Recovery of rural centres and “Albergo Diffuso”: a case study in Sardinia, Italy

The Albergo Diffuso (AD) is a typical Italian way to tourism development. The AD has been introduced in the early 1980s by the Italian Autonomous Region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It is a tourist accommodation management system able to deliver the services of a full hotel, by lodging clients in building units realized in existing houses diffused in mostly rural contexts and gravitating within walking distance around a main building located in the barycentre. The AD presents an horizontal framework, while traditional hotels usually show a vertical scheme, where a principal and often unique building hosts common spaces and rooms. This new kind of hospitality is based on a network of houses built within the historic centre and offers visi-tors the opportunity to “live the area” by taking part of the village social life, while enjoying the comfort of hotel services. Thus, AD may be conceived of as a tool to prevent depopulation of small rural towns and recover abandoned villages.
In this paper, we aim at discussing the results of the first stage of an investigation on the in-stitutional scenario regarding rural tourism at the European and Italian regional level. We start from this premise to draw comparative elements and inspiration for the project design of an AD in Osini, Sardinia, an old rural town abandoned in 1951 because of a severe hydro-geological event.