An annual festival sees locals dress in unusual bell-shaped bundles of branches. After taking a major hit from COVID-19, multiple communities are taking a turn for the worse. Giuseppe Spartà/Alamy Stock Photo. Buyers must pay a €5,000 refundable deposit, and there are strict deadlines for renovating the properties. The Italian town of Bivona is selling homes for as little as $1.60. The Sicilian town of Sambuca is preparing to place on the market a second lot of abandoned houses for a symbolic €2, or just under $2.4, less than the cost of … Among Cinquefrondi's top gourmet specialties are spicy, reddish 'nduja salami made with tonnes of chili pepper, soppressata cold dry sausage with huge bits of lard and a special kind of pasta called struncatura made with the leftovers of wheat and flour served with olives, grated bread and anchovies. Fun is guaranteed, assures Conia. The town of Salemi is home to a Norman Castle, the Ritual Baptism Museum and the Salemi Civic Museums. Troina is the latest Italian town to attract new residents with rock-bottom prices and cash incentives. The available one euro houses are roughly 40-50 square meters wide, a size that shortens renovation time. Some even have a small balcony with a view. New owners are only liable to a fine of €20,000 in the unlikely event they do not complete the restyling within three years. Business Insider logo The words "Business Insider". ", "It's a land of cultural contamination and cross-civilizations," says Conia. Like many Italian villages and towns, Cinquefrondi has suffered from depopulation. This small Sicilian town is selling homes for just 1 euro. But a whole district of my town lies abandoned, with empty houses that are also unstable and risky. We can't succumb to resignation.". Ancient Greek words survive in the local dialect and in the names of places, streets and arches. "We rise between the refreshing hills and two warm seas, a pristine river runs nearby and the beaches are just 15 minutes away by car. Cinquefrondi is a sleepy, off-the-radar place unknown even to most Italians. However, Troina is going one further by offering bonus payments of up to €25,000 to help you get the work done. The housing deal here works a bit differently compared to other cheap offers in Italy. Italy popularized the scheme with municipalities in Sicily and Naples selling homes for about $1. The wild Aspromonte National Park offers stunning trekking paths across dry riverbeds, fossil-dotted rocky peaks and cavities where Italian outlaws used to hide. The latest Italian town to give away houses is called Ollolai on the amazing island of Sardinia — it’s about an hour away from this stunning beach I visited last summer. For several years, Italy has implemented a mechanism to acquire property for 1 euro. Town elders still use old Spanish and French terms when they chat. I have already mentioned Salemi , Gangi and Sambuca . Macabre funeral happenings are enacted at the end of the local picturesque Carnival to bid farewell to the festival. Cinquefrondi, a town in the southern region of Calabria that claims to be free of the coronavirus, is selling homes for just $1 in one of Italy’s many attempts at … Every single night there's a special event. the town is also selling fully renovated properties with discounts of up to €8,000. And this time the village is only three hours away from Rome and an hour from the beaches on the Adriatic Sea. The aim, like other destinations making similar offers, is to reverse a depopulation trend caused by younger folk heading off in search of work. Italian is officially the world’s sexiest language. "If we receive a huge demand, I can expropriate all other buildings which have been empty for decades and the old owners are nowhere to be found.". Déjà vu! 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