When Italian villages started selling houses for one euro, the world stopped - the deal seemed too good to be true. But this latest offer from Italy is not far behind. The idyllic and wild region of Molise offers 27,000 dollars, around 25,000 euros, to anyone who decides to move to one of its 106 picturesque and depopulated villages.
Whoever accepts the offer will receive around 700 euros a month for three years, but there is one condition. The interested party commits to create a business or a small company to help the local economy.
"I want my region to be reborn and prevent its authentic villages from turning into ghost towns," explains Antonio Tedeschi, a regional adviser who came up with the idea, to CNN Travel. "We need to protect our roots," he said.
Tedeschi, who was born in the small town of Filignano in Molise, where only 700 people live, says he knows what it means to see how ancient traditions and historical places stay set in their ways and wants to avoid this decline.
The depopulation problem
Official statistics show that the population has declined since 2014. More than 9,000 people have left the region since then. Currently, Molise has around 305,000 inhabitants, 106 of the two 136 cities have less than 2,000 inhabitants.
"The goal is to give new life and renew the local economy," says Tedeschi. "Newcomers are free to set up anything to get our financial support, a small inn, a restaurant, a bar, a rural boutique, a library or a shop selling local gourmet delicacies."
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