Weekend Australian. Tim Moore. December 3, 2021
It seemed like a pretty good deal,” says Rafael Solorzano, leaning against an ancient whitewashed wall. A half smile settles across his young, bearded face, a look of understated satisfaction that might most convincingly relate to a discount secured on the acoustic guitar propped up by his bedside table. But the 28-year-old from Miami is referring to the house we’re standing in – all four floors of it, if you include a yawning basement – and the fact that this habitable, historic home in a comely old Sicilian hill town was his for the price of a slice of pizza.
As we stoop in through his gothic-arched front door, his extended sigh of amused disbelief suggests he still can’t get his head around it. “It just seemed incredible that in all the real-estate craziness that’s been going on pretty much everywhere, you can buy a house for a dollar.”
