Italy’s 1 Euro Dwelling Dream: The renovation actuality | Foreign Correspondent

from its Sun soaked Shores to its rugged Peaks Sicily is a dream for thousands of years people have been drawn to this Mediterranean aisle parad.

Very good it's hard to imagine here in the heart of the capital poo but there are actually parts of Sicily that are now desperate to attract people Italy has the oldest population in Europe in the last decade it's Fallen by over a million people and in the next decade they're expecting the same again.

Sicily's iconic Hilltop towns are feeling the pinch but the locals have a plan they hope is irresistible selling abandoned houses for just one oh that is beautiful it's not just about renovating houses it's a grand.

Social experiment to try to Breathe new life into these old towns people are coming from all over the world to snap up these cheap houses but what's life like after you've signed on the dotted line the foreigners make a home for themselves here and what do the locals think of their new neighbors there's a rebirth happening but is it.

Enough to rescue these towns I'm in muselli and it feels like I've stepped back in time this procession is as old as the streets that's winding down the people are marking All Saints Day with a March to the.

cemetery perched on a hill in the middle of the Sicilian Hinterland there's a Timeless charm to this place but some fear the town could be on its own slow March to the Grave across Italy deaths far out strip.

Births and people are moving overseas to find work there used to be over 15,000 people living here here in melli now there are just 10,000 and a lot of empty houses down here it is just so clear.

That tradition and family runs deep in the town of Muslim there are generations of people buried here and their families are coming today to pay respect to them the concern for the town is making sure that there are more Generations in the future to keep carrying on these.

Traditions this is musi's Deputy Mayor totty negrelli the 37-year-old father of two was born and bred here he thinks the 1o house program is the key to fixing the town's problem this is one of our 1 houses and this is on the market also right so I could buy this one for a for one one yeah one is very cheap what's.

The catch catch is a uh you are obliged to renew the house until through here if you don't start renovating work in three years you give the house back no but you have to pay 5,000 penalty to the municipality of mus all of this yeah so you've just got to get get work started in time yeah well shall we shall we have a look yeah.

Go towns all over Italy have been doing this for years and it's made International headlines most M started its program 6 years ago to try to revitalize the town you want to come the first sure so fixing the door might be the first step okay this.

One this is the first floor looks like this one's got a bit of water damage up here yeah uh this house needs some work obviously this place needs a new roof among other things totty thinks the renovations would set you back about €30,000 is 30,000 about average about what most people would spend or does it.

Vary between the the houses start from 10,000 to the pants 100,000 200,000 depend the dimension of the house many of the owners of these old houses have died and the relatives who inherit them don't want them in Italy if you have more than one house you have to pay a lot of taxes because you are considered rich and people here in musali they.

Prefer to leave the house for free and not paying the taxes back in totty's office his inbox is groaning with inquiries so many it crashed his server more than 300,000 people from around the world have emailed including many from Australia uh we have 74,000 people from Australia that.

Visited our website normally you can only come to Italy for 3 months at a time if you want to stay longer you'll have to tackle the Italian bureaucracy a lot of people has has all obain visa and we have some lawyer that give these Services the scheme had to pause during Co but it's ramping back up now they've sold 400 houses so far and totty expects.

To sell 100 more this year not all of them go for € you can spend a little more around 15,000 and get something in better shape for us is important to repopulate our town with uh people from all parts of the world I think driving on these little.

Streets would take some getting used to if you bought a house here these historic neighborhoods are beautiful but they're not exactly convenient part of the problem here in muselli and in other towns is that the locals that are here have moved out of these old parts of town favoring some of.

The more modern areas where the homes are bit easier while many locals prefer these new apartments on the outskirts of town I'm about to meet someone who has fallen in love with the cobblestone streets at melly's heart ah.

Hello nice to meet you thanks for having me over you're welcome so this is the one house this is it this is it what state was it in when you bought it fully collabs that's quite the low starting point Ria Daniels was among the first one Euro house buyers in muselli she bought three and has been managing the renovations from her home in.

California how did you go fixing the R I brought five suitcases with tools I bought a generator all from California um I flew my brother-in-law from Brazil I hired local people and I was like we're doing this and that's the roof yeah and that's the sunlight coming through oh yes okay so that's the whole clear.

Well this is my new kitchen it's one of those traditional Italian kitchens over here we have the bathroom and I have Shower Tower which gave me five different types of water including waterfall what more can you ask for hey upstairs it's still a construction site Ria plans to retire here I feel.

Like the house house is a living thing I I have feeling for the house everything that is done here is done purposely to bring the house back alive it's it's amazing I just love the house so is it the view that told you on the house definitely the feeling of the street itself is almost like we stop and.

In a we we're just back in history and past it's just a gorgeous a gorgeous this place and so what's it been like sort of managing this big project remotely people are reliable and capable to do the work you just need to manage your expectations you know I don't have California expectations after all this is a island they are in an island time.

And this is Sicily colodro Lelo is a local Builder working on Ruby's house he's been on the job for almost a year but just met her for the first time this week the foreigners love these old houses but sometimes their expectations need to be.

Managed the one Euro scheme has created a boom for the local building industry today codo is taking ruia on a shopping expedition This Ti shop has been in the same family for three.

generations some of the locals are still skeptical the scale of the problem is really hard to ignore while parts of the town have got a new lease on life there are still other areas like this one where hundreds of.

Homes are still sitting empty and abandoned but many of the new arrivals are trying to help the town and do more than just fund a renovation one of the best known foreigners is Danny mccubbin the Aussie xat worked in London on celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's Community Food projects I always pictured myself in.

Italy I came to muselli First in May 2019 I'd heard about the one Euro houses I ended up buying a house uh that a lot of other foreigners bypassed which I always just pictured would either be a community kitchen or a place place that has social value for the town Danny got a refund on his 1o house.

When it was damaged by water pouring in from a derelict house next door but he didn't leave and he set up his Community Kitchen in the main Piaza so the good kitchen is a communal space in the heart of the town here in muselli where we every week rescue food from the supermarkets and then we use that food for good so we deliver fresh food.

Parcels to families and today being Sunday we do a Sunday lunch and that lunch is just for anyone there are about 20 food Parcels to be delivered first to local families that are struggling I really think about each person the food that I'm putting into that parcel for them I always to give them a bit of.

Joy the kitchen is staffed by volunteers including local Nona kodra lenzel she teaches me how to cook Ian food she is really the heart and soul of the good kitchen I think this is the woman speak K viqua kadra is uh as I said my right-and person in the kitchen she's incredible the kitchen wouldn't exist with.

Without see you're welcome this morning kodra is heading out to deliver meals around town EO EO come back at the good kitchen there's a.

Growing Army of hungry mouths to feed because we got a lot of kids today every now and then we do like a healthy chicken nuggets like a snitty it's not just locals in need of a meal or some company the good kitchen has also become a social hub for the growing community of one house buyers Sunday lunch is incredibly.

Important to Italians thanks and it's just grown into these moments where you get you know M and Aussie to sit with my friend Vera from Ukraine and then there might be somebody from Argentina or somebody from America who's come to board a house and you just get this cross-pollination of breaking bread on a Sunday.

There's been people coming in and out all morning locals new arrivals you know there is a real sense of community here it's a classic Italian Sunday lunch but with a a bit of a Twist the one Euro House program has been fantastic for muselli it's been a catalyst it's really is the you know almost like the hook that brings people.

To muselli I think now though this town has more to offer than a one house Chee Danny's not the only one who came for a house and found a town in need I'm meeting another Foreigner who some people say has pulled off a miracle battling Italy's notorious bureaucracy.

To help save the local hospital Erica moscatello has been in town for 2 years now and she's mastered the warm Sicilian welcome Eric is an Argentine with Italian Roots she opted to pay a little bit more for her house but the place still needed.

Work but after arriving she was horrified to find out that the hospital was at risk of closing because of Staff shortages came up with a scheme to bring in doctors from Argentina where over half the population claim Italian Heritage but first she had.

To take on the system there are now nine Argentine doctors working in melli including luchano Veron patients when we visit and they are crying because they were waiting for us they were waiting for people who save the hospital how did it feel getting that kind of a response from the.

Patients I I feel great because I I I think I'm helping people that's why I was made for so I really love it Erica has now helped Place dozens of doctors in hospitals all over Italy from her balcony overlooking the square she believes musi's Revival is just.

Beginning muselli isn't the only town in this part of Sicily that's selling houses on the cheap I'm driving to the neighboring town of camarata uh it's also selling 1 houses but interestingly it's not the local Council that's running the scheme it's actually a group of young professionals who Moved overseas for.

Work opportunities but they've decided to come back to try to revive their Town it has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in Europe hundreds of thousands of young Italians have packed up and moved overseas for work so I'm Keen to meet this group that's bucking the.

Trend hi Martina how nice meet you Martina Jello and her fiance John Luca are running camara's 1o house scheme they grew up here but like so many young people After High School they moved overseas we had a really nice and free childhood here uh at some point you have to leave town if you want to go to the.

University or if you want to have a different experiences but then I realized I like more My Town having this contact with the people here uh something that I couldn't have in a huge City Martina is an architect and got a job at a local firm John Luca is a graphic designer since I'm doing freelance stuff I can do I can work from.

Wherever I want to so it was their parents' generation that abandoned camara's cramped and crumbling Old Town young people decided to come back to the old town they decided to renovate their grandparents home and live there it mystifies some of the.

Locals the coule formed a not for profit called Street to with some other young locals and took over management of camara's 1o scheme previously the the local Council had been advertising the one Euro houses yeah they started actually the project in 2014 but because there wasn't a good uh.

Office taking care about the project uh they couldn't manage it properly so what was it like when you first sort of took it over from from the council yeah it's a funny story actually uh because when we took the a project from the municipality they gave us what they had so far and they had thousands of emails but for some reason they.

Decided to print all the emails and give us the tons of papers with emails and I filled my own cars with thousands of emails of people who wanted to buy that so just in the boot full of paper yeah yeah yeah they're Keen to find buyers who want to put down Roots basically people that want to stay here and be part of the.

Community if you can stay uh more than the two weeks just for your vacation home will be nice two new arrivals here are already making inroads in this fledgling Community Christina and Stefan recently bought this one yearo house through the street two group and did you look at a few places.

Before deciding on this one yes we look a few but here the town is the best one what was it people and the people in the town there too is that what sold you on camarata the the people the locals yes yes for sure you can be honest it was the food no there are me things the people the food uh the city the views a lot of.

Things yeah and and just the spirit Christina and Stefan are originally from Bulgaria more recently they've been living in the UK they were in Sicily on holiday with their children when they decided to stay this is one of the reasons to yeah that's a pretty good reason what an amazing view MH the wife in UK is very stressful.

Everything it's about the money and we were there for seven years we didn't make one friends and here for 2 months we have more than 10 new friends the family are renting while they renovate today they're headed to the park for a play date with some local.

Friends and our son he's 8 years old and he's in a school here and a daughter she's uh 4 years old and she's in kindergarten and I I think they they like here that the wife they can go outside when they want doesn't matter if I have work and I cannot go with them they just ah chiao M I'm going out and say okay.

Chiao Christina met Gloria through Street 2 having kids of a similar age sealed the Friendship they muddle through in a mix of languages temp bra what's it like being part of this movement to revitalize the old town oh I'm very.

Proud and I already have some plans what we can do more for the city and I'm very happy that I can help in this way I think a lot of people when they go on vacation daydream about moving to the place but you actually did it so how does the dream compare to reality for us the dream is reality and the reality is the.

Dream these houses were deemed worthless but it seems their value can't be so easily measured I found so much more than Renovations here people are building a community a lifestyle a Shared Hope for the future the streets in the old neighborhoods are.

Still pretty quiet but every now and then life Peaks through perhaps a sign of things to come

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