Truganina woman chosen by Airbnb to help save tiny Italian village

A Truganina woman will embark on a free trip of a lifetime to Italy under a plan to breathe new life into a crumbling hilltop village. Here’s how she landed the dream gig.

Truganina's Anne Tachado will move to Italy for three months as part of an initiative to boost tourism in a tiny village. Picture: Chiara Chioda

A Truganina woman will get a taste of ‘la dolce vita’ when she heads to a remote Italian town under an Airbnb plan to breathe new life into the hilltop village.

Anne Tachado, 24, is one of five people to be chosen to spend three months immersed in Italian culture while revitalising Grottole, about three hours east of Naples.

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More than 280,000 people from across the globe applied for the Italian Sabbatical, a joint project between Airbnb and non-profit organisation Wonder Grottole aimed at revamping the historic town and boosting agriculture, tourism and business.

Ms Tachado, a keen photographer, told the Wyndham Leader it had been her dream to live in Italy.

“I have an aunty who is a nun in Italy and she always sent us books about the country and told us all about it, so it has always been a dream of mine to live there for a bit,” she said.

Ms Tachado, who has a degree in agriculture, said she was looking forward to helping out on farms in the town and learning how to make olive oil and pasta from locals.

Perched on top of a hill in southern Italy, Grottole has a population of only 300 in its ancient city and, with more than 600 empty homes, is at risk of disappearing.

The volunteers will become home and experience co-hosts with Wonder Grottole with a view to encouraging more people to visit the village.

The four other volunteers chosen for the project hail from Buenos Aires, Canada and New York.