American University of Rome Students Partner with Magliano Sabina to Put a Hidden Gem on the Map
Magliano Sabina is a medieval hilltop comune in northern Lazio, perched above the Tiber Valley on the border with Umbria, surrounded by olive groves, vineyards, and open countryside. It has ancient roots, a skyline of medieval palazzos and piazzas, and a table that includes some of central Italy’s finest extra virgin olive oil, local wine, and the Mazzafegata, a signature pork sausage unique to the area. Until now, putting itself on the international map has remained an opportunity yet to be fully explored.
That is changing. Mayor Giulio Falcetta has enlisted a promising ally: a team of students from the American University of Rome, who travelled north last week for an in-person meeting with the mayor as part of a collaboration aimed at repositioning Magliano Sabina as an international tourism destination.
A Town Worth Staying In
Magliano Sabina’s location has historically worked against it. Conveniently close to the A1 Autostrada del Sole, which links Milan to Naples via Bologna, Florence, and Rome, and within easy reach of both Lazio and Umbria, the town has long served as a stopping point rather than a destination. Visitors have tended to pass through for a day or two, drawn by the surrounding countryside and the villas that dot the Sabine Hills, without spending meaningful time in the town center itself.
Mayor Falcetta wants to change that. His target is an average stay of three to four nights, long enough for visitors to eat well, walk slowly, and understand what makes Magliano worth the detour. The initial focus will be on younger travellers and students, positioning the town as an accessible and affordable retreat from Rome.
Real Students, Real Stakes
The collaboration is part of the American University of Rome’s Real Projects programme, which places student consultants inside actual organisations to work on genuine challenges alongside the people responsible for solving them. There are no hypothetical case studies here. The students work directly with Mayor Falcetta, learning the town’s history, its ambitions, and its constraints, before designing a strategy they will formally present to the municipality.
One early idea with particular promise centres on Ecostello Magliano Sabina, a former monastery now operating as a hostel run by the local government. The students are developing a concept for a structured weekend retreat, using the Ecostello as a base and anchoring the experience in the town center: food and bar tours, cooking classes hosted by local nonnas, and the kind of unhurried immersion that turns a short visit into a lasting memory.
Mayor Falcetta has spoken warmly of the partnership. “As an administration, we are honoured to be collaborating with the American University of Rome,” he said. “Meeting students from all over the world, pursuing different but complementary fields of study, gives our town a remarkable opportunity in terms of analytical capacity and development guidance. In this second phase, we will focus on identifying our tourism target by analysing the needs we can address through our hospitality offer. We are increasingly convinced that choosing to work with this prestigious university was the right decision.”
First Impressions
The students’ visit to Magliano Sabina left a mark. The images they had seen online, they noted, had not done the place justice. After an opening meeting at city hall, where Mayor Falcetta offered a deeper portrait of the commune and its community, the group spent the afternoon exploring on foot. They were joined along the way by Marcello, a local who took it upon himself to guide them through the town with the easy generosity that seems to characterise the place. The day ended at Hostaria Un Altravolta, a family-run restaurant where a meal of fresh local food made the project feel less like an assignment and more like a beginning.
For Scott Sprenger, President of the American University of Rome, the visit encapsulates exactly what the programme is designed to produce. “The Magliano Sabina collaboration is exactly the kind of real-world engagement we want for our students,” he said. “Working with a municipality on a tourism strategy allows students to apply what they learn in the classroom while building the practical skills, contacts, and professional confidence that will shape their future careers.”
A Model Worth Watching
The partnership between Magliano Sabina and the American University of Rome is a small project with implications that go beyond tourism. It offers a working model for how municipalities, particularly smaller ones with limited marketing resources, can engage with academic institutions to access fresh thinking and international perspectives. For the students, it is the rare opportunity to do work that genuinely matters to real people in a real place. For Magliano Sabina, it may be the start of the recognition it has long deserved.
Bisian Abdulkader, the professor leading the project, puts it simply. “In Real Projects, I see students grow through experiential learning as they develop applied research capabilities, critical thinking, and the ability to work with external stakeholders in real-world settings,” he said. “Bringing together academic rigor and practical relevance is never simple, but that is precisely what makes the experience so meaningful. The greatest reward comes when graduates tell me that Real Projects were pivotal to their careers and to their ability to translate knowledge into professional practice.”
