Empty houses, in the Nebrodi the brick becomes urban regeneration

San Marco d'Alunzio pushes this transformation further. Here there is no classic call for one-euro houses, but a widespread hospitality project strongly desired by the mayor Filippo Miracula, a local entrepreneur, who has focused on the recovery of disused building heritage as a tourist and economic lever.

The 'Borgo San Marco' project has precise numbers: a 3 million euro operation, 29 independent lodgings distributed throughout the village, 58 beds and a wellness centre of over 300 square metres. The objective is to build an integrated reception system: not a traditional hotel, but a piece of the village transformed into a tourist infrastructure.

There is also a broader public framework. The municipality links the 'Ospitalità diffusa, bottega dei Nebrodi' project to the recovery of disused buildings started within the Area Interna Nebrodi, to be used as hotel-houses and tourist accommodation. On a more promotional level, on the other hand, is Nebrodi Real Estate, the platform designed to survey unused properties and present them also on foreign markets, as was the case at the London fair 'A Place in the Sun'.

The balance, however, must be read carefully. Those operations have mainly produced territorial marketing, contacts and international visibility. Less evident, at least from the publicly available data, is the impact in terms of real estate sales or transactions concluded. The leap from showcase to deed remains the most difficult step.

Only then does one return to the more recognisable formula. In San Piero Patti, the municipality has promoted the 1 euro houses project to recover properties in the historic centre and bring life back to the old town, starting with the Arabite district.

Here the initiative has emerged from the promotional phase with the first sale completed to an English buyer, David, who chose a property in the historic centre. This is an important step: the project is beginning to be translated into concrete acts and shows that the formula can still work when there is administration, procedures and accompaniment behind the slogan.

The case of Mussomeli, in the province of Caltanissetta, shows that in some areas of Sicily the phenomenon has already entered a more advanced phase. Here, the municipality has acted as facilitator between private owners and buyers, building a platform that is also recognisable abroad. The declared result is around 450 successful sales, with a significant proportion linked to the one-euro houses formula and many other sales on 'premium' properties that are in any case affordable.

Mussomeli has thus become one of Sicily's most mature laboratories: not only promotion of the village, but the arrival of foreigners, building sites, renovations, new presences and a property market that has found demand where there were previously empty houses. This is the example that shows the decisive step: from media curiosity to economic operation.

Sicily knows this story well: Gangi, Sambuca, Troina, Cammarata, Piazza Armerina, Augusta. Each municipality has followed a different path. Where only the media appeal remains, the risk is to stop at the postcard. Where instead a chain is built - administration, owners, technical studies, companies, agencies, services, tourism - the abandoned house can become a small economic building site.

The real game is not to give away real estate. It is to put value back where the ordinary market no longer sees value. From Caronia to San Marco d'Alunzio via San Piero Patti and Mussomeli, the message is clear: call them no longer just one-euro houses. Call them evidence of urban regeneration.