Addressing abandoned homes the Sicilian way

AHN CHAK-HEE
The author is the head of the global cooperation team at the JoongAng Ilbo.

Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, is the romantic island featured in the movie “The Godfather” (1972) from the 1970s and the recent American drama White Lotus’ season two (2022). The island is full of life ahead of the peak tourist season from June to September.

Major tourist attractions and stores, as well as accommodations and restaurants, are busy getting ready to welcome post-pandemic visitors from around the world. The efforts to revive the local economy by riding on booming tourism is drawing attention. Local governments are seeking a breakthrough to the problem of abandoned houses in old downtowns.

Let’s take a look at the city of Mussomeli in Sicily. The small city that once had 15,000 residents saw a 30 percent decline in population due to the declining birth rate and departure of young people looking for jobs in bigger cities.

Today, seniors over age 65 make up 23 percent of the population of Italy, making it the oldest country in Europe. In the past 10 years, the population has decreased by 1 million, and the trend is expected to continue.

But due to the heavy tax burden on people who own more than one house, the inheritance of houses is not happening often in small cities. As the tax burden of inheriting a house is greater than the expected economic benefit, houses are increasingly abandoned.

The city of Mussomeli is eager to address this issue. Deputy Mayor Toti Nigrelli recently appeared on television shows in the United States and Australia, introducing abandoned houses in the region and promoting how foreigners can own a home in Sicily for just “1 euro [$1.09].” Of course, there are conditions. A house is priced at 1 euro — a symbolic price — but needs to be repaired at the owner’s expense within three years. The renovation cost can vary widely. Buyers need to be aware that the reconstruction will be carried out at a slow speed as implied by the culture of the island.

The 1 euro house project, which started in Sicily in 2008, is currently in effect throughout Italy. Idealista, Southern Europe’s biggest real estate portal, has thousands of listings of abandoned houses from outside of Rome to Sicily. In the case of Mussomeli, about 400 abandoned houses have new owners since the project was launched in 2017. This not only boosted the local construction industry but also increased tourists tenfold. Moreover, the project is said to have prevented the old downtown from turning into a ghost town and brought tremendous benefits to the local economy. It is an effective way to solve domestic economic problems by using foreigners. It remains to be seen whether Italy’s change of ideas will be a sustainable solution.