A house for a symbolic €1 in Italy? This is the “One Euro House project”, a solution designed to repopulate Italian villages deserted by their inhabitants.
The initiative was born in Sardinia in 2018, before extending to Calabria, then to Sicily and Basilicata. Today, there are 25 villages participating in the One Euro House project. Last August, the municipality of Maenza, an hour’s drive south of Rome, also joined the initiative… The aim is to offer abandoned houses for purchase for a symbolic €1. In return, the buyers commit themselves to renovate the property within a year. Depending on the villages and regions where they are located, buyers may also be obliged to stay there for a given period of time each year. The ambition of the inventors of the formula is to repopulate the typical Italian villages that have been deserted over the last 40 years due to the rural exodus and the concentration of economic activities around the large metropolises. These regions in difficulty are thus regaining a certain dynamism and a new attractiveness… in addition to regaining their beauty and renewing an aging population. These initiatives have indeed brought work to local businesses and artisans and investments such as these areas had not seen for a long time.
How does it work?
The houses offered at 1 euro are most often private properties whose owners want to get rid of them to avoid paying taxes. Often dilapidated, they are in great need of renovation. In these cases, the municipalities take the lead in finding potential buyers and ensuring the regularity of the sale between the old and new owners. For those who are interested, the list of Italian villages participating in the operation is updated regularly.
