Italy's Oldest Town Fights Emigration and Decline

Perched in the hills of southern Italy, San Giovanni Lipioni has become a symbol of a nation’s demographic reckoning—a village of just 137 residents, once dubbed Italy’s oldest town by average age, now hollowed out by decades of emigration. Empty houses line its streets, the last grocery store has shut, and the nursery school is gone, leaving an aging population and a fragile local economy clinging to memory and routine. In this episode, we explore how local officials and residents are trying to turn notoriety into survival, selling abandoned homes to outsiders in hopes of reviving daily life. Yet beneath the headlines and hopeful schemes lies a quieter story of decline, as young families continue to leave and essential services vanish. The fate of San Giovanni Lipioni raises a stark question facing many rural communities across Europe: what does it take for a town not just to be remembered, but to endure?https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/22/world/europe/italy-san-giovanni-lipioni-aging.html