Santo Stefano di Sessanio and the Sextantio Model
Bourgeois Love for Villages or a Formula for Repopulation?
The original Italian version of this article can be read here 👇🏻
From philological restoration to high-end hospitality, Daniele Kihlgren’s project has become an international icon. But is it truly a model to fight depopulation, or rather an act of cultural patronage?
Sextantio may have restored the walls of Santo Stefano di Sessanio to rarefied perfection — but saving stone is not the same as saving a village. Behind the bourgeois elegance lies a truth that well-meaning urban admirers often miss: without homes, services, and year-round life, the exodus continues.
The context: the interview and Kihlgren’s vision
In Il Sole 24 Ore (10 August 2025), Daniele Kihlgren – philosopher, entrepreneur, and founder of Sextantio – recounts his journey. In the 1990s, fascinated by inland Abruzzo, he purchased and meticulously restored abandoned houses in Santo Stefano di Sessanio. This became one of the first high-end “albergo diffuso” (scattered hotel) projects in the world, aimed at preserving the material and cultural identity of the village.
The rooms keep their smoke-darkened walls, restored period furnishings, and local textiles. There are no TVs, but bathrooms feature Philippe Starck fixtures as deliberate “alien elements.” The experience aims to be “authentic,” almost museal, and has attracted travellers from all over the world, including celebrities.
Kihlgren claims this cultured tourism can revitalise villages, noting that Sextantio has increased accommodation facilities (from 1 to 23) and the number of VAT-registered businesses (55 for 70 inhabitants). He is now working on a restaurant with a local chef and calls for public-private formulas to bring life back to Italy’s rural areas.
My starting point: on-the-ground experience
Having worked for years on the regeneration of small towns, I know I have only a “fraction of a say” compared to someone who has built an international icon. But with ITS Italy, we have helped about 120–150 new residents settle in small towns, restoring just as many properties. We did it with a fraction of Sextantio’s investment, without family fortunes, and above all without a single euro of public or PNRR funds.
For context: Santo Stefano di Sessanio and its surrounding area have received around €20 million from the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan) for heritage and cultural tourism projects. With such budgets and a solid private base, you can create extraordinary outcomes.
A bourgeois act of love, not a repopulation model
In my view, Sextantio is a bourgeois project to save a place. A jewel of restoration, a cultural and hospitality experience, a “rural museum with guest rooms.” Hats off to the dedication, but it’s forced to call it an anthropological model for repopulation.
And it’s no coincidence Kihlgren took the same concept to Matera, a city that certainly does not suffer from depopulation. There, the recovery focused on caves and historic spaces of the Sassi, with the same philological and museal approach. My impression is that the interest lies more in the stone and its ancient carvers than in those who might live there today.
People return to live in a place if there are houses, services, opportunities – perhaps built around a scattered hotel – not if it’s just somewhere to stay for a few days. And here’s where the romantic vision in the interview risks seducing well-off urban readers (“Oh, what an example, what love!”) but remains distant from the reality of those who have been shouting towards Rome for decades not to forget these areas.
The criticisms – which I share
Aesthetic and comfort austerity: deliberately minimalist hospitality, not for everyone.
Museal feel: the village as a “peasant theme park,” romanticising past poverty.
Challenging accessibility: remote location, limited public transport, strong seasonality.
High prices: €300–500 per night for an experience intentionally devoid of certain modern comforts.
Cultural gentrification: a model that keeps the village alive as a tourist showcase, without real demographic return.
Santo Stefano has more tourists than new citizens. It has generated jobs and revived crafts, but not substantial repopulation. And that’s fine – if we read it for what it is: a high-profile cultural preservation project.
The “model” problem
Many Italian hamlets are, I fear, beyond residential recovery: no services, harsh climates, poor connectivity. But they can be perfect for hospitality projects that save their architectural shells. In this sense, Sextantio succeeded where few dared.
However, if we see it as a model for social regeneration, we must be honest: it works only where a patron – a Kihlgren, a Ferragamo (Il Borro), a Cucinelli – can invest millions. By definition, this is not scalable on a large scale.
Tourism as salvation – but with integration
Tourism does not destroy villages. On the contrary, when managed well, it saves walls, crafts, and local jobs. Even less philological projects, like Castelfalfi in Tuscany, have brought back economic life.
The problem is lack of integration: a village living solely for guests, without permanent residents, risks becoming a stage set.
Our vision: Civium and “Don’t just visit, belong”
With ITS Italy, our Civium format is built to integrate new residents, tourists, and remote workers:
Affordable costs: €50–100/night, €500/month for temporary rentals, less for long stays.
Balanced year-round presence.
Services for the community, not just the visitor.
Our motto is “Don’t just visit, belong”: don’t just drop in – belong. Live in a place, maybe not 365 days a year, but enough to sustain it.
Gratitude and realism
Sextantio is an act of love and cultural dedication. We owe it gratitude, as we do to any patron who saves a piece of Italy. But let’s not call it a “model for repopulating villages” – because if that were the path, places where millionaires won’t invest would be doomed.
The real challenge is creating replicable models that work without great fortunes behind them, combining tourism and residency. Not to replace Sextantio, but to stand alongside it in a map of solutions that could save not just dozens, but hundreds of places.
DATA BOX – Sextantio in numbers
Rooms: about 20, fewer than 40 beds in total.
Rates: €300–500+ per night in high season.
Average occupancy: estimated 55–65% annually (high seasonality).
Estimated turnover: €1.5–2 million/year (gross), limited net margins due to upkeep.
Initial investment: several million euros, all private.
PNRR public funds for the village: around €20 million (Lines A and B “Borghi Attractiveness”).
Permanent residents: around 70.
BOX – Civium: a replicable and sustainable regeneration model
Civium is a format developed by ITS Italy to integrate new residents, long-term visitors, and remote workers into small-town life — not just for a few days, but for meaningful stays or relocation.
Affordable access: €50–100/night, €500/month for temporary rentals, less for long-term leases.
Low living costs: achieved through public–private collaboration, keeping rent levels sustainable.
Diverse community mix: tourists in high season, digital nomads in shoulder seasons, permanent residents year-round.
Service-first approach: investment in basic amenities (transport, internet, healthcare access) benefits both locals and visitors.
No dependence on elite patrons: the model scales without the need for millionaire fortunes or sporadic public funding.
Motto: Don’t just visit, belong.