A warm welcome to Castrovalva!

The stars of the video (screenshot)

Never heard of it? Neither had I. That’s probably because Castrovalva, a town in the Abruzzo region of Italy, has only 19 permanent residents, most of them over the age of 80.

The town is so small it barely has its own Wikipedia entry. In summer, its population swells to over 200 people as second-home owners arrive for their vacations.

Abuzzo, Italy (Credit- Wikipedia)

Recently, an upbeat YouTube video made by two of the village’s second-home owners went viral. They made it to thank the locals who live there year-round. Inadvertently, it turned into a tourism marketing coup bringing international attention to the teeny town few had ever heard of before.

In the video, the second-home owners of Castrovalva mime and dance to Hot Stuff, the 1970s disco music made famous by Donna Summer.

I originally read about the Castrovalva video in an industry publication, Skift, which reprinted it from the Daily Telegraph.

I posted it here simply because I love its creativity and feel-happy beat.