Tourism Law in Europe

8 direct contact with residents, in order to allow cultural integration, besides the re- qualification of properties 26 . This formula has proved to be particularly suitable for villages and towns characterized by historical centres of artistic and architectural interest, which in this way can recover and enhance old closed and unused buildings, and at the same time can avoid solving the problems of tourist accommodation with new buildings. It should be emphasized, however, that Albergo Diffuso is primarily a hotel, and should not be confused with other forms of widespread hospitality, which are not always real alberghi diffusi as established by the current regional laws in force 27 . Albergo Diffuso is the great opportunity for the Italian supply system to experiment and propose original styles of hospitality to the demand markets, in which to offer its own hospitality approach, its own culture of hospitality, without borrowing standard management procedures and methods 28 . 4. The Discipline of Albergo Diffuso The discipline of Albergo Diffuso , being this part of tourism sector, has both a public and private nature. As far as public law is concerned, the legislation relating to diffused hotels is a regional competence, as for all accommodation facilities. In fact, Regions are responsible for their definition, the establishment of requirements and rules for opening 26 See among others: G. Dall’Ara, cit.; F. Torchia, cit., p. 142; F. Morandi, Percorsi regionali di disciplina dell’albergo diffuso e dell’ospitalità diffusa, (Regional paths in the legisaltion of “ albergo diffuso ” and of widespread hospitality), in Riv. dir. tur., 2015, p. 327 et seq .; La disciplina dell’albergo diffuso (The discipline of albergo diffuso ) , cit., p. 18; M.E. La Torre, I contratti di ospitalità (Hospitality contracts) , in F. Morandi, M.M. Comenale Pinto &M.E. La Torre (ed.), I contratti del turismo (Tourism contracts) , Milan, 2004, p. 269; C. Vignali, L’albergo diffuso, in L. Degrassi & V. Franceschelli (ed.) Turismo. Diritto e diritti (Tourism. Law and rights) , Milan, 2010, p. 579 et seq . 27 www.ilsole24ore.com, cit., “Today, in Italy, 250 structures are defined as such, but they do not always correspond to the criteria. If the houses are more than 200 meters apart or in different municipalities, or if there is only one house, then we cannot speak of a widespread hotel”, explains G. Dall'Ara. "Only 150 structures correspond to the definition, and of these 70 strictly adhere to the guidelines of our association". In this regard, F. Morandi.cit., 2015, p. 328, correctly observed, that, given the presence of numerous structures declared to be widespread hotels, but lacking the qualifying characteristics, the Association of alberghi diffusi has assumed a fundamental role in accrediting them. 28 www.albergodiffuso.com