Shrinking Italian cities have pulled out all the stops in recent years to attract new residents, with several one-euro housing programs being launched across the country.
But while some cities struggled to find buyers for their abandoned buildings, others basked in the glory of successful sales.
After Sambuca di Sicilia saw huge demand in its previous domestic sales in 2019 and 2021, the Sicilian company is preparing to put a third batch under the hammer, this time with a starting price of 3 euros, or just over 3 dollars.
Previous successes
“We just want to make it clear that by numbering these batches, more sales are likely to follow in the coming years,” newly elected mayor Giuseppe Cacioppo told CNN. “Foreigners are flocking to buy our homes, so far it has been a success.”
Cacioppo recommends that potential buyers traveling to the region visit the town and view the 12 or so homes that are up for auction this time.
“The timing is perfect,” he says. “Tourists and interested buyers currently traveling to Italy, and those planning a trip in the spring and summer, can come and have a look around.”
According to Cacioppo, the available houses in the old Saracen quarter are “structurally as stable as those sold so far,” but need to be renovated.
Sambuca made headlines around the world in 2019 when CNN announced that the city was offering 16 apartments for sale for one euro. Two years later, the city offered a second batch of houses for two euros.
The distress sale, which attracted international buyers as far afield as the Middle East, helped revive the local economy with an inflow of 20 million euros (around 21.8 million dollars), says Cacioppo.
This includes revenue from new B&Bs, new shops opened in the city, and contracts with building contractors, architects, surveyors, interior designers and notaries.
“The two packages of houses owned by the town hall have revitalized the private real estate sector. People who wanted to secure a house at auctions but did not make it to the final sale bought a cheap house instead. So far, 250 houses have been sold,” says Cacioppo.
Sambuca’s successful efforts to sell its vacant homes are largely due to the fact that local authorities own the abandoned homes they want to get rid of.
Similar plans have been launched in other depopulated Italian towns, such as the medieval village of Patrica south of Rome, but it has been difficult to track down the previous owners and obtain permission to sell the empty houses.
Hopes for a revival
The Sambuca authorities took over the town’s abandoned houses after an earthquake struck the surrounding Belice Valley in 1969. The natural disaster forced locals to flee and left empty houses behind.
“The government of Rome passed a special law to revitalize Sambuca, which gave ownership of the abandoned houses to the town hall, so that we can dispose of them at our own discretion and there are no middlemen,” says Cacioppo.
This means that the sales process is much quicker as local authorities do not have to act as intermediaries between owners and buyers.
The houses currently on offer consist of two to three bedroom detached houses with a floor area of 50 to 80 square metres, built from golden brown stones and extending over one or three floors.
Many feature wrought-iron balconies overlooking cobbled streets and panoramic terraces, as well as original green-painted old wooden doors with ornate arches and windows.
The best preserved houses have small Moorish-style courtyards with lemon trees and old painted majolica tile floors.
But most are in dire need of repair and are full of forgotten items and piles of broken, dusty furniture.
Depending on the condition of the property, remodeling costs typically start at €30,000 (around $32,500) for a simple renovation, but can rise to over €200,000 (around $217,000) if the buyer plans to transform the home into a luxury retreat.
An American couple who bought an inexpensive house in the city then had it equipped with an internal elevator.
Many of the buyers who won the previous bids eventually went on to purchase additional properties in the city.
These were often terraced houses that could be expanded into a large property.
High demand
To capitalize on the high demand, locals are hastily selling their garages and old, abandoned attics.
Most of the people who are attracted to this remote place in Sicily, far from the tourist crowds, come from the USA.
This has contributed to the creation of a “Little America” in which most residents, even the elderly, now speak a little English with a Sicilian accent.
Foreigners may have been a rare sight here before 2019, but now they’ve become part of the landscape, jokes Cacioppo, and a significant expat community now calls Sambuca home.
To attract digital workers from all over the world, City Hall opened teleworking spaces last year, offered free overnight accommodation and strengthened Wi-Fi connectivity in the narrow streets.
“Our city is now definitely on the map,” says Cacioppo.
The Sambuca homes up for auction under this latest program will be sold to the highest bidder. The winning bid will be placed in a sealed envelope and opened before a judge after the application period has passed.
Auction participants are required to pay a deposit of 5,000 euros (around 5,430 dollars).
If you lose the auction, the amount will be refunded immediately. However, if you win, the 5,000 euros will automatically become part of your deposit protection.
The rules of the program state that buyers must complete renovations on their homes within three years or risk losing their deposit guarantee.
However, due to the pandemic, the town hall has so far shown flexibility regarding the deadlines, allowing more time to complete the work during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.
In previous sales, the houses ultimately sold for prices between 1,000 and 25,000 euros (about $27,133), with most costing between 5,000 and 10,000 euros (about $5,426).
Interested applicants can find photos and descriptions of the available apartments as well as application forms on the official website of the town hall.
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