The regeneration of villages and the revitalisation of built heritage for widespread receptivity

This paper lies in the broader field of village regeneration and revitalisation strategies, focusing on sustainable tourism, widespread receptivity and particularly on the Albergo Diffuso (AD)1 scheme. The paper illustrates the results of research carried out on site, funded by Sapienza University and developed in cooperation with the National Association of ADs (ADI), which assessed how and what type of building revitalisation the AD affected (and may affect more) the village regeneration processes in a sustainable way, by implementing energy retrofit and efficiency solutions with low impact on buildings, by appropriate upcycling and zero land consumption. These factors characterised the case studies, transforming conservation, revitalisation, and reuse actions into laboratories of conscious innovation to restore ecological balance. An approach to an informal regeneration was then conducted through simple actions, respectful of historical and cultural local identities, but at the same time organic, realistic and acknowledged, despite the extreme heterogeneity of surveyed villages and contexts.