Buying property abroad
Italy sells houses for one euro – that’s how life in the villages has changed
Italy’s villages sell houses
© Ekaterina Chizhevskaya / Getty Images
Italy’s villages are running out of residents. To change that, houses are being sold for bargain prices. But you don’t get very far with one euro. Because the towns need investments – and really good ideas in order to survive.
Even in the USA, the advertising campaign of some Italian villages has already got around. Rubia Andrade from the US state of California read an article in 2019 about the towns that are selling houses for one euro. That can’t be true, was the first inspiration. But what if it does? “I had to see it personally,” says Andrade to the “Washingston Post“. Three days later, she booked a flight to Italy.
The American quickly discovered that there is a reason why the small Sicilian town of Mussomeli is selling dozens of houses in the old town for the price of an espresso: the houses are ruins, roofs have collapsed, floors torn open. There are dead pigeons lying around, vermin has moved into the walls. Buyers who have not informed themselves in advance are surprised by the conditions, said Toti Nigrelli, deputy mayor of Mussomeli, to the Washington Post. “We tell people to come here first because we don’t want any surprises. We want them to know what they’re getting into.”
The idea is now around ten years old: Italy’s villages need new residents, because they are precisely the ones that are missing. The old die, the young leave the village structures and move to the cities. What remains is the real estate, which is increasingly degenerating into ruins. So the houses began to be offered for little money. Then the calls went viral. Around 34 municipalities in Italy are currently looking for new residents.
Rubia Andrade was not deterred. She bought one of the 1 euro houses. She flies to Italy in the summer months, and now she’s accompanying friends, family, and even Facebook acquaintances, whom she helps with buying houses. For Andrade, this is an inexpensive way to finance a holiday home. In the USA, their financial resources would not have been sufficient.
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But now Andrade is no longer just about a nice little house for the summer holidays, she has a new mission: to breathe life back into the city. Because the cities are deserted by the lack of residents, there is a lack of shops, cafes, and sociability. Andrade and her son have now bought and converted three houses: a wellness center, an art gallery and a restaurant. In the long term, they want to live in Sicily.
You are not alone in this step. Danny McCubbin is also one of around a dozen foreigners who have settled in the town. The Australian worked for Jamie Oliver for a long time, now he wanted to set up a communal kitchen in the village to cook for those in need. He made 30,000 euros available for this in March 2021.
Since the summer, McCubbin has become something of an ambassador for the 1 euro program. He collects unsold groceries from farms and supermarkets, on Sundays he cooks for the old people in the village and once a week he organizes a joint lunch for the new and old-established residents of the village. “The townspeople initially thought I was opening a restaurant. They didn’t get the concept,” said McCubbin.
Italy’s villages sell the ramshackle houses in the city centers for low prices. The village of Mussomeli (see picture) also has properties on offer.
© gkuna / Getty Images
The Italian villages are hoping for exactly this or a similar idea. Refurbishing the houses and then using them as holiday properties alone does little to help the village communities. “We need fresh people who come here and show us how they live, how they think and what they think the community could be,” says Martina Giracello, who grew up in a neighboring town. She has the non-profit initiative “StreetTo” co-founded, which helps with the placement of houses. The organization wants to attract people who want to move to Sicily in the long term and are not just looking for a holiday home.
Just like the married couple Tonia Bauer and her husband, who left California to bring the vegan lifestyle to the Sicilian village. They now offer a vegan food tour for interested tourists. McCubbin, however, warns all too keen 1 euro house buyers not to focus too much on tourists. Because the villages in the hinterland have so far been of little interest to tourists.
But the viral charisma of the 1 euro villages changes that. Whereas previously only a few tourists strayed to Mussomeli, there are now several thousand visitors a year. This has also increased spending on public spaces: the street lighting has been modernized, there are public parking spaces and the sidewalks have been repaired. Events and attractions are also planned to offer visitors something.
There are now some villages that no longer sell 1 euro houses at all, but rather “premium” houses. These are in much better shape and buyers have to budget between 8,000 and 20,000 euros that they have to pay. But the bargain stores also entail further costs: Including all taxes and fees, up to 3500 euros are due, reports the “Washington PostAfter that, the new owners would have a certain deadline in which to renovate the houses. Usually three to five years are estimated and the buyers have to leave a deposit. This is to deter speculators. The renovation costs amount to 5,000 to 100,000 euros. On average, property buyers would spend between 20,000 and 40,000 euros, according to the deputy mayor of Mussomeli, Toti Negrelli.