The distinctive characteristics of the Albergo Diffuso.“Like a holiday apartment, an Albergo Diffuso allows travelers to join the life of the village, but the advantage is that it offers the services of basis of a hotel” (Williams, 2010). In order to fully understand the new concept it is necessary to first discuss some of the salient characteristics of this phenomenon. In order to earn its name, an Albergo Diffuso must meet several criteria. First, the initiative should come from within the community and a hotel must use existing buildings and local workforce. Secondly, the minimum number of rooms required is seven; they should all be within 200 meters of each other. Third, the area must have some minimum services offered, such as a restaurant, a grocery store, a pharmacy. Finally, local residents should be part of the experience: it is their open and welcoming attitude that makes a guest's stay memorable (Dichter). Furthermore, a widespread hotel must maintain a unique local touch to differentiate itself from uniform accommodations. Dall'Ara insisted on recovering the origins of a local culture and preserving a strong sense of place. As part of the historic downtown, abandoned buildings gain new life and naturally stand out from the traditional and boring style of cookie-cutter structures (Fortney-Schneider, 2011). For example, the Marche countryside offers traditional Italian village accommodation, while the city of Matera offers unique cave-style hotel rooms with the atmosphere of a typical 20th-century cave dwelling. The renovation works of each village have carefully preserved the details of the period furnishings to guarantee guests a truly authentic experience and enjoy the sense of ease and tranquility of times gone by (......middle of paper.. ....“Saving Towns by Filling Rooms” by Gizela Williams appeared in the May 2010 issue of the New York Times (New York edition). A featured article from the community blog insidersabroad.com More than just a hotel: Albergo Diffuso is a welcome Alternative October 2011the brochure Innovation "Albergo diffusio Developing tourism through innovation and tradition" IDEASS Italia www.ideassonline.org research document by Giordano Dichtera The concept of "Albergo diffusio" as a new offer in the rural area Pavlo Ruzic, Marinela Dropulic Institute of Agriculture and Tourism, case study Porec “A typical Italian phenomenon: The widespread hotel” Marco Confalonieri, Inoversita Cattolica del Sacro 2010 Tourism Management database January 2012 article by Amélie Racine entitled “Diffuse hotel: An alternative form of hospitality” from Tourismintelligencego.