If you closed your eyes and imagined a Medieval village, Santo Stefano di Sessanio in Abruzzo in the mountains of central Italy could well be what you are conjuring up: a bunch of stone houses with red-tiled roofs clustered around a tall, crenellated lookout tower. Although only thirty kilometres by car from the regional capital, L’Aquila Santo Stefano seems to have emerged from a fairy tale, with no car parks, no billboards, no supermarkets. As one of the old locals told me, ‘Visiting Santo Stefano is like taking a holiday from the modern world.’
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