Italy is offering to pay people $27,500 dollars to move into its ghost towns.
If you’ve been saving your coins to go on an Italian vacation, you might want to reconsider. In an effort to repopulate rural areas while also combating the effects of urbanization and emigration, many towns and villages in Italy have adopted a scheme of selling homes for only $1!
However, a mountainous region on the country’s Adriatic eastern coast called Molise has decided to take matters into their own hands regarding popularization. The region is offering €700 ($770) a month for as long as three years if you decide to pack up and move there. But of course, nothing in life is completely free – there are conditions that need to be met. You must move into a town in the province with fewer than 2,000 residents as well as pledge to open a business there.
Donato Toma, the president of Molise, told The Guardian that they want people to invest in themselves in addition to the move stating that the new residents can open any sort of activity: a bread shop, a stationery shop, a restaurant – literally – anything. “It’s a way to breathe life into our towns while also increasing the population.”
Additionally, each underpopulated town will receive $11,000 to build infrastructure and promote cultural activities. “It’s not just a matter of increasing the population,” says Toma. “People also need infrastructure and a reason to stay, otherwise we’ll end up back where we started in a few years.”