Pennabilli helped Anna Bonavita recover. Now the Edina woman hopes to return the favor. Bonavita was living in Italy and mourning the death of her husband, Italian-born Massimo Bonavita, when she first encountered the medieval hilltop town in the Emilia-Romagna region in 2017. A friend brought her there, hoping to renew her spirit.

“She wanted to show me there is much beauty in the world that can still be discovered,” Bonavita said. The cobblestone streets, the crumbling fortresses, the surrounding forests and fields, the trattorias serving traditional delights all worked their magic. But Bonavita noticed more than soothing beauty and hospitality in the town of 2,700 residents. She also saw that Pennabilli — like so many other Italian towns far from the tourist zones — was dying.