Farewell to Daniele Kihlgren, who transformed an abandoned village into a ‘spread-out hotel’
Known throughout the world for his versatility, in Abruzzo he founded the ‘albergo diffuso’ Sexantio in Santo Stefano di Sessanio, a true gem in the mountains of L’Aquila
Daniele Kihlgren, a Milanese of Swedish origin and an entrepreneur in the cement and tourism sectors, died today at the age of 55. According to reports, he died in Rome as a result of the worsening of a medical condition he had suffered from since his teenage years.
Known throughout the world for his versatility, in Abruzzo he founded the ‘albergo diffuso’ Sexantio in Santo Stefano di Sessanio, a true gem of the mountains around L’Aquila. According to reports, his body will be taken to the parish church of Santo Stefano di Sessanio on Friday afternoon from 3 pm for a final farewell in the village which, thanks to his vision, has gained international renown over the years.
Kihlgren is the third child of a family of cement entrepreneurs who, in the late 1990s, decided to buy and renovate abandoned and dilapidated houses in Santo Stefano di Sessanio, establishing a ‘spread-out hotel’ that has attracted guests from all over the world, created dozens of jobs and established an innovative tourism model based on zero land consumption. He subsequently carried out a similar project in the Sassi di Matera and in a small village developed as a tourist resort on an island in Lake Kivu in Rwanda, on the border with the Congo. For more than ten years, it has been running a health insurance scheme for poor Congolese people who cannot afford medical treatment, funded by the proceeds from its tourist accommodation business.
