This fully restored three-bedroom stone property, dating back to 1600, is in the tiny medieval hilltop village of Santo Stefano di Sessanio in the Italian province of L’Aquila.
Once virtually an abandoned ghost town, Santo Stefano di Sessanio has now been largely restored and is thriving as a fashionable weekend and summer retreat, particularly favoured by visitors from Rome, 150km north.
The village’s rebirth is largely due to the efforts of Italian-Swedish businessman Daniele Kihlgren, who fell for the unspoilt beauty of the village – situated in the Gran Sasso national park in the Apennines – when he chanced upon it on a solitary motorbike trip in the 1990s.
Kihlgren later bought properties in Santo Stefano di Sessanio after striking a deal with the local authority that he would invest in the village’s restoration if there was a blanket ban on new building.
His initial project turned a number of properties into an albergo diffuso – a hotel scattered throughout the town in different houses – which opened in 2004. He then bought and restored other properties to sell on, and other national and international home buyers have since followed his lead and bought vacation homes in the village. Small boutiques, art galleries and restaurants have now been set up to cater for visitors.
The house has a kitchen/dining room, small sitting room, master bedroom, bathroom and second bedroom on the raised ground floor, plus a third bedroom and bathroom up a wooden staircase in the habitable roof space.
As the house is part of the albergo diffuso, run by the Società Sextantio, owners can rent it out when absent.
The house is on the market at €300,000 (around £230,000) through Italian property portal Gate-Away.com.
