Italy’s 1 Euro House Dream: The renovation reality | Foreign Correspondent

Intro NATALIE WHITING: From its sun-soaked shores to its rugged peaks, Sicily is a dream. For thousands of years, people have been drawn to this Mediterranean isle. Buongiorno. Very good. (LAUGHS) It's hard to imagine here in the heart of the capital, Palermo, but there are actually parts of Sicily that are now desperate to attract people. Italy has the oldest population in Europe. In the last decade it's fallen by over a million people, and in the next decade they're expecting the same again. Sicily's iconic hilltop towns are feeling the pinch. But the locals have a plan they hope is irresistible. Selling abandoned houses for just 1 euro. Oh, that is beautiful. It's not just about renovating houses. It's a grand social experiment to try to breathe new life into these old towns. People are coming from all over the world to snap up these cheap houses. But what's life like after you've signed on the dotted line? Can the foreigners make a home for themselves here? And what do the locals think of their new neighbours? There's a rebirth happening. But is it enough to rescue these towns? (BAND PLAYING, DRUMS CRASHING) (BAND PLAYS SICILIAN MUSIC) I'm in Mussomeli, and it feels like I've stepped back in time. This procession is as old as the streets it's winding down. The people are marking All Saints Day with a march to the cemetery. Perched on a hill in the middle of the Sicilian hinterland, there's a timeless charm to this place. But some fear the town could be on its own slow march to the grave. Across Italy, deaths far outstrip births, and people are moving overseas to find work. There used to be over 15,000 people living here in Mussomeli. Now there are just 10,000 and a lot of empty houses. Down here, it is just so clear that tradition and family runs deep in the town of Mussomeli. There are generations of people buried here and their families are coming today to pay respect to them. The concern for the town is making sure that there are more generations in the future to keep carrying on these traditions. The 1 Euro House Program This is Mussomeli's deputy mayor Toti Nigrelli. The 37 year old father of two was born and bred here. He thinks the 1 euro house program is the key to fixing the town's problem. This is one of our 1 euro houses and this is on the market also. Right. So I could buy this one for...for 1 euro? 1 euro. Yeah. 1 euro is very cheap. What's the catch? Catch is, uh, you are obliged to renew the house in 2-3 year. If you don't start renovating work in three years, you give the house back? No, but you have to pay 5,000 penalty to the municipality of Mussomeli. All of this. Yeah. So you've just got to get... get work started in time. Yeah. Well, shall we... shall we have a look? Yeah. Go. Yeah. Towns all over Italy have been doing this for years and it's made international headlines. Mussomeli started its program six years ago to try to revitalise the town. (DOOR CLUNKS, SCRAPES) You want to come first? Sure. So fixing the door might be the first step. OK. This one... This is the first floor. Looks like this one's got a bit of water damage up here. Yeah, yeah, this house needs some work, obviously. This place needs a new roof, among other things. Toti thinks the renovations would set you back about 30,000 euro. Is 30,000 about average? About what most people would spend? Or does it vary between the houses? Start from 10,000 to...depends. 100,000, 200,000. Depends on dimension of the house. Many of the owners of these old houses have died, and the relatives who inherit them don't want them. In Italy, if you have more than one house, you have to pay a lot of taxes because you are considered rich, and people here in Mussomeli, they prefer to leave the house for free and not paying the taxes. Back in Toti's office, his inbox is groaning with inquiries. So many, it crashed his server. More than 300,000 people from around the world have emailed, including many from Australia. We have 74,000 people from Australia that visited our website. Normally you can only come to Italy for three months at a time. If you want to stay longer, you'll have to tackle the Italian bureaucracy. A lot of people ask us how to obtain visa, and we have some lawyers that give these services. Buying a 1 Euro House The scheme had to pause during COVID, but it's ramping back up now. They've sold 400 houses so far, and Toti expects to sell 100 more this year. Not all of them go for 1 euro. You can spend a little more, around 15,000 euro, and get something in better shape. For us, it's important to repopulate our town with people from all parts of the world. I think driving on these little streets would take some getting used to if you bought a house here. These historic neighbourhoods are beautiful, but they're not exactly convenient. (CAR BUMPS) (GASPS) Part of the problem here in Mussomeli and in other towns is that the locals that are here have moved out of these old parts of town, favouring some of the more modern areas where the homes are a bit easier. While many locals prefer these new apartments on the outskirts of town, I'm about to meet someone who has fallen in love with the cobblestone streets at Mussomeli's heart. Ah, hello! Rubia? Nice meeting you. Nice to meet you. Thanks for having me over. You're welcome. So this is the 1 euro house. This is it. This is it. What state was it in when you bought it? Fully collapsed. Right! That's quite the low starting point. Right? Rubia Daniels was among the first 1 euro house buyers in Mussomeli. She bought three and has been managing the renovations from her home in California. How did you go fixing the roof? I brought five suitcases with tools. I brought a generator. All from California. I flew my brother in law from Brazil. I hired local people and I was like, "We're doing this." And that's the roof. Yeah, and that's the sunlight coming through. Oh, yes. OK. So that's the whole clear through... Wow. This is my new kitchen. It's one of those traditional Italian kitchens. Over here we have the bathroom, and I have a shower tower, which gives me five different types of water, including waterfall. What more can you ask for? Hey. (LAUGHS) Upstairs it's still a construction site. Rubia plans to retire here. I feel like the house is a living thing. I have feeling for the house. Everything that is done here is done purposely to bring the house back to life. It's...it's amazing. I just love the house. Mm. So is it the view that sold you on the house? Definitely. The feeling of the street itself is almost like we stop and we just back in history, in past. It's just a gorgeous, gorgeous place. And so what's it been like sort of managing this big project remotely? People are reliable and capable to do the work. You just need to manage your expectations. You know, I don't have California expectations. After all, this is an island. They are on island time. And this is Sicily. Calogero Lanzalaco is a local builder working on Rubia's house. (SPEAKS ITALIAN) He's been on the job for almost a year, but just met her for the first time this week. The foreigners love these old houses, but sometimes their expectations need to be managed. The 1 euro scheme has created a boom for the local building industry. Today, Calogero is taking Rubia on a shopping expedition. Si. No, no, no... (SPEAKS ITALIAN) This tile shop has been in the same family for three generations. Some of the locals are still sceptical. (MAN SPEAKS ITALIAN) The scale of the problem is really hard to ignore. (DOGS BARKING) While parts of the town have got a new lease on life, there are still other areas like this one where hundreds of homes are still sitting empty and abandoned. The Good Kitchen But many of the new arrivals are trying to help the town and do more than just fund a renovation. One of the best known foreigners is Danny McCubbin. The Aussie expat worked in London on celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's community food projects. I always pictured myself in Italy. I came to Mussomeli first in May 2019. I'd heard about the 1 euro houses. I ended up buying a house, uh, that a lot of other foreigners bypassed, which I always just pictured would either be a community kitchen or a place that has social value for the town. Danny got a refund on his 1 euro house when it was damaged by water pouring in from a derelict house next door. But he didn't leave, and he set up his community kitchen in the main piazza. So, the Good Kitchen is a communal space in the heart of the town here in Mussomeli, where we every week rescue food from the supermarkets. And then we use that food for good. So we deliver fresh food parcels to families. And today, being Sunday, we do a Sunday lunch, and that lunch is just for anyone. There are about 20 food parcels to be delivered first to local families that are struggling. I really think about each person, the food that I'm putting into that parcel for them. I always like to give them a bit of joy. The kitchen is staffed by volunteers, including local nonna Calogera Lanzalaco. She teaches me how to cook Sicilian food. She is really the heart and soul of the Good Kitchen. I think this is the woman you're speaking about. It is. Calogera! Calogera! Calogera is, as I said, my right-hand person in the kitchen. She's incredible. The kitchen wouldn't exist without Calogera. Thank you. Si. You're welcome. This morning Calogera is heading out to deliver meals around town. Ciao, amico! Come stai? Back at the Good Kitchen, there's a growing army of hungry mouths to feed. Because we've got a lot of kids today, every now and then we do, like, a healthy chicken nuggets, like a shnitty. It's not just locals in need of a meal or some company. The Good Kitchen has also become a social hub for the growing community of 1 euro house buyers. Grazie! Sunday lunch is incredibly important to Italians. WOMAN: Thanks, Danny. Prego. And it's just grown into these moments where you get, you know, me as an Aussie to sit with my friend Vera from Ukraine, and then there might be somebody from Argentina or somebody from America who's come to bought a house, and you just get this cross-pollination of breaking bread on a Sunday. There's been people coming in and out all morning, locals, new arrivals. You know, there is a real sense of community here. It's a classic Italian Sunday lunch, but with a bit of a twist. The 1 euro house program has been fantastic for Mussomeli. It's been a catalyst. It really is the, you know, almost like the hook that brings people to Mussomeli. I think now, though, this town has more to offer than a 1 euro house. ALL: Cheese! The Doctors Danny is not the only one who came for a house and found a town in need. I'm meeting another foreigner who some people say has pulled off a miracle, battling Italy's notorious bureaucracy to help save the local hospital. Erica Moscatello has been in town for two years now, and she's mastered the warm Sicilian welcome. Erica is an Argentine with Italian roots. She opted to pay a little bit more for her house, but the place still needed work. (SPEAKS ITALIAN) But after arriving, she was horrified to find out that the hospital was at risk of closing because of staff shortages. Erica came up with a scheme to bring in doctors from Argentina, where over half the population claim Italian heritage. But first she had to take on the system. There are now nine Argentine doctors working in Mussomeli, including Luciano Verrone. Patients, when we visit them, they are crying because they were waiting for us. They were waiting for people who saved the hospital. How did it feel getting that kind of a response from the patients? I feel great because I think I'm helping people. That's why I was made for. So I really love it. Erica has now helped place dozens of doctors in hospitals all over Italy. From her balcony overlooking the square, she believes Mussomeli's revival is just beginning. (SPEAKS ITALIAN) Camarata Mussomeli isn't the only town in this part of Sicily that's selling houses on the cheap. I'm driving to the neighbouring town of Cammarata. Uh, it's also selling 1 euro houses. But interestingly, it's not the local council that's running the scheme. It's actually a group of young professionals who moved overseas for work opportunities, but they've decided to come back to try to revive their town. Italy has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in Europe. Hundreds of thousands of young Italians have packed up and moved overseas for work. (CHURCH BELL TOLLS) So I'm keen to meet this group that's bucking the trend. (MIAOWS) Hi! MAN: Hey! Martina, I'm thinking? Hey. Nice to meet you. Martina Giracello and her fiance, Gianluca, are running Cammarata's 1 euro house scheme. They grew up here, but, like so many young people, after high school, they moved overseas. We had a really nice and free childhood here. Uh, at some point you have to leave town if you want to go to the university or if you want to have different experiences. But then I realised I like more my town. Having this contact with the people here, it's something that I couldn't have in a huge city. Martina's an architect and got a job at a local firm. Gianluca is a graphic designer. Since I'm doing freelance stuff I can do...I can work from wherever I want to. So... It was their parents' generation that abandoned Cammarata's cramped and crumbling old town. Young people decided to come back to the old town. They decided to renovate their grandparents' home and live there. It mystifies some of the locals. (MAN SPEAKS ITALIAN) The couple formed a not for profit called Street To with some other young locals and took over management of Cammarata's 1 euro scheme. Previously, the local council had been advertising the 1 euro houses? Yeah, they started actually the project in 2014, but because there wasn't a good office taking care about the project, uh, they couldn't manage it properly. So what was it like when you first sort of took it over from... ..from the council? Yeah, it's a funny story, actually. Uh, because when we took the project from the municipality, they gave us what they had so far, and they had thousands of emails, but for some reason, they decided to print all the emails and give us the tons of papers with emails. And I filled my own cars with thousands of emails of people who wanted to buy them. So what, just in the boot, full of paper? Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're keen to find buyers who want to put down roots. Basically people that want to stay here and be part of the community. If you can stay, uh, more than the two weeks just for your vacation home will be nice. Two new arrivals here are already making inroads in this fledgling community. Krastina and Stefan recently bought this 1 euro house through the Street To group. Hey. And did you look at a few places before deciding on this one? Yes, we looked at a few, but here the town is the best one. Yeah. (LAUGHS) What was it that...? And the people in the town, they are too. (LAUGHS) Is that what sold you on Cammarata? The people? The locals? Yes, yes. For sure. You can be honest. It was the food. (ALL LAUGH) No. There are many things. The people, the food. Uh, the city, the views. A lot of things. Yeah. And... Yeah, just the spirit. Krastina and Stefan are originally from Bulgaria. More recently, they've been living in the UK. They were in Sicily on holiday with their children when they decided to stay. This is one of the reasons to choose... Yeah, that's a pretty good reason. What an amazing view. The life in the UK is very stressful. Everything is about the money. And we were there for seven years. We didn't make one friend. And here for two months, we have more than ten new friends. Family The family are renting while they renovate. Today, they're headed to the park for a play date with some local friends. And our son, he's eight years old and he's in school here. And our daughter, she's four years old and she's in kindergarten. And I think they...they like here. The why? They can go outside when they want. Doesn't matter if I have work and I cannot go with them, they just, "Ah, ciao, Mama. I am going out." And say, "OK, ciao!" Krastina met Gloria through Street To. Having kids of a similar age sealed the friendship. They muddle through in a mix of languages. (SPEAKS ITALIAN) Bravo! Bravissima! What's it like being part of this movement to revitalise the old town? Oh, I'm very proud. And I already have some plans what we can do more for the city. And I'm very happy that I can help in this way. I think a lot of people, when they go on vacation, daydream about moving to the place, but you actually did it. So how does the dream compare to reality? For us, the dream is reality and the reality is the dream. These houses were deemed worthless, but it seems their value can't be so easily measured. I've found so much more than renovations here. People are building a community, a lifestyle. A shared hope for the future. (DOGS BARKING) The streets in the old neighbourhoods are still pretty quiet. But every now and then life peeks through, perhaps a sign of things to come. Captions by Red Bee Media Copyright Australian Broadcasting Corporation