1 euro houses in Italy: 10 incredible destinations where to move

The first town to "invent" the initiative of houses for sale for 1 euro was Mussomeli, Sicily. Since then more than 450 have been purchased and other historic Sicilian villages have followed suit, obviously. Beautiful villages but underpopulated, due to the migrations of past decades but also because many young people have moved for study and work to the big cities. However, the old family homes remain, frequented only in summer and fewer and fewer. What to do then?

Hereʼs the idea of reclaiming the housing stock of Italyʼs historic centers, and from Tuscany to Calabria, from Campania to Sardinia, in the hills but also near the sea, there are now many municipalities offering houses starting from 1 euro. In some cases it is directly the municipality that manages the lists of opportunities, while in others it only mediates between the families who would sell the property and potential clients, then entrusting the negotiations to an agency.

What is surprising about the many 1 euro home projects is that, often, those who come to the country and appreciate its beauty are willing to shell out far more than 1 euro! They choose homes that are in better condition, that need less remodeling expenses, and in the end they even tick off a good deal! With Visititaly we go to see 10 historical cities, among many, that offer the opportunity to buy a house for 1 euro.

Itʼs been almost a decade since Mussomeli, a town in the heart of Sicily, halfway between Palermo and Catania, had the idea of putting houses up for sale at 1 euro. Since then, in this town in the province of Caltanissetta, there have already been 450 home sales for 1 euro! Also repopulating the townʼs close to 10,000 inhabitants and acting as a driving force for the local economy, since the municipal call to buy at these figures calls for house renovations to be done in 36 months.

The initiative has been a great success in Sicily, and the echo has also reached across the Atlantic (the 1-euro houses were even covered by CNN), where many immigrants (and not only them) have been thinking about it. Mussomeliʼs list of 1-euro houses is available at the website case1euro.it, and of course many other Sicilian towns have followed suit, such as Racalmuto, home of the writer Sciascia, Cammarata in the Agrigento area of the Valley of the Temples, and, in the province of Enna, Troina and the famous Piazza Armerina with its Roman-era mosaics and Baroque and Norman historic center.

Tuscanyʼs tourist reputation is unbeatable, that of its rolling hills and the Tyrrhenian Sea that embraces it, its Renaissance art that the whole world envies us, and its fantastic wines and typical products. The Garfagnana to the north is no less, indeed its forests and mountains add further charm to the regionʼs beauty. And even here, in Vergemoli - a hamlet of the municipality of Fabbriche di Vergemoli - you can buy houses starting from 1 euro!

We are in the mountains of the Garfagnana, an area where nature still dominates the landscape with its forests, paths running alongside watercourses, and the Wind Cave in the Apuan Alps. The sweet Lunigiana is only a stretch away, the beautiful Lucca is 30 kilometres and the beaches of Versilia just a little further. The initiative of houses for 1 euro in Vergemoli is proving very successful and about a hundred have already been sold. For a list of the houses, please contact the Fabbriche di Vergemoli municipality.

The diversity of Majella National Park is incredible. Generous mountains where winter sports and hiking can be enjoyed in summer, with the Adriatic Sea not far away and biodiversity dominating for flora and fauna (there are bears and wolves too). Among the Majellaʼs villages, 35 kilometers from Abruzzoʼs capital of Aquila is the town of Pratola Peligna, which for the past three years has activated calls to buy houses for 1 euro.

Result? Already 24 homes sold, the latest purchases being by a Swedish couple and a French-Brazilian citizen. They will now have four years to complete the renovation. To seize the opportunity, the municipality of Pratola Peligna has put all the useful info online, and all they need to do is apply. Worth seeing in the village are the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Libera, nearby Lake Scanno and the beautiful Sulmona and the famous Rocca Calascio immortalized in many Hollywood films (such as Ladyhawke).

Biccari, Daunia territory in the province of Foggia (Italyʼs largest province). Itʼs not quite the village perched on an abandoned outcrop; rather, its geographical location is enviable for a whole range of things. Itʼs in the midst of bountiful nature, 450 meters above sea level and with the nature area of Lake Pescara, rich in woods and picnic areas. The historic center has medieval origins, and the Byzantine tower and many churches make Biccari a precious treasure chest.

The municipality of Biccari also includes Mount Cornacchia, the highest mountain in all of Apulia at 1,151 meters. Finally, not far away is the wonderful sea of the Gargano, with the splendid beaches of Vieste, Peschici and Pugnochiuso. In Biccari, the 1 euro houses project has been a success ... reflexively. Yes, because those who came here from outside the region preferred to buy homes in a better state of preservation, browsing well through the catalog of houses from 1 to 30,000 euros, and it is precisely the latter that are the most attractive to customers.

From Daunia to Irpinia are only a few kilometers, crossed by the Apennines and the "tratturi, those ancient transhumance routes that served shepherds and their flocks but also travellers. Zungoli, in the province of Avellino, is on the road of the Pescasseroli-Candela sheep-track, which practically united the mountains of Abruzzo with the lands of Puglia, a path that has allowed the Irpinian village to be part of the European association of Via Francigena.

One thousand inhabitants and about 500 dwellings. Zungoli has many houses that could be salvaged and enhanced, so the municipality is already on its fourth call to put houses up for sale for 1 euro. The historic center is delightful, a typical Irpinian village with cobblestone-paved lanes that climb up the hill creating stone stairways. The municipality has acquired a hundred houses and theyʼve sold out! Nearby Bisaccia made the same choice, with the municipality managing the ownership of the houses for sale and Italian-Americans snapping them up.

Chiaromonte has a long and glorious history. It's one of the southern most municipalities of Basilicata, almost 100 kilometers from the capital Potenza but in the middle of the Pollino Park, with its exuberant and fascinating nature. Today it has about 1,700 inhabitants, but in the 1960s it had more than twice as many, then emigration to America and the study of its social roots studied even at Harvard.

Chiaromonte is about 800 meters above sea level, so there are nearby ski facilities for those who love winter sports, but in summer the sea is not far away: the Ionian coast of Policoro can be reached in half an hour. The municipalityʼs plan to offer houses for sale for as little as 1 euro aims to return a housing function to them, but also to upgrade the historic center of a town with the characteristic amphitheater structure.

You are wrong to think that the towns participating in the 1 euro houses initiative are only in the mountains or hills, perched on the mountains of the Apennines and far from the big cities. There are also places near the sea, such as Cinquefrondi in the metropolitan city of Reggio Calabria. We are in the Gioia Tauro plain, and the Tyrrhenian coast with its deep blue sea is about 20 kilometers away.

The name of the town is due to the 5 towers that once encircled it, but Cinquefrondi has not lost the authenticity of the medieval village, protected by the Aspromonte National Park in whose territory it falls. The 1-euro houses project launched by the municipality provides for the sale of abandoned properties in the historic center at a symbolic price, with the obligation of renovation and safety works according to the indications of the announcement.

Nulvi is also close to the sea, although the identity and history of the town are typical of the Sardinian hinterland. We are in the province of Sassari, some fifteen kilometres from Castelsardo, in the historic Anglona region and along the slopes of Monte San Lorenzo. Here, there is not only the sea nearby but also the archaeological complex of Irru, prehistoric tombs and nuraghi (around 80), more than anywhere else in Sardinia. As for nature, the Pilchina waterfalls of li Caaddaggi and Triulintas.

Nulvi makes an almost unthinkable dream possible: buying a house in Sardinia for 1 euro! The first tenders started in 2016, as the idealista website tells us, and houses have been bought by customers from all over the world. Many are willing to pay even more, because perhaps the house requires less renovation work and less time to enjoy their own piece of paradise in northern Sardinia.

Letʼs return to Sicily, because among the various villages offering the possibility of buying a house for 1 euro only is Castiglione, in the province of Catania. This is a town on the slopes of Mount Etna, spread over no less than 6 inhabited villages and overlooking the valley of the Alcantara river, famous for its gorges and a compulsory stop for tourists from Taormina and Giardini Naxos.

The initiative promoted by the etnean municipality is actually divided into three projects, all of which, however, aim to save the village from abandonment, given that work and study are mostly carried out elsewhere. The territory of Castiglione di Sicilia has a high tourist vocation, not only because of Europeʼs largest volcano but also because of the nearby Ionian Sea and the wealth of its noble palaces, with the Byzantine dome declared a monument of national interest.

We close our roundup of towns that offer the possibility of buying houses for 1 euro with a real surprise: Taranto. Yes, indeed, the great Apulian port city, the second largest in the region with 200,000 inhabitants and proud of the beauty of its Aragonese Castle, the Corso Due Mari and the revolving bridge, the beautiful Vittorio Emanuele III seafront. A city that is an important crossroads for the beauties of Puglia, from the Itria Valley to Salento

The objective of the municipality of Taranto, with this unique initiative for large cities, is to revitalise the socio-economic system of the old city, perhaps by reviving abandoned production activities and creating a new housing network. The plan thus envisages the recovery and valorisation of unused or underused properties, the ideal being the creation of a widespread tourist accommodation network.