The residents of a remote alpine town in Italy are celebrating this weekend after welcoming the first baby born there since 1988.
It's been 28 years since the residents of Ostana, in Piedmont, about 60 kilometres southwest of Turin, heard the pitter-patter of tiny feet.
With the population standing at 85, Mayor Giacomo Lombardo said the birth of baby Pablito to Josè Berdugo Vallelago (36) and Silvia Rovere (41) is a 'dream come true' for the community.
“It's great to finally have someone born here and it shows that our efforts to reverse population decline are slowly working," Ostana Mayor Giacomo Lombardo told The Local.
Ostana was once home to more than 1,000 inhabitant, but numbers began to decline after the war, hitting an all-time low in the Eighties.
These days the town boasts two restaurants, one bar, a shop and a cinema school for the ten local children as well as a mountain refuge, which is run by the parents of the newborn baby.
A party has been planned to mark the occasion in style, with a model of a stork welcoming visitors at the entrance to the town.
We're guessing they'll have plenty of babysitters if they fancy a few drinks afterwards.
