This Italian town wants to feel young again

An annual Christmas concert at the church in San Giovanni Lipioni, Italy. The tiny town of just 137 full-time residents in central Italy, which has one of the oldest average populations in the country, is hoping a marketing push will attract younger people. — ©2024 The New York Times Company

AS the travelling brass band ended San Giovanni Lipioni’s annual holiday concert with a rendition of Wham’s Last Christmas, the grey-haired villagers seated in the old church of the central Italian hill town gazed dotingly at the few young children clapping to the music.

“Today there is a little movement,” Cesarina Falasco, 73, said from the back pew. “It’s lovely. It’s different.”