Sicilian town offers deserted homes for 90p

WITH its terracotta-tiled stone houses perched on a rocky crag overlooking rugged countryside, it might seem like the perfect Italian hill town.

But San Piero Patti has been losing residents to migration for decades and has now decided to offer its empty houses for sale at €1 (90p) each in a bid to inject new life into the community. New owners will be obliged to restore the often dilapidated homes, using traditional materials and, where possible, local artisans.

On the plus side, they will only be a 15-minute drive from the beach and on the edge of the Nebrodi national park, a protected zone of lakes and mountains. The town council this week voted unanimously to embark on the project and will be contacting owners of abandoned properties. San Piero Patti has taken its lead from another town in Sicily, Gangi, which attracted worldwide interest in 2014 when it started selling off its abandoned houses for €1.