Italy is a popular holiday destination that suffers considerably from mass tourism in many locations. Yet, there is also a whole other side to this country. For there are quite a few ghost towns in Italy, where the population has moved away and the government just cannot manage to breathe new life into them. Small villages that didn’t have enough to offer especially for young generations, so they moved to the big cities. Due to an ageing population, fewer and fewer people remain and the government has set up various projects to sell houses for a euro, for example. The conditions are then, for example, that you have to live there for at least 10 years, or also set up a business. Think of a bakery, hotel or restaurant. These projects are not very successful, but there are still a number of villages that have been revived and are now popular tourist attractions.

No uncommon phenomenon

The emptying of small villages is nothing new. If you look at the history of the whole world, you can see that people always look for economic opportunities. Port cities were always a source of activity, but with the developments of cars, trucks and planes, for example, that has also declined somewhat. There are now multiple forms of transport, so a port city is no longer necessarily the rich city of the country. Also with the rise of factories, people moved to the towns and villages near these factories, to look for work. And today, most work can be found in the cities. You might be able to work in a supermarket in a small village, on a farm or at a local handyman, but if you want to work for a big company and make a career, you have to be in the city.

What makes the situation in Italy trickier is that the ageing population is running faster there than in other countries and the economy is not too strong. Within a borderless Europe, that not only means that young people leave for the city for career opportunities, but also regularly that that city is not in Italy. As a result, the emptiness goes even faster and there are fewer opportunities for entrepreneurs to set up something new in smaller villages and towns.

Yet there have been some entrepreneurs who did seize that opportunity, breathing new life into ghost villages in Italy.

Alberobello

Alberobello, now world-famous for its unique trulli houses, was almost deserted some 30/40 years ago. Most of the houses were falling into disrepair and only a handful of people who were attached to their village still lived there. A real estate investor decided to buy up some of the trulli and refurbish them, and soon more people followed. Those who still lived in the village also started working on their cottages and some bought a second trullo to rent out. In 1996, the village was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, so it finally started to get attention.

Today, it is a popular holiday destination and the trulli have been transformed into accommodation, artists’ workshops, shops and restaurants. The villages in the area where you will come across a trullo here and there have also become more popular. Locorotondo and Martina Franca, among others, benefit from Alberobello’s success. Alberobello does win out in visitor numbers. In fact, you’ll find the most trulli together here, which looks special.

In fact, Alberobello is now so popular that it is on the verge of mass tourism. It is incredibly busy in the summer months, and this popularity also causes, for example, increased costs in maintenance. That is the flip side of success, there is a tipping point where the revival turns from a ghost town, into a town flooded by tourists, driving away the locals.

Matera

Another good example nearby is Matera. Once known as the ‘shame of Italy’ because it was a figurehead of poverty and disease. The cave dwellings, also called ‘Sassi’, were hotbeds of disease in the 1950s, as there were hardly any facilities and people lived in them along with goats, among others. Residents were evacuated and the caves fell into disrepair, until a ghost town remained. Yet Matera has never been completely deserted. Indeed, it is the city that has remained inhabited for the longest continuous period. Those who stayed behind found ways to fix up their Sassi a bit and make them more habitable.

Again, entrepreneurs and investors eventually descended on the town, pumping money into restoration. The Sassi were provided with running water and electricity to make them livable, but also to rent them out as accommodation for tourists. You can now find some unique cave hotels, where you can experience for yourself what it is like to live in a Sassi.

This certainly comes with flaws at times. Due to the lack of windows and ventilation, it is actually always humid. Some hotels have invested a little more in air filtration, making it feel better. Also, in summer, the Sassi are probably less humid than in rainy periods. But a unique stay is guaranteed! The city is also home to a cave church and several Sassi preserved in their original state, which you can visit as a museum.

In 2019, Matera was awarded the title of European Capital of Culture, with the aim of putting the city on the map as a ‘slow-travel’ destination. A city where you are temporarily welcomed as an extra resident and where you hopefully stay a bit longer than one or two days. Whether it really succeeded in doing that is unclear. That it has put the city on the map and tourism has grown massively in the past five years is clear.