of “mountain regions” as symbol of “problem regions” and the need to overcome it, in order to consider “mountain regions” as “resources regions”. The concept of ‘resource’ can be a close concept, that is to say limited to an economic point of view, or an open concept, which comprehends many elements such as the environment, the local culture and know-how, the local communities. It is in this open perspective that the sustainable development of mountain regions must be planned. The Author analyses all the critical aspects which constitute mountains areas from an interdisciplinary point of view, such as demography, employment, depopulation, good governance and environment, trying to define what a mountain region is and how it can be considered as a sort of “laboratory” where new experiences of sustainbility can be promoted and implemented.