Europe

Ghost village in Switzerland to become ‘scattered hotel’

Scattered across the scenic Verzasca Valley, the Swiss village of Corippo is slowly becoming a ghost town. It was dwelling of 300 people during the 19th Century, but now population has dropped to just 12 inhabitants with a reported average age of 75.

These dismal records have incited fears that the village is lumbering towards extinction, as concerns shared by rural communities across Europe. Young people have been leaving the village due to lack of opportunities and a preference for city life.

However, an innovative solution to Corippo’s revival has been proposed; turn the village into a hotel. In fact the idea is not a new one. It was successfully implemented in Italy, where the “albergo diffuso” (scattered hotel) model has been used to revive ailing settlements.

The Fondazione Corippo 1975, A local organisation, has decided to bring the idea to the Verzasca Valley and the first cottage – the two-bedroom Casa Arcotti – opened over the summer.

Some 30 of the village’s 70 buildings are scheduled for conversion into holiday units as part of a regeneration plan that will see the village’s last remaining restaurant turned into the hotel dining room and reception.

Fabio Giacomazzi, an architect and president of the foundation said that the hotel would give tourists the chance to experience a very particular sojourn in a genuine rural village that remained practically the same since 1800.

“We hope that the hotel will offer the opportunity for a young family to undertake the management and to settle in Corippo together with some employees, said Giacomazzi. “The property could also help increase the population of the village,” he added.

However, the local are not that happy about the proposal. They said that rather than trying to attract tourists more effort should be made to fix the poor water supply and other problems. There are also concerns that the village’s creaking infrastructure, which was built for horse and cart, will not cope with an influx of travellers.

The project is yet to be fully funded. However, it has won the Swiss Hotel Association’s 2017 Innovation Award. If finance is arranged in time, the works will be completed in 2020.