Mountain Village Runs Out of Rooms After Hiking Video Is Shared Two Million Times
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A teenager's short film of a hidden mountain lake brings hundreds of unexpected visitors to the tiny village of Valdorno in a single weekend.
The small mountain village of Valdorno ran out of rooms on Saturday after a short hiking video, filmed by a local teenager, was shared more than two million times online.
Hundreds of visitors turned up over the weekend, many without bookings. Some set up tents in the village square; others slept in their cars along the only road in and out.
'We usually have forty guests in October,' said Paola Ricci, who runs the village's only guesthouse. 'On Saturday I turned away more than two hundred people. In the end, I gave up counting.'
The video shows a narrow path that climbs behind the church to a lake that local people call the Mirror. Officials say they have had to close off part of the path after several walkers got lost.
The teenager who posted the clip, 16-year-old Marco Bellini, said he had not expected so many people to find out about the lake. 'I only filmed it for my grandmother,' he said. 'She can't walk up there any more.'
The village council will meet on Monday to work out a plan. Ideas include a daily visitor limit and a bus service from the nearest town. Until then, visitors are asked to put off their trips.