A village on Lake Como has decided to help young people stay and live there. Not through slogans or promotional campaigns, but through funding allocated via a public call to people who choose to establish their official residence in Bellano and build a life there.
Called “Abitare Bellano”, the initiative is a trial measure set up by the local Comune — municipal council — for 2026. It has a total fund of €100,000 and addresses an issue shared by many small Italian towns. On Lake Como, it takes on a particular form: a picturesque area that is increasingly unaffordable for the people who would genuinely like to make their home there.
Bellano tackles depopulation with a €100,000 fund
Bellano is one of those villages that can appear flawless from the outside: set beside the water, between the mountains, with a historic centre that has held on to its identity.
Yet, like many lakeside and mountain municipalities, Bellano has spent years facing a gradual fall in its resident population, an ageing community and the difficulty younger families have in finding homes at manageable prices. Property costs are pushed up by tourism demand and second homes.
The “Abitare Bellano” fund was created specifically to respond to these issues: supporting people who choose to make the municipality their usual home, encouraging local social and economic life, and promoting year-round use of local housing.
The council is clear about the nature of the payment. It is not support for private property assets or an income supplement, but a public incentive intended to encourage stable residency and cohesion within the local community. There is one decisive criterion: applicants must genuinely live there, with their registered residence and usual home within the municipality.
Two funding streams: mortgages and rent
The fund has two separate streams, both for households where the applicant is under 36 years old on the date the application is submitted.
The first is the Mortgage stream, which provides a fixed payment of €2,400 per household. It is available to people already resident in Bellano, whose usual home is a property in the municipality used as their main residence, and who have taken out a mortgage to buy, renovate or build their first home in the town. At least one mortgage repayment must have been made by the application date.
It is therefore a practical form of support for people who have already made the more demanding commitment of buying a home and are now handling the costs of the first period.
The second is the Rent stream, also providing a maximum payment of €2,400, for people who have chosen to rent. The requirements are similar: applicants must be under 36, resident in Bellano and hold a tenancy agreement for a property used as their main home within the municipality.
It is an inclusive approach, recognising that renting is now a more common route into housing than buying for many younger people, and that it deserves comparable support.
How and when to apply
The measure is temporary and experimental, managed through a public procedure. A ranking list will be drawn up using objective criteria, in line with principles of transparency, impartiality and equal treatment.
There are two annual application windows.
- The first ran between 15 May and 15 June 2026, while the second is open from 24 August to 24 September 2026.
Anyone interested therefore has only a few weeks remaining to submit an application.
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