Refugees bring dying Italian village back to life

SANT'ALESSIO, Italy - In the foothills of the Aspromonte mountains in southern Italy, the silence of a once-dying village is broken by the laughter of a small group of refugees.

Tiny Sant'Alessio has been welcoming families and vulnerable migrants here for three years in a project which not only provides humanitarian assistance but brings with it invaluable economic and social benefits.

Over the years the village has dwindled to only 330 inhabitants, many of them elderly. The steep cobbled streets are deserted and most windows are shuttered, residents having left over the years for better work opportunities in Turin, Milan or as far away as Australia.