Evening & Standard. 14 March 2023. Emma Magnus
Italy’s €1 home scheme is the stuff of dreams. The kind that start on a dull winter’s day in London, say, sparking a vision of a new life in the Italian sunshine, living in a house that costs less than an espresso.
Introduced in 2008, the scheme was intended to combat depopulation in rural towns, revitalising them with new inhabitants.
Abandoned private houses —of which there are around 2 million, says Maurizio Berti, who runs advisory website Case a 1 Euro — are sold for the symbolic price of €1, with buyers often obligated to restore the properties and encouraged to relocate to Italy.
