Buy a lighthouse, help boost Italy’s public purse
Italy is to offer a portfolio of publicly-owned castles, monasteries, palaces and lighthouses to the highest bidder in an attempt to improve its finances.
Private investors will be given leases of up to 50 years on the historic properties in return for converting them into hotels.
The government hopes that the scheme will make more than € 2 billion (NZ$3.1b) by 2017.
The collection of 686 properties includes Bourbon fortresses, stone watch towers, disused army barracks and convents. The government expects there to be particularly keen interest in the 10 lighthouses, many of which command magnificent views of beaches and bays on remote islands or isolated coastlines.
They include the lighthouse of San Domino, which the government admits is in poor condition, on the Tremiti archipelago of islands in the Adriatic.
In Sardinia, a long-term lease will be offered on the Capo Comino lighthouse near the town of Nuoro, which was built in 1903 and operated by the Italian navy before falling into disrepair.
The auction of the properties is being handled by the Agenzia del Demanio, or the Agency of State Property.
‘‘These are treasures of Italy’s national heritage,’’ a spokesman said. ‘‘We are not selling them off, just offering long-term concessions on them. The leases will be for a maximum of 50 years. A lot of them need substantial restoration.’’
In a prospectus, the agency said: ‘‘The aim is to make use of these assets, as already happens in other parts of Europe and also in the US, Canada and Australia, countries which for some time have experimented with turning lighthouses into accommodation.’’
The remote locations of the lighthouses would offer tourists ‘‘charming views, silence, relaxation, solitude and uncontaminated nature’’.
The Punta Cavazzi lighthouse is on the tiny island of Ustica, off Sicily, which is surrounded by one of Italy’s first marine reserves. The Brucoli lighthouse sits on a headland between Catania and Syracuse in eastern Sicily, while the Capo Grosso lighthouse is on Levanzo, part of an archipelago of barely inhabited islands off western Sicily. Two of the lighthouses are on the island of Giglio, where the Costa Concordia cruise ship capsized.
The idea of selling off historical properties has been considered for a few years, but the initiative has been given fresh impetus by the agency’s new director, Roberto Reggi, who experimented with the concept during 10 years as mayor of Piacenza in northern Italy.
Details are due to be revealed tomorrow by Dario Franceschini, the culture minister, and Roberta Pinotti, the defence minister. Of the nearly 700 assets, 92 are in the north-western region of Piedmont, 73 in Tuscany, 52 in Sicily and seven in Sardinia.
Not all the properties are destined to become accommodation – an old army barracks in Rome is expected to become a scientific research institute, while a barracks in Bologna could be transformed into a ‘‘City of Science’’.
Although this is the biggest collection of properties to be offered to the private sector, a few have been leased in the past few years.
They include a 19th century lighthouse on a cliff in Sardinia that has been turned into a hotel with an infinity pool and two Jacuzzis. Villa Tolomei, a grand, 300-year-old residence near Florence, has also been turned into a 30-room luxury hotel.