It’s super cute and locals are so welcoming.” “But what conquered us the first time we visited was the charm of the place. “When we decided to invest in a second home, we were lured by the attractive bargain prices in Mussomeli when compared to France’s expensive estate market,” Guihot adds. They’ll be using the Sicilian abode, along with their two young children, as a holiday house during Christmas and summer breaks. “The 15 square-meter panoramic terrace is fabulous.” “As we’re both artisans and renovators we did most of the work ourselves, which was minimal, and it was great seeing our two-room house come to life again. “We just need to finish the bathroom,” she says. They’ve nearly completed restyling their 50-square-meter Mussomeli abode, having painted the walls and fixed the floors. Most of the deals do require purchasers to commit to investing in renovations – something which Guihot, 27, and her husband, 31, have wasted no time in getting underway.
The property she and her husband paid pocket change for is intended as a second family home. Morgane Guihot, who hails from near the city of Nantes, France, was among the first buyers to snap up the €1 deals being offered in Mussomeli, a beautiful town deep in the heart of Sicily where narrow, ancient streets cluster around a crumbling hilltop citadel. Morgane Guihot and her husband have almost completed the renovations on their €1 home in Mussomeli. Websites creaked under the strain.īut did anyone actually buy? And when they did, what happened next? Did they become ensnared in Italy’s notoriously byzantine bureaucracy?ĭid they run smack into the language barrier? Did the houses turn out to be money pits? Did la dolce vita quickly sour, leaving buyers feeling ripped off and despondent?ĬNN Travel caught up with some of the pioneering buyers – or “€1 citizens,” as the locals call them – who did what most of us have only been willing to daydream about to discover whether it’s been worth it. Many of the towns were inundated with inquiries.
The deals have made headlines on CNN and beyond, captivating millions of people hooked on the romantic notion of abandoning the metropolitan rat race for a simpler life. Over the past year or so, numerous small towns from Sicily in the south to the northern Alps have been offering such bargains in the hope of attracting new residents to revitalize dying communities. A new house – and potentially a whole new life – for sale in sunkissed rural Italy for the princely sum of just one euro, or little over a dollar. It seemed like a deal too good to be true.
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