CNN Travel. Silvia Marchetti. 3 August 2022 Buyers from all around the world have been snapping up dilapidated Italian homes at rock bottom prices over the past few years as numerous depopulated towns and villages attempt to revive their dwindling communities by offering property bargains. While the prospect of substantial structural upgrades, along with the red tape often involved in purchasing a home...
iNews. James Imam. September 17, 2021. A house in dreamy Sicily could still be yours for the price of an espresso and a croissant. But be warned: the prices have doubled. In 2019, you could pick up a dilapidated abode in Sambuca di Sicilia for as little as €1. In the second batch of 20 houses to be auctioned from November, the bidding starts at €2. Even so, buyers get a lot for their money. The...
CNN. Silvia Marchetti. July 16, 2021 Of the countless dwindling Italian towns that have opted to sell dilapidated homes for just one euro, Sambuca di Sicilia has undoubtedly been the most successful. Approximately 16 dwellings have been snapped up for €1 here since the scheme was first announced by CNN Travel in 2019, and Sambuca has been in the spotlight ever since. The global attention led to...
Business Insider. Tom Murray Oct 7, 2019 In June, I traveled to Sicily to visit some of the towns that are selling off homes to foreigners for as little as 1 euro ($1.11 USD) to see what they were really like. In particular, I stayed in Sambuca, whose scheme has received some of the most widespread media coverage. While the town was unsurprisingly quiet, I was bowled over by the hospitality I...
South China Morning Post. Silvia Marchetti. August 27, 2019. The last thing Sambuca's deputy mayor Giuseppe Cacioppo expected when he ingeniously offered empty houses for just 1 euro was to see a young Chinese businesswoman rush in, eager to snatch one up. "She was the first to arrive in January, dressed in Armani and Chanel worth €10,000," recalls Cacioppo, who admits he was flabbergasted by the...
Thomson Reuters Foundation. Elaine Allaby. May 10, 2019 Bargain hunters from Argentina to China swooped on a one-euro-auction and snapped up 16 abandoned Sicilian homes in a foreign buying frenzy that was heralded on Thursday as a positive invasion of a dying hilltop town. Selling homes for toekn sums has become a popular, last-ditch strategy for tumbledown towns in Italy's south, many of which are...
Thomson Reuters Foundation. Elaine Allaby, May 9, 2019 Bargain hunters from Argentina to China swooped on a one-euro-auction and snapped up 16 abandoned Sicilian homes in a foreign buying frenzy that was heralded on Thursday as a positive invasion of a dying hilltop town. 16 stone homes were put on sale in January, each for the price of an espresso, sparking a stampede of would-be buyers hoping to buy a...