The Sicilian village of Castiglione di Sicilia has put hundreds of houses up for sale for prices as little as €1, as the mayor aims to breathe into his localty.
Located on the slopes of Mount Etna not far from tourist hotspots such as the Gole di Alcantara and the seaside town of Taormina, the village’s population has shrunk from 14,000 in the early 1900s to barely 3,000 today as residents leave for the urban centres or emigrate altogether.
Around 900 abandoned houses will be offered for sale.
Most are located in the oldest parts of the town. Around half are ruined, and will be given away at a symbolic price of €1. The rest are in better condition, and will be sold off cheaply, starting from €4,000- €5,000.
Mayor Antonino Camarda said that interest is already rife.
"We have already received many emails from investors and people across the world. There's a wide choice here", he said.
Castiglione is dubbed the "city of wine" -- a huge sculpture of a barrel and wine glass stands at the entrance to the village.
Castiglione di Sicilia is said to have been founded on the ashes of prehistoric settlements in 403 BC by refugees from the seaside settlement of Naxos, near modern Taormina, when it was conquered by a tyrant.
Its name derives from "the Castle of the Lions," and Castiglione's coat of arms still features two lions standing guard. For centuries it was a vibrant and powerful fiefdom and one of Sicily's strategic and most prosperous outposts, nicknamed the "fiery" town by Frederick II, the 13th-century Holy Roman Emperor and king of Sicily.
The town is a member of I Borghi Più Belli d'Italia, an association of some of Italy's prettiest historical towns. Roads and walls are made with dark lava rock cobblestones, while aristocratic mansions are juxtaposed with humble dwellings.
What’s the catch, so?
Buyers must complete renovation works within three years and, while there is no deposit payable to guarantee actually doing the works, owners need to take out an insurance policy from a bank worth €4,000.
It’s not the first time that villages in rural Italy and Sicily opt for such a drastic measure in order to fill its empty houses.
Many villages are grappling with the effects of rural to urban migration, as younger generations fly the coop to the cities in search of more well-remunerated employment. Turning to the willing investment of foreigners looking to make a new start in a sunny Italian village has been seen as one of the solutions to make sure that these villages do not fall by the wayside and become ghost towns.