The Albergo Diffuso Ornica is the oldest and best-known case of a scattered hotel in Lombardy. It is located in the Ornica hamlet (Orobic Alps) and has been running since 2009 by the Cooperativa Donne di Montagna (""mountain women's cooperative enterprise""). The ""scattered hotel"" (albergo diffuso) is a concept first conceived in the Carnic Alps (Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region, Italy). It consists of a hospitality solution, located in a hamlet or in the historical center of a town, with rooms and services in adjacent but distinct buildings.

A scattered hotel can be regarded as a single hospitality venue, managed as a normal enterprise. It targets tourists who want to stay in a valuable and authentic urban context, close to the residents, but relying on standard hotel services. This concept is in line with important aspects of a green accommodation such as an urban environment with food waste prevention and recovery principles. It provides the possibility of revitalizing partially abandoned hamlets that will be otherwise doomed to decay or will need substantial demolition/refurbishment. It also places the focus on the ""short"" food chain and the enhancement of local, traditional farming techniques that are less likely to produce food waste or to be unable to recover it within the production cycle.