One euro houses, how is the project going? Taking off, but not everywhere

The initial intuition came from Vittorio Sgarbi: as mayor of Salemi in 2008, the art critic decided to sell the abandoned houses of the Trapani village for one euro. Media hype, but little follow-up. Years later, from Locana in Piedmont to Cinquefrondi in Calabria, Petrella Tifernina in Molise or Zungoli in Irpinia, municipalities in inland areas proliferated, publicising that initiative, hoping to see the small towns and their uninhabited buildings come back to life. The outcomes have been very different, especially positive in Sicily.

"That first call for bids was too complex for foreigners: we streamlined it and it was a boom," recounts the current first citizen of Salemi, Vito Scalisi. "We put 30 properties out to tender, some of them ruined by the Belice earthquake: 12 were assigned for one euro, with the constraint of renovation in three years. About 20 were sold by private individuals, especially after the spotlight shone on them by the BBC, which bought a dwelling for a documentary. Some foreigners have stayed to live in Salemi, the most are expected in summer (we estimate 400 presences). Encouraging tourist flows, according to a study carried out with the Turin Polytechnic,' enthuses Scalisi. "The central government,' he adds, 'with its cuts certainly does not help us.

An authentic international success story was that of Sambuca, in the Agrigento area: '230 houses sold since 2019 in the 1,2,3 euro tenders. A lot of foreigners have fallen in love with this corner of Sicily, with an induced interest in food and wine,' says Giuseppe Cacioppo, the recently challenged mayor. 'A French photographer, a Milanese gallery owner, two German families and a couple from Los Angeles,' he lists, 'have bought in the last week alone. Almost always they are freelancers, young people favoured by smart working'. P

More or less well-known, such as Caltagirone, Piazza Armenina and Bivona, there are some thirty municipalities on the island that have followed in the wake of the one-euro houses, trying "also to give the village a new image," admits Pio Siragusa, councillor of Corleone, where, however, the call for bids is still on paper "pending the census of properties". With nothing to show for it, the project has died out in other villages, mostly in the north: from Borgomezzavalle, in Piedmont, they confirm that "the initiative has long since been discontinued" with no results.

Zungoli, Irpinia

In Campania, on the other hand, in Zungoli, 930 souls in the Avellinese area, at the fourth call for one-euro houses there are "eight or nine," counts the mayor Paolo Caruso, "that have been renovated, about twenty assigned. The narrow streets of the village have won over tourists with benefits for the economy and a growing confidence in the enhancement of both the past - slow tourism linked to transhumance, a Unesco heritage site - and the potential of fibre and high speed. "The kindergarten now has 19 children, a few years ago it was four. Numbers stronger than many reflections.