The authorities of San Giovanni, an Italian village in the Molise region, announced that they would provide free weekly accommodation for tourists. Holidaymakers can spend their savings on food in local restaurants and bars. The offer was more than tempting, given that San Giovanni is only two hours away from Rome and 64 km from the coast line. The municipality has received more than 8,000 applications from all over the world, writes the Mirror.
The head of the local Cultural Association responsible for the campaign, Stefano Trotta, said that they received about 70 requests from Kazakhstan, several requests from remote towns in Russia, and basically, everywhere else from the US to China.
The applicants were asked to fill out a special form, where they could tell why they would like to discover the Molise region. The compact size of the village means that it can accept no more than 12 guests per week. Therefore, some applicants were redirected to nearby villages.
San Giovanni is suffering from a catastrophic population decline, which has fallen from a few thousand to 500 people in a few decades. However, Stefano Trotta hopes that the viral effect of this advertising campaign will help to revive the number of residents. He says that some young people may want to stay in San Giovanni. And this is the original goal of the campaign.
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