Help We Bought a Village!

-For many Brits, renovating a property in Europe is a lifelong dream.

-I think we need to rebuild this, 100%.

-But some have bigger dreams than others.

-This is crazy.

-Even I would think twice about having a go at this.

-Because scattered around Europe are thousands of villages, hamlets, and historical settlements lying abandoned... -These houses should be preserved, the history in them.

-...on the brink of being lost forever.

-The future is about making sure that this continues.

-In this series, we meet a brand-new batch of village owners... -Glasses at the ready.

-...and return to some familiar faces as they set about rebuilding history.

-You think you know what needs to be done, and you don't know a tenth of what needs to be done?

-They'll discover ancient mysteries... -Got a big cavern here, and then it's like, we've got a tunnel over there.

-...as they turn their crumbling ruins into amazing homes and businesses.

-We have really made this place come alive again.

-But will it be a smooth ride... -And that's how you wreck a house.

-...or will their dreams come tumbling down?

-Oh.

[ Groans ] -Crack a smile.

You can do it.

-[ Laughs ] -As they restore the past to build their future.

-We built a village.

-We built a village.

-[ Chuckles ] -Today, we meet the Scottish descendant of Italian immigrants who's fallen in love with his ancestors' derelict village... -It was not only impossible to enter, it was almost -- it was forgotten.

-...as he tries to turn the tide of history.

-We're bringing it back to life again.

And there's excitement in every corner.

-We catch up with Paul and Yip, a couple battling to save their own abandoned village in France.

-Buildings put up a fight.

-Yeah, definitely.

-They definitely put up a fight.

-But as they continue their mission to bring it back to life, their determination is as strong as ever.

-We've got as much fire as that lot has, you know.

So one of us has got to -- to buckle at some point, and it's not going to be us.

-No.

-And in Puglia... -You can see how beautiful the stone is.

-...an abandoned settlement full of quirky buildings finds two saviors... -The first time that we saw the properties, we just got that feel.

-We just got the feeling this is the right place.

-...with ambitious dreams to bring it back to life.

Normandy, in the far north of France, is dotted with thousands of tiny villages where farmers lived and thrived for centuries.

But the last 50 years have brought about a vast change to life and work in this region.

As mechanization took over the farms, workers gradually moved to the cities to find employment, leaving many Normandy villages empty and forlorn.

Situated 138 miles south of Rouen, the hamlet of La Buslire had ceased to be the hub of the local agricultural community and was left abandoned at the end of the last century.

It would have been lost forever if it wasn't for two landscape gardeners from Kent.

-It's just amazing.

It is just amazing, you know?

The first morning we woke up here and lived here, it was like -- Well, I can't tell you.

It was amazing, isn't it?

Um... -It still is amazing.

[ Both laugh ] -It is.

-A hundred years ago, the lost village of La Buslire was a bustling community.

Farmers and their families would have lived and worked here, tending to their livestock, farming the land, and leading a completely sustainable lifestyle.

But when they all left decades ago, nature set about reclaiming all the buildings.

Despite never owning a house before, last year, landscape gardeners Paul and Yip, from Kent, snapped up this entire terrace of five cottages, two barns, a hayloft, and a bakery for the price of a family hatchback.

Living in the only habitable house in the village, this small end-of-terrace, last year, they set about bringing La Buslire back to life.

-Still is daunting because there's, like, multiple cottages.

But anything that comes too easy in life you never really appreciate.

We often think back to our old life, don't we, in the U.K.?

Um, we literally had nothing.

Just amazed to have gotten where we are, and we feel really grateful for that.

-In July 2021, Paul and Yip's mission began.

After moving in to the only habitable cottage in the village... -Gonna be living like camping style for a little bit.

-A long time coming.

-Oh.

It's very emotional.

-...they set about liberating the village from the vegetation that strangled it.

[ Electric shears whirring ] And as they did, they made some remarkable discoveries, from old wells that would have provided water to the village... [ Water splashes ] -Oh, lovely.

Lovely bit of water.

-...to the old bakery, with a 200-year-old stone oven that had stood the test of time.

-Wow, look at this.

-Oh, it's lovely, isn't it?

-You look at that.

That is incredible.

You know how many loaves of bread have been cooked in that for the village over the years?

This is just amazing.

-It was a long and hard fight, but after four months, Paul and Yip finally won the fight to release La Buslire from the grip of nature.

[ Chainsaw whirring ] But they needed an income to help them continue their mission to restore the village.

So after packing up an old horsebox that had been converted into a glamping lorry... -[ Grunts ] -Tuck it up.

[ Grunts ] -...they tackled the first building in La Buslire, the piggery, with a vision to create a utility room for their future glamping guests.

-Being aware of all the work that needs doing, and also being aware of how little money we currently have, it is, um, quite anxiety-building.

-It's now September, 14 months after Paul and Yip's mission began.

And the former piggery has now become the first building to be brought back to life at La Buslire.

-What we consider the hardest work has been done.

There's a few bits that we still need to do, but all the internal block wall has been done.

-You just love it.

That view from here out across the fields... -It's amazing.

Yeah, it is amazing.

-Even sitting on the loo, you've got a nice view.

-Exactly.

-Loo with a view.

-Loo with a view.

-To bring this former derelict building into the 21st century, Paul and Yip re-used all the original stones on the outside, but lined the interior with breeze blocks and rendering on the walls.

The roof was also rebuilt from scratch.

But work isn't quite finished yet.

All the plumbing and electric is still to do.

And as it's now Autumn, Paul and Yip have sadly missed out on opening their glamping site for the lucrative summer season.

-Which is a bit of a shame, but it's taken as long as it's taken.

But we are, we think, about... -About to launch.

-Yeah, 2 or 3 weeks away from launching the lorry glamping site, so... -It's very exciting.

-Definitely.

-Paul and Yip are beginning to realize that rescuing Europe's lost villages takes time, hard work, money, and a shedload of patience.

-The buildings put up a fight.

-Yeah, definitely.

-They definitely put up a fight.

-The hamlet has been in an abusive relationship with nature, and it's just shown resistance, isn't it?

-The couple are only at the start of their journey to bring La Buslire back to life.

But the question is, who will win this epic battle?

-We will.

You know, we've got as much fight as that lot has, you know, so one of us has got to to buckle at some point, and it's not going to be us.

-No, and if I know how stubborn Paul could be, then there's no way Paul's going to be giving up.

-No.

So the fight's on, and I think it knows it, as well.

And it's -- I think it's grateful for it.

[ Bell tolling ] -The Val di Comino, nestled between Rome and Naples and surrounded by a beautiful national park, is another example of a region where lost villages have been in hiding.

In the last 200 years, thousands of Italians emigrated from this valley looking for fortune all over the world.

Many came to Britain and thrived on our shores, but the villages they left behind began to wither on the vine.

Cesidio and Selina di Ciacca are Scottish descendants of Italian immigrants who 12 years ago decided to come back to the land of Cesidio's fathers and bought five abandoned houses in the town of Picinisco, one of the worst affected by the decline in population.

-It's got the most amazing panorama.

People come here and just love the views over the whole Val Comino.

And then we have a garden down here right beside the tower, one of the original watchtowers of the village, which has been dated to more than a thousand years old.

-They've renovated a home for themselves, then set about transforming their other properties into a diffused hotel, a series of houses for rent scattered all over the village.

-So this one's called Le Rondini, The Swallows.

But it's also a nickname for all the immigrants who went away and come back.

So it's a play on words for us.

This was actually beneath the roadway, completely abandoned.

So it was a major, major structural and architectural project to turn it into something.

And this gorgeous four-poster bed, lying here, looking out at the valley.

-Cesidio and Selina's quirky urban hotel has revitalized this village and won them an industry award.

But their mission to save Val di Comino's lost villages didn't end there, and their next project was even bigger.

Just 2 miles from Picinisco lies I Ciacca, a much smaller village from which Cesidio takes his surname.

His own ancestry can be traced back to a community of about 70 people, who lived here for 500 years.

Cesidio's own grandfather left this village at the turn of the 20th century for Scotland, where he opened a restaurant and ice-cream business.

But while his family thrived in Britain, their old Italian village fell on hard times until, in the 1970s, it became completely empty.

-There was no one.

And certainly, we found that this got filled up with weeds and with bushes and, indeed, with trees, to the point it was not only impossible to enter, it was forgotten.

-But Cesidio wasn't prepared to let the village die.

He bought over 220 parcels of land from 140 people and all of the houses, and along with his wife, Selina, they made it their mission to breathe new life into the homes in memory of his ancestors.

-I think it's a real privilege to be able to continue something that was part of family life.

There is a degree of tranquility here in I Ciacca, something deeply spiritual, because you're living in the middle of countryside, where people have lived comfortably for hundreds and hundreds of years.

That must mean something.

-But their mission didn't end there.

Wine has been produced here for over 500 years, and the couple wanted to stay true to these roots so have reawoken the vineyard, too.

-Okay.

We're bringing it back to life again.

And there's excitement in every corner.

You know, excitement in the sense that when you see a plant growing that you've never seen before.

I wonder where that came from.

Yellow is my wife's favorite color.

-After 10 years of hard work and dedication, 13 houses were restored, with four more buildings still to do.

In another bid to keep the history alive, the couple have turned the village into a permanent exhibition in memory of I Ciacca's sustainable way of life and of the people who lived here over five centuries.

-An old, old priest came down, and he had been sheltered here during the war, when the Germans came, by the families, the ancestors.

And when he walked into this old place, he actually went down on his knees and he kissed the lintel, and he said, "I remember."

It was quite emotional.

"I remember being looked after by your families."

-I Ciacca has risen from its deep sleep, but that doesn't mean its future is guaranteed.

Some funds do come in from visitors to the exhibition, but it's not enough.

-These slopes here seem to have always been used for growing vegetables and fruit.

-Cesidio now needs the reborn winemaking business to sustain its survival and also plans to start hosting events to bring in an income.

-There are outgoings.

There's machinery to upkeep, there's maintenance to do, and outgoings need to be paid for.

-Can this family make a success of I Ciacca like they've done with their diffused hotel, so that their extraordinary vision to save the lost villages of Italy can continue?

Coming up... -Here we have a tank underground on this side and one on this side.

-A couple discovers the hidden secrets of their abandoned Italian village.

-We've found a little bit of wine at the bottom, but I'm not quite sure we should have tried it.

-And as work suddenly grinds to a halt at Paul and Yip's... -We've had an awful bout of COVID.

-Yeah, shocking, that was.

-Yeah, it's been a nightmare.

-It's been quite draining.

-...can they keep their project going?

-We literally had no money left in the pot.

No savings.

-Puglia, in the far south of Italy, is dotted with thousands of beautiful ancient buildings called trulli, built using a dry stone technique that dates back from prehistoric times.

These were ancient dwellings without any mod cons, and as building techniques evolved, people moved away to properties with heating and water supply.

So across this region, there are small collections of abandoned trullis where families would once have lived totally self-sufficient lives.

100 kilometers south of Bari lies one such settlement, Cotogni.

This was once the hub of a thriving agricultural community, farming the massive olive grove that surrounds it.

But from eight families living here in the 1920s, last year, the population was down to zero when the last resident left town.

Luckily, after running a restaurant in Lincoln for 18 years, Tracey and her Italian husband Ivano fell in love with this idyllic little hamlet.

-The first time that we came and we saw the properties, we came with the estate agent, and he didn't have the key for the houses.

So we jumped the wall with him.

-Walking the driveway.

-Walked up the driveway, and we thought it was amazing.

We just got that feel.

-You just got the feeling this is the right place.

-Yeah.

-Years of neglect mean that the once beautiful ancient buildings of Cotogni have been slowly deteriorating.

The roofs of the trullis are just about watertight, but the rendering has begun to fall apart, and the stonework is crumbling away.

If left untouched, there will be nothing left here by the end of the decade.

-It's a shame to have a building like this being left.

-And sat empty.

Yeah, definitely.

-Sat empty and derelict.

It's very important because it would be a great shame if it falls in -- you know, it falls down in disrepair in the years to come.

-Ivano and Tracey have paid 180,000 euros and have a renovation budget of 240,000.

All villages containing trullis are protected by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites, and only specialized builders can do work on them.

So Ivano and Tracey have hired a firm, which is due to begin renovating this outbuilding into their house and then resurrect the old trullis, which they want to turn into holiday accommodation.

-We're not fazed about the challenge.

We're quite excited about it.

We like a good challenge, don't we?

-We do -And I think, you know, it gives us something to focus on, and we've got good vision for what we do, and we're really excited.

-It's December 2022, and as they wait for their builders to start work, Ivano and Tracey have been camping out in the trullis.

It's not been an easy time as they've had to wash in rainwater, and the cold is starting to bite.

-We're sleeping in this trulli here.

This we're using as our kitchen.

It has a fireplace in the pizza oven.

And electricity and water.

And then we have to go outside to go to the bathroom and shower.

-Eventually, the trullis will provide holiday accommodation for six people.

But there's a mountain of work to do first.

-So, this would be the entrance to this trullo.

And you can see how beautiful is the stone.

Are all hand chisel, flat.

Then there will be all polished.

All of these will be polished and refilled.

Everything needs to be redone.

-We'll clean them up, and they'll be like the color of limestone.

-Yeah.

-Here we have a tank underground on this side and one on this side.

So, originally, they used to tread the grapes in this room here where Ivano is.

And as they treaded them, the juice and the must used to go through the hole and be stored into the tanks.

And when we opened the hole up, we found a little bit of wine at the bottom.

But I'm not quite sure we should have tried it.

Um, it probably wouldn't have been very nice, but we are going to put some glass over the top and some lights down there with some of the original tools that they used to use on the farmland.

-Work on the trullis will only start when Tracey and Ivano's new house is finished and the couple can move out.

However, the builders are already behind schedule, and the couple know they may need to squat for a while longer.

But they also know that bringing the old trulli village of Cotogni back to life will definitely be worth the effort.

-The sunset are spectacular.

That's why we love it.

We can see the light on the trulli is just wonderful.

And once it'll be done, you'll have the white coat on the top, the black stone and the white at the bottom.

They'll look beautiful.

-At La Buslire, it's a sunny September day, and Paul and Yip's battle continues as they're pressing on with the build of their glamping site.

The accommodation will generate much needed income to help them on their mission to rescue the village from decades of neglect.

They're still hoping to be open in two weeks' time, so have brought in some help to speed up the process.

-You might have heard some singing and stuff coming from the utility building.

Um, that's Steve and his son, Luke.

Steve's a tiler, and he's doing his floor, our floor for us.

But we probably could have had a go at it.

-Oh, we absolutely could have, but it just makes sense to try and get this project executed as quickly as possible.

-While Steve and son continue with the tiling, today, Paul and Yip are adding a decorative fence around the courtyard to give future guests some privacy when they stay.

-Right, you want your little saw because you're gonna... -Yeah.

-...cutting that end.

You got a pencil?

-No.

-Yeah, we quite like this type of screening.

It was quite important for us not to bring what we regard as English fencing to France.

You know, we didn't want to start coming over here and putting up 6-foot-high, solid fence panels.

You rarely see that at all in France.

-By mid-afternoon, the floor of the utility building is leveled, ready for tiling, and most of the fence panels are in place.

-We can see the end in sight.

-Definitely, yeah, yeah.

It's just around the corner.

-Yeah.

-So another couple of weeks, maybe three weeks maximum.

I think we can see our first guests... -I think so.

-...which is amazing.

-But even the best-laid plans can go to waste.

It's now nearing the end of November.

Paul and Yip's planned opening date has been and gone, and this time, it's a very modern issue that has caused the delay.

-Yeah, we've had an awful bout of COVID, haven't we?

-Yeah, shocking, that was.

Um, about 10 days worth.

-Yeah.

And, uh, we're still reeling from the effects of that.

Um, yeah, it's been a nightmare, to be fair.

-But we were quite demotivated... -Very demotivated.

during the COVID period, weren't we?

-We did zilch during COVID period.

-With 21st-century problems coupled with a battle against nature, Paul and Yip's mission to save La Buslire has called for outside intervention.

The couple have had no option but to take on landscaping jobs to fund their project.

-We literally have no money left in the pot.

No savings.

Um, so, yeah.

So we've only got the money that we go out and earn now.

-Yeah.

-Coming up... -Throw the bottles on, and put them in, okay?

-A small community rallies together so I Ciacca can survive.

-The future is about making sure that this continues with the work and effort, not just of me and my family but of everybody around about.

-And Ivano and Tracey kick-start their renovations by digging for water.

-So, hopefully, the well's going to be over here, and we have asked them if they can leave the orange tree and the lemon tree.

-But will new technology threaten the old village?

-And now, look -- oh, they're killing all my -- -The blackberry bush.

-All my blackberry bush.

-Back at Cotogni, in southern Italy, village owners Ivano and Tracey are still waiting for their specialist trulli builders to begin work on their house.

But meanwhile, they've called on a team of engineers to solve one of the biggest problems they currently face -- water.

-Obviously, in Italy, it is quite dry.

In the south, in Salento, where we are, it's very dry, so water is scarce.

-In the past, mules would have carried water from the river, but that isn't suitable for modern life, so an artesian well needs to be drilled.

A geologist has located a vein of water running about 5 meters belowground and also identified the best place to drill.

Unfortunately, it's a bit close to trees and shrubbery which stand in front of the houses.

-So, hopefully, the well's going to be over here, and we have asked them if they can leave the orange tree and the lemon tree.

-Please, save the orange -- the orange tree and the lemon tree that we have there.

It's in flower now.

There's some oranges there and plenty of lemons.

Apparently, it's quite a -- it's a big sort of lorry, which has this drill which is tilted up, and then it drills down.

-Half an hour later, the drilling team arrives, and the trucks just about fit the width of the access road to the village, which was made for horse and cart.

-Obviously, they are huge trucks.

Thankfully, they fit.

I'm pleased.

I mean, I'm very pleased that they do fit because they are huge.

-The trucks may have successfully gained access to Cotogni, but as they reverse into position for drilling, it's bad news for Tracey and Ivano's plants.

-And now, look -- Oh, they're killing all my -- -Plants.

[ Chuckles ] -Okay.

-The blackberry bush.

-My blackberry bush.

Uh, there you go.

-So the blackberry bush will need to be replanted after all.

But luckily, the orange and lemon trees are safe, and it's now time for the team to get drilling.

The team won't have an easy job today, because there's very little topsoil between the surface and a massive rock, which they'll need to perforate to access the water vein.

-Hit the rock.

Like, not even a meter down.

-Because as he went in, all the mud came out, the water, and then he stopped, so he couldn't drill.

-Luckily, after half an hour's drilling, the layer of rock is perforated, and it's now time to cut a metal pipe which will be inserted into the hole.

The final part of the job is going surprisingly smoothly, and a few hours later, it's job done.

-Well, it went well.

Something has been done.

Something pretty big, I would say, because it's important we have the water, you know?

-Yeah.

-This is definitely ahead of schedule because we were scheduled to be in January.

So now, you know, we are before Christmas.

It's amazing.

-Ivano and Tracey have owned Cotogni for just a few weeks but are approaching a vital stage in bringing this historical settlement into the 21st century.

With building work due to start soon, can they keep up the pace of the renovations?

200 miles east of Cotogni, at I Ciacca, it's mid September, and it's an important day for the reborn village.

Harvest day for the vines is just around the corner, and, today, Cesidio and his team need to bottle last year's wine that has been fermenting in these huge vats.

Wine has played a vital role in the village for centuries.

For 500 years, until it was abandoned, Cesidio's relatives, those living here and those who emigrated, would pull together around this time of year to prepare for harvest.

-My Auntie Anna and Auntie Theresa and the houses here.

So these are literally down in the fields below.

She was in the RAF because she was born in Scotland.

-Wine production was very different when Cesidio's relatives worked the land.

Wine was stored in huge barrels and only bottled when needed to be consumed.

But to keep the village profitable, I Ciacca's wine is now bottled and sold all over the world using 21st-century machinery.

However, there is one tradition Cesidio is clinging onto.

The winemaking has always been a family affair here, so, today, Cesidio's son, Giovanni, has come back from Edinburgh to help his dad.

-Throw the bottles on, and put them in, okay?

-This is the sixth harvest for Giovanni, and he joins eight other young locals who are employed by Cesidio to help with this traditional activity.

-The first time I came here, I was just a tiny little baby in my arms.

And I've been coming to this place just to see it.

I'm helping the boys pick up the bottles, and we'll put it in this metal case and go off and goes in there.

-The mechanized bottling process of today may be a far cry from the past.

But there are some things that will never change here.

The grapes that grow in this village today are exactly the same as they were 500 years ago.

They're called Maturano, a variety that can't be found anywhere else on Earth.

-The description which the locals use of these grapes, they call this masculine and this feminine.

So we know it's been grown here for at least 500 years.

because there are local ducal records that confirm that, and this is the home of it.

-Some of the labels they use on the wines pay tribute to the history of I Ciacca, too.

-We used an old photograph of my grandfather, Cesidio.

Here's one of his brothers, Gerardo.

Here's a cousin, Ernesto, and another cousin, Nikola.

These three all moved to Scotland.

This one went to Scotland, decided he preferred it here, so he came back again.

-After a long day's work.

The conveyor belt stops, and everyone can catch their breath.

Technology has helped them produce 14,000 bottles today.

-I feel a good work.

And I like to work with friends.

-The Maturano wine produced at I Ciacca needs time to mature, as its name suggests, and the bottles will now be stored in a cave for three years before being sold.

But this is yet another step forward for Cesidio as he battles to keep the village that means so much to him alive and honors its extraordinary past.

-We've had a good day today, but the future is about making sure that this continues, and it's going to continue with the work and effort, not just to me and my family, but of everybody around about.

-Coming up... -At the minute, it's just a dark, dank hole.

-Paul and Yip get back to work to save their bakery from collapse.

-But it's the most we've done since coming out of COVID.

Another year, this building would have been past the point of restoration, I think.

-And as Cesidio's family descends from Scotland for the wine harvest... -The vendemmia is a community issue, and this is a community.

-This centuries-old ritual is stopped by a very modern problem.

-There's a fuse which has blown, and we can't work out what it is.

So it's an issue we need to resolve quickly.

-Back at La Buslire, winter is slowly creeping in, and the village has thrown a curveball.

After heavy rain, Paul and Yip have had to postpone work on the glampsite because the village bakery is crying out for help.

Its roof is leaking, meaning the 200-year-old building is near collapse, forcing Paul and Yip to start restoring it to its former glory slightly earlier than planned.

-Big plans for this, so, um... New roof, all pointed out, stonework repaired and done.

And just for it to be the hub of future events here.

-Bread oven building would have been the heart of this hamlet.

And we want to make it the heart of this hamlet once again.

But at the minute, it's just a dark, dank hole.

-Yeah.

-And, um... Yeah.

-That's it.

-We've got to start somewhere.

-Much of the debris in the bakery is fit for the skip.

But Paul and Yip are keen to restore and reuse as much of the original fabric of La Buslire as possible.

-Things like this, this is part of the original, um... -Feeders that were in that.

-...animal feeder.

-But it is full of woodworm, so we're not ready to cut it up and burn it yet.

We might use it.

-It's quite rotten, isn't it?

-It is, but... -Let's keep it to one side for the minute.

-With the building now empty, Paul and Yip have a clear view of the state of the structure.

-I'm just looking at the leaning wall, but I'm sure it's fine.

We'll just see it leaning right over, but look.

You know, don't think it's gonna go anywhere.

Outside is straight, the wall, isn't it?

Just looking at this leaning.

-They all lean.

That one's worse.

-Yeah, that one is, isn't it?

I'm sure it's fine.

-They're hoping to be able to save most of the walls, along with the focal point of this building, the original bread oven.

In feudal times, this would have been La Buslire's communal bread oven.

As every baked loaf carried a tax to be paid to the state, villagers would have had to pay a fee to bake their bread here, as they weren't allowed to bake bread in their own home.

-That's absolutely fine.

That is amazing, that.

That is absolutely amazing.

-The historian guy that came and looked at the oven was really pleased with what condition it was in, considering its age.

You know, a lot of them have caved in.

Touchwood.

That hasn't happened to our one.

So, yeah.

So that's exciting.

So, at the moment, it's just the -- everything outside of the oven that needs restoring.

-With the inside clear, Paul and Yip can begin the slow process of taking down and rebuilding their damaged exterior walls and chimney, Heading towards their end goal of fitting a roof to make the village bakery watertight.

-Another year, this building would have been past the point of restoration, I think.

-It seems Paul and Yip's intervention to save La Buslire came just in time.

There's still a long way to go, but every day is a step forward in rescuing this unloved and abandoned village.

-It's the most we've done since coming out of COVID.

So, um... -So it's good to get back into it.

-Yeah.

-And achieve quite a bit, really.

You know, we've got all that cleared out, which is what we wanted to do.

So it's exciting times, isn't it?

-I'm tempted to have a little fire in the bread oven, just to burn all the cobwebs out, but it's probably steppin' ahead... -It might be a bit.

The last thing we want is it all to collapse at this stage.

-Back in the Val di Comino, it's September, and that means it's harvest time in the vineyards of I Ciacca.

Since the village was founded 500 years ago, one thing above all matters on harvest day -- the coming together of families and the community to help sustain their futures.

So, more than 100 years after Cesidio's grandfather left the village for Edinburgh, all of his descendants have come back from Scotland to take part in this ancient ritual, including son Giovanni, daughter Sofia, and grandchildren Eleanora and Raphaela, and Cesidio's son-in-law Luigi, who's been working in the wine industry for the last 10 years.

-Everything artisanal that you look for, it happens here in I Ciacca.

That's why we hand-pick.

We hand-pick for better control.

Bearing in mind, we are natural and organic.

I can't imagine having tractor fumes, you know, being brought down into the vineyard.

The machine would ruin some of the vines.

One skiff of a vine, that's the vine gone.

-When the baskets are filled, they make the two-minute journey back to the village.

In the past, this journey would have been made by horse and cart.

Then workers would have pressed the grapes by feet.

Today, to make the production profitable, a special machine is used to destalk and press the grapes before the juice is pumped into the fermentation vats.

Cesidio's son Giovanni is looking after the destalking machine.

-My job is putting the grapes from the green boxes in this machine here.

Around and round and round and round and round and round.

-But it seems sometimes modern technology doesn't always make a centuries-old job easier.

Now the power has gone out and the machinery has ground to a halt.

-There's a fuse which has blown, and we can't work out what it is.

So everything was working fine this morning, and now it's not working.

So now we're going to have to work out where the fuse is and probably call an electrician to do a quick check of things.

Uh, it's quite important because it means the press isn't working.

The destalker isn't working.

The pump isn't working.

So it's an issue we need to resolve quickly.

The circuit board and the press went two years ago.

So we lost two days while we were getting a circuit board.

-With more grapes arriving back from the fields and stacking up outside, it's the last thing they need.

-So we think we've identified it's the extension cable.

So we're away, trying to find another one of those.

Hopefully we'll find it quickly, and at that stage, we might be back in action.

-Luckily, the faulty extension lead is swapped with a new one, and the pump whirs back into action.

[ Pump whirring ] -Problem resolved.

-So the production line can start again.

With Giovanni personally overseeing quality control, the precious grapes are destalked, then pressed.

And at the end of the day, a party gets going in the village square.

For Cesidio, days like today are at the heart of what he's trying to achieve.

[ Conversing in Italian ] Preserving not only the bricks and mortar of I Ciacca but its way of life.

-The vendemmia is a collective issue.

It's a cooperative issue.

It's a community issue.

And this is a community.

So there are people from outside the community, inside the community, and they're working together.

They're helping together.

Some are getting paid, some are not getting paid from their helping.

It's part of being together.

-Cesidio's granddaughter, Eleanora, is the youngest of the family, and though she was born in Scotland, today, she's taken her first steps in the heart of her forefathers' village.

An emotional ending to a wonderful day for Cesidio and mum Sofia.

-[ Speaking Italian ] -The streets may have once been deserted, but now they're buzzing with laughter, with family right at its heart, just like it was 500 years ago.

It's a great step forward in this family's incredible mission to save not one but two of Italy's lost villages.

-Sofia asked me years and years ago why I was doing this.

And it took me three nights to come up with an answer.

And eventually I said, "Sofia, I don't actually have the right to cut these roots, but I couldn't stand it that, if in 20 or 30 years time you said to me, "Papa, why didn't you?"

The future is ahead of us, not behind us.

[ Laughs ] [ Insects trilling ] -Next time, Paul and Yip tackle a much loved old building.

-And the barn is just falling, about to fall down.

And we still are against the clock on this, aren't we?

-Cesidio and Selina discover the secrets of I Ciacca.

-This hole that we've left up here was actually a spy hole.

-They used to put their shotguns out there and shoot anybody at the door that was trying to break in.

[ Laughs ] -And lack of workforce causes delay for Ivano and Tracey.

-They only worked one week.

-And you kind of think "Oh, but it can't be that bad."

-And it is.

-But it is.

[ Both laugh ]