10494 A House for 1 Euro in Sicily

Judging by the names of some who are supposedly interested it could become a bit of a celebrity enclave!!!

[url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/2667062/Sicilian-mayor-offers-houses-for-1-euro.html]Sicilian mayor offers houses for 1 euro - Telegraph[/url]

Sounds like a wonderful idea to me! Salemi is in a superb position - with perfectly decent roads to Marsala, Trapani, Palermo - so I very much doubt that anyone who isn't an onorevole will get a look in at these 1 Euro offers, and I don't expect any of us proles to get on shoulder rubbing terms with them!

I was particularly impresed by the following quote from the article.
"Yesterday Mr Sgarbi claimed that one of the most important figures in the restoration of old Italian towns has come on board: the Italo-Swedish developer Daniele Khilgren, who has brought other ancient hill towns back from the brink and recently turned cave dwellings in the ancient southern town of Matera into a unique hotel."

Having seen Matera many years ago, and seen the hotel, believe me the hotel development is truly spectacular. Have a look! [url=http://www.hotelsantangelosassi.it/indexing.htm]Hotel Sant'Angelo - Matera[/url]

The idea is not new, a couple of old towns in Spain did the same thing some time ago, selling a home for 1euro on the condition of restoring it and moving to live there. The project was for young families to move into towns which were being abandoned and where the population was getting too old. They got some kind of European funding to do this and provide facilities and jobs. They advertised mainly in Latin America because of the language and managed to even build schools or keep working some which were due to close due to the lack of students. Those projects were largely successful with only a small percentage of families leaving or returning to their countries of origin. This is slightly different as it looks at investment only and I do not think that this is enough to keep a town alive. You need permanent residents. Anyway.... it could work..... but I think that it needs a bit more than the 20,001 euros required at this stage....

What an excellent idea if only it could happen in Abruzzo! I wonder how the Comune got around the problem of tracing owners of these homes and getting them to sell???

I think that Italy desparately need to pass new (enforced) laws giving local mayors the right to compulsory purchase properties ; abandoned and neglected where owners refuse to either repair or sell up.They can then offer these properties for sale at below market value on the condition that the new owners restore sympathetically using local materials .

The only problem i see is that you might bump into Big Ron

I disagree Becky. Not compulsory, but maybe a financial incentive offered instead perhaps.

Indeed an interesting approach to supposed upliftment of an area. But something to take note of, is that Sicily is not Italy. And although governed by the Italian Law, it is actually a country and culture seperate from Italy. Anyone interested in investing in Sicily would be well advised to spend at least a year there, preferably in a position of working there i.e drawing a salary/wage from the place...to get to know how the system works.

This sounds very much like the Cinque Terre Vineyard give away I signed up to a 6 years back. They tried people to take over abandoned vineyards before they slid into the sea. The trouble is that now 6 years later, I'm still on some imaginary waiting list. I suspect I'll get my plot of land when I'm too old and decrepit to work the steep terraces,,,

The whole thing is a publicity stunt.
The house is one euro - you are obliged to restore the house to its medieval spendour within 2 years using local builders and a minimum of 100.000 euros. This means that local builders will make a fortune from charging hapless incomers double or triple to do basic work, and help the local black economy - Salemi is not renowned for the absence of organised crime. The celebrity friends of Sgarbi who are buying the odd ruin would have no intention of living there - you have to remember that Sgarbi doesnt live there and has no intention of doing so.
The only people in the past who wanted to live in Salemi were mafia bosses in hiding and I cant see that changing in the near future!

If everyone knows where they are living, how can they be hiding?, sounds no fun to me.
A

We spent a month in Sicily last autumn and fell in love with the island despite staying for a few nights in the coldest B&B on earth, whilst it snowed outside! There seemed to be huge grants for people who had "ruined houses" and were prepared to do them up and agree to being a B&B or Agriturismo for 2 years after restoration...seemed a very generous propostion to us...but no doubt you had to be Sicillian to benefit!

What a scam!!!Makes me wonder why its not more widely adopted??

Why is it a scam? They are upfront about where the properties are, what condition they are in, what needs to be done to them, how and a timescale is given. It is up to you to make further enquiries and do the valid research - they are offering a house for a euro - not a diploma in the study of Cosa Nostra.

Some of these abandoned hilltop villages are being rebuilt to exacting standards by private developers and are then flogged off at extremely high prices. Here is one example - there are many more.

[url=http://www.colletta-it.com/]Colletta - Medieval e-village with broadband - Liguria Italy[/url]

Yes that was a bit harsh but I suppose what I was getting at was how many people have already been xcited at the idea of buying a house for 1 euro thinking they'll then work on it themselves etc.Certainly they wouldnt have 100,000 euros going spare.

As you say the info is there I just wonder how much choice is there not in the standard of the restoration work ; which I support fully, but in selecting builders / tradesmen rather than being stuck with those who've bought into the scheme?

That was an interesting link but it looks as if the village is being run as some sort of upmarket holiday village.Do locals apart from those involved in tourism live there I wonder ?

We've had discussuions before about the abandoned hamlets in Abruzzo and it seems there can be many obstacles to securing their future via outside money and investment.I know that its worked in a village somewhere in Abruzzo;its always getting featured in the sunday supplements!San Stefanio? I think?

I barely think that the intention that Sgarbi has is to attract full-time residents to the town with this "urban regeneration" scheme. Yes, he is seeking as much publicity as he can get and, yes, he always attracts publicity for just about everything that he does. That is what has made Sgarbi such an inspired choice as mayor for the town - his ability to attract publicity for whatever he does. In this case, he is dealing with a situation where the centre of a town that has been devastated by an earthquake needs to be restored to breathe life back into the town as a whole.

As anyone with a modicum of common sense will already know, the €1 price tag is not a "real" sale price for a house. It is the minimum amount needed to effect a sale of one of the designated houses. The true cost is shown in the contract - as well as all of the very clearly detailed publicity material circulating at the moment - where the actual restructuring will be carried out under the watchful eye of the municipality (speriamo).

I have to add that I used to enjoy reading Peter Popham articles, but he seems to have rather "lost his way" of late. His appallingly unresearched article about the two drowned girls and his later item about the building of a concrete and steel tower overlooking the US base at Vicenza both seemed to be written by a disaffected expat waiting to "go home". Shame on him. This story has been written by him in much the same mould - facts moulded to suit a readership requirement. As Sarah Palin said recently; "journalists!"

[quote=myabruzzohome;97934]That was an interesting link but it looks as if the village is being run as some sort of upmarket holiday village.Do locals apart from those involved in tourism live there I wonder ?

We've had discussuions before about the abandoned hamlets in Abruzzo and it seems there can be many obstacles to securing their future via outside money and investment.I know that its worked in a village somewhere in Abruzzo;its always getting featured in the sunday supplements!San Stefanio? I think?[/quote]

We had originally planned to stay in Colletta this autumn, (then the Ferrovia said no dogs etc) and it does seem to be a place where a great many houses are rented out or are "holiday homes" perhaps for those who want to get away to work with their lap top? Perhaps the same will happen at Salemi?