Corippo has no shop, no school and no children. It may be only 30 minutes’ drive from bustling Locarno, but the narrow access road, with its hairpin bends, may not be many people’s chosen commute.

What Corippo does have, however, are more than 60 traditional stone houses, with dry stone roofs, many of them still with their original fireplaces, and chestnut wood floors. And most of them are empty.

…And so, with the support of a foundation devoted to preserving Corippo, a plan has been developed: to turn some of the empty houses into hotel rooms.

The concept, known as albergo diffuso or “scattered hotel”, has already been tried in some Italian hill villages, but never in Switzerland.

Can modern makeover save smallest Swiss village? – BBC News

cool!