A southern Italian hamlet referred to as a ghost town is now attracting thousands of tourists by commissioning artists to paint more than 140 murals on the sites of shops and homes. It seems fitting that the birthplace of so many of the world’s great artists should leverage painting as a means of recovery—why should Rome and Florence have all the beauty?

Stornara, in the Puglia region has suffered from a fate befalling many towns in Italy. A generation experiencing rising standards of living had fewer children, and those children, now grown up, are moving to the cities, leaving the small towns “crumbling” in their absence.