With the Adriatic coast on one side and the Apennine mountains on the other, San Giovanni in Galdo is a pretty typical Italian hamlet. One of dozens of pretty medieval villages in the Campobasso hills in the Molise region of southern Italy, its ancient cobbled streets are almost untouched by industrialisation – and home to just 553 residents. 

It’s the ideal place to escape to when modern life gets a bit much, and not least because it’s now offering tourists the chance to enjoy a week-long holiday in the village completely free of charge. Founded by local residents in 2013 with the aim of revitalising the village, cultural organisation the Amici del Morrutto started offering free trips to tourists last July as a way to kickstart tourism to Molise during a particularly hard year for the region.