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PROPERTY

UPDATED: These are the Italian towns offering houses for one euro

The number of Italian 'ghost towns' selling off abandoned homes for a euro is still growing. Here's a look at the new and updated list.

Published: 24 January 2020 10:04 CET
Updated: 27 March 2022 11:28 CEST
UPDATED: These are the Italian towns offering houses for one euro
Photo by TIZIANA FABI / AFP

For several years now, a growing number of Italian towns and villages have been announcing ‘one euro’ home schemes: selling off old properties for less than the price of a coffee in a bid to reverse depopulation.

And many buyers – mainly from outside of Italy – have already taken advantage of the offers.

The houses available usually need a lot of expensive renovation work and come with terms and conditions attached. But despite this, buyers insist they’re still a bargain – and that the scheme has allowed them to discover and become part of a small Italian community that they’d never have found otherwise.

READ ALSO: The hidden costs of buying a home in Italy

After several years, interest remains high, with towns announcing these deals recently saying they’ve been flooded with enquiries from would-be investors and second home owners from all over the world.

If you’ve been tempted, you may find that there are so many towns in Italy competing to offload their old houses that it can be difficult to know where to start.

We’ve looked at all the offers available at the moment and selected some of the most interesting ones, which you can find listed below.

Plus, the interactive map below provides an extensive rundown of one-euro houses currently on sale throughout Italy.

If the one-euro home schemes aren’t for you, keep in mind that this is not the only way to snap up a bargain property in Italy – many foreign buyers are also benefiting from other types of ‘cheap home’ deals, which you can learn more about here.

Happy house-hunting – and please do let us know if you find your dream Italian home on this list!

Source: Case a 1 euro

Leonforte, Sicily

The latest place to try the one euro house scheme is the Sicilian village of Leonforte, putting up cheap homes on the market in its historic Baroque centre.

Based in the province of Enna, this old town is host to a mix of cultural and natural attractions, which the local municipality wants repopulate to preserve its social and economic future.

Leonforte’s one euro home project provides for the redevelopment of urban areas, intended to attract families, tourism and businesses.

If you want to find out more and apply for a bargain Sicilian bolthole, here’s the application form.

Pratola Peligna, Abruzzo

Just half an hour from the ski resort of Roccaraso and the same distance from the coastal town of Pescara is this small and charming municipality, in the province of l’Aquila.

Albeit a small area with some 7250 inhabitants, there’s a lot uninhabited space, so the authorities are hoping to lure in newcomers with some enticing real estate deals.

Italy’s building bonus: Can you really claim back the cost of renovating property?

Town mayor Antonella Di Nino said, “Our municipality suffered the indirect effects of the L’Aquila earthquake, so we immediately set to work to reactivate the necessary procedures to receive funding to rebuild individual buildings or building aggregates,” reported property and finance site Idealista.

Out of around 600 buildings, they found that 40 percent were abandoned.

They also discovered that many properties were sitting vacant as they couldn’t trace their owners. Some were still listed under the name of citizens born in the 1890s and in other cases, property owners had died and the inheritance had never been taken.

To reinvigorate the town and give people the chance to get their hands on a deal, they thought to offer these properties at a sale of one euro.

For the latest houses on sale at the symbolic price of one euro, check the municipality’s website.

Bivona, Sicily

A small town deep in the heart of Sicily, the local authorities want to enhance and recover the town’s neglected and abandoned buildings.

As in the other Italian towns and villages offering properties for next to nothing, Bivona’s young people have left in search of work elsewhere, leaving the area depopulated and in danger of soon becoming a ghost town.

The Sicilian town, which has just 3,800 residents, offers its one euro scheme with an added bonus.

To beat the competition from other towns offering the same deal, Bivona is easing buying restrictions and offering tax bonuses for those who buy one of a dozen empty and dilapidated properties in the town.

More information about the properties available and the buying requirements is available, partly in English, here.

OPINION: Bargain homes and fewer crowds – but Italy’s deep south is not for everyone

The terms and conditions buyers must agree to include paying a €2,500 deposit and declaring their intended use of the property, which can be anything from a family home to a holiday rental property, or even a craft workshop.

In the case of competing offers, you’ll get more points if you intend to speed up the restoration project and if you use renewable materials.

Bisaccia, Campania

This town is hoping to attract families and groups of friends to buy a couple of bargain properties between them.

The picturesque town of Bisaccia, in an inland part of Italy’s southern Campania region, is started to put dilapidated buildings on the market for a euro last year, in hopes of reviving the community.

But unlike other towns offering such deals for people committing to renovations, Bisaccia’s officials say its tightly-clustered buildings would suit more communal projects. Find out more on the official website listing the bargain homes.

Mussomeli, Sicily

This larger town in Sicily focused on making it easy for prospective foreign buyers to find their dream one euro home, by creating a multilingual estate agency to process its own one-euro home deals.

The unusually modern website features an interactive map that has detailed information on each building – and even more surprisingly, it’s all in English. The houses on offer are mainly abandoned stone cottages, in varying states of disrepair.

READ ALSO: How and where to find your dream renovation property in Italy

One of the houses for sale in Mussomeli. Photo: Comune di Mossomeli

Again, you’ll be responsible for all the fees associated with purchasing a house and you are obliged to renovate the property.

The agency will take you on a tour of the homes and the local area as well as organising the necessary paperwork.

As one of the fist towns to offer one euro homes Mussomeli has previously received thousands of email enquiries, so you might need to be patient if you have your heart set on this area.

There are currently six one euro homes listed on their site.

READ ALSO:

Cantiano, Marche

The historic town centre of Cantiano in the province of Pesaro has joined the one euro scheme, with the aim of reviving abandoned old buildings and encouraging residents, tourism and businesses.

Anyone who buys a one euro house in this area will need to pay fees for the transfer of ownership of the property and all other home buying costs, such as notary fees and taxes.

Once the sale has gone through, you must start works within one year and complete the project within four years. For details on how to apply, see the municipality’s website.

Cammarata, Sicily

Most of these towns are in Sicily, and another option on the southern island is Cammarata, a town of 6,000 in the province of Argingento, which started advertised properties on sale for €1 in 2020.

Here’s an English-language website which facilitates the sale of the houses in this area.

Sambuca, Sicily

The deputy mayor of this small Sicilian village got more than he bargained for after announcing the town was selling off 17 houses for one euro each.

He said he was “trying not to go mad” after receiving calls around the clock from potential buyers – many of them in English, which he says he has a limited command of.

Since then, the scheme must have done so well that they’ve doubled the house prices – it’ll now set you back €2 for one of their properties.

READ ALSO: What taxes do you need to pay if you own a second home in Italy?

Some of the houses for sale in Sambuca, Sicily, for just €1. Photos: Comune di Sambuca di Sicilia.

For the list of €2 houses in Sambuca, click here. To read the FAQs, click here. There are currently 16 available at the time of writing.

New owners must commit to refurbishing their property within three years with costs starting from €15,000 (£12,800), plus a €5,000 security deposit.

Sambuca’s official website gives a glimpse of the thousands of queries the village says it has been fielding ever since its offer took off, for example: “Do I have to be an Italian citizen to buy real estate?” (No.) “Must I transfer residency to Sambuca after buying real estate?” (No.) 

The FAQs also state that if more than one buyer wants the same property, the highest bidder gets priority – which suggests that you could find yourself stumping up a lot more than €2 if you want to secure your Sicilian home.

See the full list of Italian towns currently offering houses for sale for one euro here.

Please note: The Local cannot help you to buy any of these houses. Please address all enquiries to the relevant estate agency. But do let us know if you decide to make an offer!

Member comments

  2. I love The Local. Honestly, I don’t know what I’d do without you guys.

    When I see CNN (they don’t half of what you know about Italian real estate) run absurd articles about happy one-euro homeowners, I always have to bite my tongue. At least The Local makes reference to the drawbacks as well as the plusses. I did much the same in this article, which I wrote as a rebuttal to CNN’s malarkey.

    https://cappuccino.substack.com/p/why-those-buy-a-house-in-italy-for?r=kbmi7&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=copy

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PROPERTY

Tuscany or Basilicata? How Italy’s international property market is changing

From typical budgets to preferred locations and property types, Silvia Marchetti looks at how the profile of the average foreign buyer looking for a slice of Italian life has changed over the years.

Published: 26 May 2023 12:54 CEST
Tuscany or Basilicata? How Italy's international property market is changing

Nearly 20 years ago, I remember when Tuscany was dubbed ‘the Tuscanshire of Italy’ in honour of all the wealthy Brits (and Americans, too) who had bought luxury farmsteads and castelletti amid cypress-lined paths and green rolling hills. Singer Sting had purchased a villa there alongside other VIPs and European royals.

Then, some 10 years later a new trend emerged: ‘Tuscanshire’ turned into ‘Abruzzoshire’, with local press talking up the arrival of English-speaking expats who wanted to live their Italian dream in a wilder, albeit poorer and more remote, region roamed by sheep, wolves and bears.

READ ALSO: The hidden costs of buying a home in Italy

There’s been a significant change in the profile of foreign home buyers in Italy, from high-end to middle-class.

Before it was usually well-off people that relocated from abroad to Tuscany and Umbria spending tons of money for castles and mansions, or luxury attics in big cities. Some still do, but they like to keep a low profile.

Surprisingly, many top destinations are now down south. I was rather shocked by the latest real estate report issued by the Agenzie delle Entrate, Italy’s tax authority: in 2022 the region of Basilicata had the second-most home purchases in Italy, after Lombardy.

Even though the report does not clarify how many of these purchases were made by foreigners, local Basilicata mayors who have launched projects to lure new residents say it is very likely that over 80 percent of the new buyers came from abroad.

A view of vineyards are pictured in the autumn colors on November 2, 2011 in Monti Di Sopra, Tuscany.

Tuscany has long been the dream location, but many foreign buyers are now looking further afield. (Photo by FABIO MUZZI / AFP)

This is for the simple fact that Italian families leave, every year, Basilicata, Molise and parts of Calabria in search of a brighter future elsewhere. Depopulation in the south, alongside low birth rates, remain problems which local authorities are trying to fight by appealing to foreign home buyers.

IN MAPS: How Italy’s property prices vary by region

While in the past it was all about the rich who flocked to Liguria, Sardinia and Emilia Romagna to enjoy their beach-side mansions, now it’s mostly middle class or lower-income foreign nationals who make global headlines, lured by the rural appeal of depopulated southern villages, or retirees who crave for a cheaper lifestyle under the sultry Calabrian sun, close to the sea.

This trend has mostly been triggered by a series of measures that the town halls of these ‘dying’ villages have put in place, from ‘one euro‘ to cheap turnkey homes, ‘baby bonuses’ for families willing to relocate, tax breaks, lower bills and financial aid for starting a new business.

READ ALSO: The Italian towns launching alternatives to one-euro homes

But it is not only due to such schemes. Life is cheaper in many parts in Italy compared to anywhere else in the world, and this is most true particularly in small villages, even northern ones.

In the Alpine hamlet of Carrega Ligure, on the border between Piedmont and Liguria, old farmer homes are on sale starting at 10,000 euros.

Council officials in the village of Carrega Ligure have tried to sell off abandoned properties at low prices. Credit: Comune di Carrega Ligure

Retired foreigners with a modest pension end up saving a lot of money embracing the rural idyll, even in villages close to Rome. In the hamlet of Capena close to the Tiber River, a two-bedroom apartment in the medieval center costs about 30.000 euros. Such convenient prices tend to lure not just retired couples but also millennial teleworkers on a budget.

What is staying the same however is the high-end, ultra-wealthy segment of buyers of luxury villas and studios who still crave Italy’s two top cities.

Lombardy, with Milan as its capital, leads the way ahead of Rome. According to a survey by luxuryestate.com, a partner of Italian property site immobiliare.it, 9 percent of all super-rich European buyers looking for a lavish apartment in Italy pick Milan, while 8 percent choose Rome.

In Milan, nearly 30 percent come from the UK, while 20 percent are Swiss. I met a rich Belgian family in Brussels once who said they had bought a panoramic attic overlooking the Duomo to use just for ‘parachute shopping’ when they’d hop on a plane for the weekend to ransack the Fashion Quadrangle.

OPINION: Bargain homes and fewer crowds – but Italy’s deep south is not for everyone

Such clients want turnkey mansions with no need of renovation work, not even minimal fixes – totally the opposite from those who buy cheap homes in the rural south and often end up renovating them on their own.

I think this gap between ‘rich city home buyers’ and ‘middle class rural fixer-uppers’ is bound to widen as inflation keeps rising and the spending power of the less wealthy will drop further.

While Italy’s big cities will always represent an eternal dream of glamour, a status symbol for the wealthy, small southern villages and rural spots by contrast offer the perfect compromise for a financially sustainable Italian lifestyle.

See more in The Local’s property section.

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