New life for Italy’s ghost towns | DW Documentary

In 1983, Rossella Aquilanti moved to the abandoned village of Pentedattilo, in southern Italy. Today she is 63 years old and needs help with her farm. She met Maka Tounkara from Mali in a refugee shelter. The young farmer agreed to join her.

Calabria suffers from high unemployment. Many young people have had to leave the region. Rossella Aquilanti, by contrast, has created her own paradise here: 20 goats, a few olive trees and the magnificent surroundings are all she needs to be happy.

Maka Tounkara came to Italy on a refugee boat. For him, working with Rosella is an opportunity. The wages he earns allow him to support his fiancée back in Mali. Despite being very different, Rosella and Maka get on very well and work side by side.

The village of Pentedattilo, perched on the side of a mountain in Calabria, is falling increasingly to rack and ruin. But once a year it comes to life for the Pentedattilo Short Film Festival. The event draws cinema lovers, former residents, and inquisitive tourists, who have to walk the steep path up to the village.

Rossella and Maka are convinced that their simple, self-sufficient way of life could be an inspiration to others. The last two residents of Pentedattilo are hoping that other young people and migrants will follow their example and bring new life to Italy’s ghost towns.

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