The picturesque town of Presicce in the sunny region of Puglia is the latest to enter the game with a tantalizing offer. Officials say they will pay people up to 30,000 euros (roughly $30,000) to buy an empty dwelling and take up residency.
Even better, the houses up for sale as part of the deal are priced from around 25,000 euros. Like other cheap properties on sale across Italy, they’ve been long abandoned by their original owners.
And as an added bonus, the location is incredible, surrounded by the nature of the Salento area in the heel of Italy’s boot and close to the powder beaches and turquoise clear waters of Santa Maria di Leuca.
Authorities in Presicce hope the offer of a cash incentive will breathe new life into their depopulating town, where newborns are fewer each year.
“There are many empty homes in the historical center built before 1991 which we would like to see alive again with new residents,” local councilor Alfredo Palese tells CNN. “It is a pity witnessing how our old districts full of history, wonderful architecture and art are slowly emptying.”
The details of the deal are currently being finalized, Palese adds, but authorities are ready to launch applications in upcoming weeks when information will be available on the town hall website.
“We will be offering up to 30,000 euros to people willing to move here and buy one of these abandoned dwellings,” he says. “The total funding will be split in two: it will go partly into buying an old home and partly into restyling it, if needed.”
A tale of two towns
Palese says a 2019 merger with an adjacent community to create the larger town of Presicce-Acquarica has bequeathed it with extra money to ensure the project can continue for years to come.
“After the merger, as per Italian law, our wider territory will be blessed with more public funds, roughly 1,000,000 euros per year for several years forward, which we intend to invest to revitalize the old district,” says Palese.
Together, Presicce and Acquarica now have some 9,000 inhabitants but only half of the population live in the older part of the community.