Ostana, a small town in the Piedmont region in northwestern Italy, said new baby Pablo was a ‘dream come true’ for the tiny community.
Italian town has seen its population fall dramatically over the last 100 years. With the new arrival, there are now just 85 inhabitants and only half of those live there permanently.
Mayor Giacomo Lombardo said around 1,000 people lived in Ostana in the early 20th century, but there was a steady drop in birth rates after World War II.
Before the arrival of Pablo, Ostana’s last baby was born in 1987. The town, in the mountains of Piedmont, has seen its population fall dramatically over the past century. Once the home to around 1,000 people, the birth of Pablo takes the population up to 85.
According to the Italian newspaper, La Stampa, only half of the residents even live in Ostana all year.
Pablo’s birth has been celebrated with a model stork with a bundle in its beak at the entrance to the town.
Pablo’s parents, Silvia and Jose, had considered going abroad, but instead opted to stay after being offered a job managing the local mountain refuge. The exodus from the mountains have put the future of some of Italy’s most beautiful villages at risk.
Last year a campaign was launched to save Civita di Bagnoregio, a spectacular hilltop village, from collapse because of erosion.
The village, which once had a population of 3,000, has shrunk to as few as half a dozen residents during the winter although it is visited by 600,000 tourists a year.
Ostana’s plight is typical of many small towns and villages in Italy which have been depopulated as young people move to cities to find work.
