In a tiny hilltop Italian village two hours from Rome but a world away, a team of design students recently moved into an empty building and began plotting out the future. Pettorano sul Gizio, population 1,500, is like many towns across central and southern Italy in that its main industry, agriculture, is both essential to modern society and nearly forgotten by it. Nearby towns in this region, Abruzzo, have the feeling of being left behind by the times.

But they can’t yet be counted out. The state-run rail company has recently been rehabilitating lines in this area, and agriculture is still economically viable. Add in the region’s modest tourist appeal among hikers and skiers, the rise of remote working, and programs focused on resettling refugees in places that could bounce back, towns like Pettorano have the makings of a new kind of rural economy. The student design team wanted to figure out how to get there.