By 2000, Santo Stefano di Sessanio was dying. A medieval village at 1,250 meters on the edge of Campo Imperatore — "Italy's Little Tibet" — it had lost its population to coastal cities, its buildings crumbling, its Medici-era tower (the village was a Medici fief, bought from the Piccolomini in 1579) collapsing. Then Daniele Kihlgren, a Swedish-Italian entrepreneur, arrived and created Sextantio — one of Italy's first alberghi diffusi (scattered hotels): he restored the abandoned houses using only original materials (no cement, no modern alterations), furnished them with period-appropriate objects, and turned the village into a hotel where guests sleep in restored medieval rooms with no TVs, no minibars, and stone walls that breathe. Santo Stefano revived. The population stabilized. Other borghi across Italy copied the model. Abruzzo guide →
Plan my Abruzzo trip →The village: Entirely stone — no modern facades, no painted walls. The Medici cylindrical tower (partially rebuilt after the 2009 earthquake toppled the upper section). Narrow lanes, archways, stone houses with the Medici palle (balls) carved above doorways. The silence — at 1,250m, with 100 residents, the dominant sound is wind. Campo Imperatore: The "Little Tibet" — a vast high plain (1,800m) stretching behind the village, with herds of semi-wild horses, golden eagles, and the Gran Sasso massif (Corno Grande, 2,912m — the highest peak in the Apennines) rising behind. Sextantio hotel: Even if you don't stay (€150-300/night), the bar/restaurant is open to visitors — eat lentil soup and local pecorino in a vaulted stone room.
Getting there: car from L'Aquila (30min), Pescara (1.5h), Rome (2h). No public transport. Stay: Sextantio (€150-300/night — the experience is the village itself), or simpler B&Bs (€55-85). Eat: Sextantio restaurant (€35-50), or local trattorias (€20-30 — mountain food: lentils, lamb, saffron from Navelli nearby). Combine with: Campo Imperatore (15min), Gran Sasso (hiking, skiing in winter), Navelli (saffron village, 10min), Rocca Calascio (the fortress from Ladyhawke — 10min, spectacular).