Italy was severely hit by COVID-19 this winter, but with the hope that the bad days are over, the nation is now looking to the future. Italy is slowly reopening to tourism this month, and one town has even gone back to selling homes for just $1. Cinquefrondi, a town in the southern region of Calabria that claims to be free of the coronavirus, is selling homes for just $1 in one of Italy’s many attempts at repopulating abandoned villages.
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This ‘COVID-Free’ Italian Town Is Selling Houses for Just $1
Michele Conia, the mayor of Cinquefrondi, told CNN, “Finding new owners for the many abandoned houses we have is a key part of the Operation Beauty [mission] that I have launched to recover degraded, lost parts of town. I grew up in Germany where my parents had migrated, then I came back to save my land. Too many people have fled from here over the decades, leaving behind empty houses. We can’t succumb to resignation.”
The town has reported zero coronavirus cases among its residents and is located in a region with one of Italy’s lowest levels of spread.
If you take advantage of the $1 offer, you will be expected to renovate the house, with an annual policy insurance fee of $284 until the renovation is complete. If you do not complete the renovation within three years, you’re on the hook for a $22,700 fine.
The houses are mostly small, located in a historical part of town, and some have a balcony view.
According to the mayor, “We rise between the refreshing hills and two warm seas, a pristine river runs nearby and the beaches are just 15 minutes away by car.”
To inquire about homes available as part of Operation Beauty, you can reach out at protocollo@pec.comune.cinquefrondi.rc.it. 