Travel
to Italy, Explore Sambuca’s €1 Homes, and Find Your Retirement Dream!
My husband
and I were recently watching a Hallmark movie—yes, he indulges me
occasionally—in which an American woman, visiting the Italian town where her
parents met and married, decides to buy the abandoned villa the newlyweds had
briefly lived in. The price: one euro.
It just so happens that there’s a
ruggedly handsome handyman who lives nearby, and who also happens to be an
American (his grandmother runs the coffee shop in town), and he helps the
overwhelmed new home buyer renovate the property. Romance, of course, ensues,
and everybody lives happily ever after. (Except for the woman’s former fiancé,
who shows up unannounced to reclaim his bride-to-be and is rebuffed, with the
handyman lurking in the background.)
This is a fictional story, but can
the buy-a-home-for-a-euro thing possibly be true? One euro is worth $1.17US.
The answer: yes.
CNN Travel first reported the trend
back in 2019. The small town of Sambuca, located on a hilltop on the island of
Sicily, had put dozens of dwellings on the market for just one euro apiece. The
idea was to lure Italians and foreign expats to the village in order to help
reverse a depopulation trend, which was seeing young Italians leaving their
small hometowns and moving to big cities. The city fathers of Sambuca were
scrapping red tape to make sure anyone interested could make their purchase
right away.
There was a catch, of course: the
new owners had to commit to refurbishing their new digs within three years, at
a cost starting from about $17,000. They also had to pay a security deposit of
5,000 euros, which would be refunded when the work was done. The dwellings
ranged from about 400 square feet up to 1,600, so they were on the small side,
compared to typical American homes.
Sambuca focused its marketing
efforts on non-Italians, and it worked. Over a dozen homes were sold within a
few weeks of the deal hitting the internet. New residents were drawn by the
region’s natural beauty and Moorish culture. Soon, the one-euro-home trend
spread throughout Italy. Sambuca, though, is still a hot spot, known as
“Italy’s Little America.”
Many Americans are choosing Italy as
a retirement destination, even if the homes they buy aren’t that cheap. Tony
and Francine Smarrelli, from Syracuse, N.Y., were visiting Venice for their 50th
wedding anniversary two summers ago when they decided to leave the States and
move to a coastal town in the Calabria district of southern Italy. The retired
elementary school teachers are both of Italian descent. They bought a 1,500-square-foot
property in the village of Scalea for about $162,000 and wound up plowing half
again as much into renovating the three-bedroom home. They lived in a nearby
apartment during the four-month project. They say they enjoy the quality of
life, views of the Mediterranean and slow-paced vibe, not to mention great
restaurants. And, it’s cheaper; the Smarrellis have reduced their monthly
expenses by about $3,000, to about $1,200 per month. Back in the U.S., their
monthly mortgage alone was $1,500.
What was the toughest thing about
moving to Italy? Tony says it was giving up golf. He and Francine had moved
from Syracuse to Pinehurst, N.C., in 2006 for the warmer weather, and Tony won
the local country club’s senior championship 11 times. But in Scalea, he’s
found other activities, such as painting and mosaic wall art. He and Francine
start every morning with coffee on their balcony and enjoy evenings there with
a glass of wine.
Sounds tempting, doesn’t it? If
you’re contemplating retirement abroad, it pays to check it out thoroughly
first. That’s where we come in. Give us a call!
Sue Tindell
My husband
and I were recently watching a Hallmark movie—yes, he indulges me
occasionally—in which an American woman, visiting the Italian town where her
parents met and married, decides to buy the abandoned villa the newlyweds had
briefly lived in. The price: one euro.
It just so happens that there’s a
ruggedly handsome handyman who lives nearby, and who also happens to be an
American (his grandmother runs the coffee shop in town), and he helps the
overwhelmed new home buyer renovate the property. Romance, of course, ensues,
and everybody lives happily ever after. (Except for the woman’s former fiancé,
who shows up unannounced to reclaim his bride-to-be and is rebuffed, with the
handyman lurking in the background.)
This is a fictional story, but can
the buy-a-home-for-a-euro thing possibly be true? One euro is worth $1.17US.
The answer: yes.
CNN Travel first reported the trend
back in 2019. The small town of Sambuca, located on a hilltop on the island of
Sicily, had put dozens of dwellings on the market for just one euro apiece. The
idea was to lure Italians and foreign expats to the village in order to help
reverse a depopulation trend, which was seeing young Italians leaving their
small hometowns and moving to big cities. The city fathers of Sambuca were
scrapping red tape to make sure anyone interested could make their purchase
right away.
There was a catch, of course: the
new owners had to commit to refurbishing their new digs within three years, at
a cost starting from about $17,000. They also had to pay a security deposit of
5,000 euros, which would be refunded when the work was done. The dwellings
ranged from about 400 square feet up to 1,600, so they were on the small side,
compared to typical American homes.
Sambuca focused its marketing
efforts on non-Italians, and it worked. Over a dozen homes were sold within a
few weeks of the deal hitting the internet. New residents were drawn by the
region’s natural beauty and Moorish culture. Soon, the one-euro-home trend
spread throughout Italy. Sambuca, though, is still a hot spot, known as
“Italy’s Little America.”
Many Americans are choosing Italy as
a retirement destination, even if the homes they buy aren’t that cheap. Tony
and Francine Smarrelli, from Syracuse, N.Y., were visiting Venice for their 50th
wedding anniversary two summers ago when they decided to leave the States and
move to a coastal town in the Calabria district of southern Italy. The retired
elementary school teachers are both of Italian descent. They bought a 1,500-square-foot
property in the village of Scalea for about $162,000 and wound up plowing half
again as much into renovating the three-bedroom home. They lived in a nearby
apartment during the four-month project. They say they enjoy the quality of
life, views of the Mediterranean and slow-paced vibe, not to mention great
restaurants. And, it’s cheaper; the Smarrellis have reduced their monthly
expenses by about $3,000, to about $1,200 per month. Back in the U.S., their
monthly mortgage alone was $1,500.
What was the toughest thing about
moving to Italy? Tony says it was giving up golf. He and Francine had moved
from Syracuse to Pinehurst, N.C., in 2006 for the warmer weather, and Tony won
the local country club’s senior championship 11 times. But in Scalea, he’s
found other activities, such as painting and mosaic wall art. He and Francine
start every morning with coffee on their balcony and enjoy evenings there with
a glass of wine.
Sounds tempting, doesn’t it? If you’re contemplating retirement abroad, it pays to check it out thoroughly first. That’s where we come in. Give us a call!
Sue Tindell
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