British Couple Spends 17 Years Refurbishing Medieval Italian Palazzo After Earthquake
Andrew Miles and Katja von Schweitzer are restoring Palazzo San Benedetto in San Benedetto in Perillis, Abruzzo, to revive a damaged village and fund renovations through holiday flats.
British couple Andrew Miles and Katja von Schweitzer have spent 17 years refurbishing Palazzo San Benedetto, a 15th-century palazzo in the Abruzzo village of San Benedetto in Perillis, after it was devastated by a 5.8-magnitude earthquake near L'Aquila.
The property, which spans about 1,000 square meters and includes an eighth-century fortified building and a watch tower, was badly damaged when the quake struck near L'Aquila, Abruzzo's capital. The watch tower collapsed, the rest of the building was largely spared, and the house was placed in the red zone, complicating early reconstruction efforts. The couple—who first fell in love with Abruzzo on a 2005 holiday—decided in 2008 to relocate permanently from Brighton, after viewing roughly 100 houses. They and their two children chose the village of San Benedetto in Perillis and soon bought the palazzo and its ancillary structures, hoping to restore a cultural landmark amid a fragile local economy. In a year marked by the quake, the exterior work was effectively taken out of their hands for more than a year.
The couple eventually moved to Italy in 2018, and their 17-year journey has been chronicled on Channel 4’s Help! We Bought a Village. The program follows their efforts to navigate bureaucratic hurdles, seismic safety requirements, and the long path to restoring a property that includes a 15th-century palazzo, an 8th-century fortified building, and a watch tower. The house itself measures about 1,000 square meters, and its restoration has progressed alongside renovations at a nearby site that they operate as a hospitality venture.
On the episode, viewers saw the couple dealing with the logistics of basic deliveries and the challenges of bringing a bespoke staircase and wardrobe into a 50-room structure that remains far from move-in ready. While the mains remains a work in progress, they have started to open rental spaces. In Sulmona, about an hour from the village, they run The Poets' Retreat, a set of holiday flats housed in a 16th-century palazzo, which helps generate income to fund ongoing restoration.
The show also highlighted the couple’s broader tourism initiatives, including genealogy tours aimed at visitors seeking to trace ancestral roots in the Abruzzo region. Katja and Andrew described this as a promising way to bring in revenue while highlighting local culture and history. "This is what we set out to do," Katja said, noting that the activity is starting to work. "And it seems to be starting to work." Andrew added that seeing life return to the village has given them renewed energy for the project.
As of June, work on Palazzo San Benedetto had progressed to a point where proper structural works could begin again after a long pause. The couple said they anticipate the day they can live in the palazzo and eventually run it as holiday accommodation to fund ongoing maintenance. "In the future, down the line, I'm sure I'm going to look at it and go OK, it was worth all those headaches because it was an honour to be owners and custodians of this important village here," Katja said. "Seeing life come back into this village has given me and Katja renewed energy and enthusiasm for the project—seeing how it could be to live here," Andrew added.
The project has also faced financial hurdles. The couple published a GoFundMe page detailing the long timeline and the need for ongoing funding, noting that years of seismic work and bureaucracy have stretched resources. They said government restoration funding for projects like theirs was pulled, complicating efforts to finance the extensive renovation. They stressed that they do not receive payment for appearing on the television program, and that donations help cover essential costs to preserve a site they consider a cultural heritage monument. They described Palazzo San Benedetto as a structure with sections dating back up to 1,200 years, alongside newer additions from the 16th century, and emphasized that the renovation is essential to keeping the building accessible to future generations.
Despite the obstacles, the couple remains committed to their long-term plan: to live in the palazzo someday and to operate it as a sustainable project that supports the village’s revival. They hope that the success of auxiliary ventures—such as the Sulmona flats and the genealogy tours—will continue to support restoration work, enabling the guardianship of a landmark they describe as a cultural treasure for the region. Their journey, while arduous, has drawn attention to the resilience of small communities in Abruzzo and the role that dedicated individuals can play in rebuilding after disaster.