With the innovative albergo diffuso concept, an entire village is your hotel

Albergo diffuso, or “scattered hotel”, is a concept that originated in 1980s Italy, offering a different kind of sustainable hospitality experience. Instead of a single building, the hotel’s rooms and services are spread among a variety of buildings within a small, often ancient, village or part of a town. There is a central reception area, often with a restaurant or common spaces, and staff that provide typical hotel services. Guests are encouraged to live as temporary residents within the local community, assuming there still is one.

The concept is credited to marketing consultant Giancarlo Dall’Ara, who saw the exodus from small villages of younger Italians in search of a better life as an opportunity to use vacated houses as a new attraction, one that could revitalise local economies while preventing further depopulation.

Santo Stefano di Sessanio

Sextantio Albergo Diffuso, high in the Apennine Mountains of Abruzzo, two hours east of Rome, is considered to be the prime example of the concept. Breathing new life into the medieval fortified village of Santo Stefano di Sessanio, the project comprises 27 rooms (sleeping a maximum of 65 guests) spread across restored barns, stables and shepherds’ dwellings.

Interiors – all candlelit spaces, handwoven textiles and timeworn beams – were inspired by photos taken in Abruzzo in the 1920s. The rooms’ windows have been kept small, the light dim and the floors uneven, and the soaps provided in the bathrooms are handmade with olive oil according to traditional methods.

The restaurant, Locanda sotto gli Archi, is dominated by two large stone ceiling arches and a central fireplace. Its dark wooden furniture is primitive and minimal, the food made with locally grown crops and from recipes the original villagers would have recognised.

Of the 100 or so people who live in Santo Stefano di Sessanio, 10 work at Sextantio but many others are now operating their own shops, restaurants and B&Bs.