The community of Badolato, in particular, has been more than happy to welcome asylum seekers as saviours. It is a picture-perfect hill top town in southern Italy. It is beautiful and quiet - in fact, it is rather too quiet and that is because most of its inhabitants have left. Seven thousand people used to live in the town. Now that figure is closer to 400.
Birth rates are down, longevity is up.
Italy has always been seen as the bastion of the big family but in fact its population is in steep decline. Badolato citizens are living longer than before Now it is feared that there will not be enough workers in the future to support the elderly who are living longer than ever before. For 10,000 years, the fortress town had repelled foreigners. Two years ago, they were welcomed with relief - at last some young blood was back in town. Around 400 mostly young men were brought to this village.