The Ultimate Revitalization Scheme: Free Homes

Once a thriving, isolated community, the town of Gangi saw many of its best and brightest leave in the latter half of the 20th century. Its population shrank to 7,000 from a post-World War II peak of 16,000 as residents sought better economic opportunities on the Italian mainland and overseas. Those emigrants left behind an anxious, aging town and a stock of spectacular stone houses in desperate need of repair. 

In an attempt to bring investment back to the town, Gangi officials are now offering up many of those homes for free—on the condition that the new owners restore them and make them viable as permanent residences or vacation homes. While restoration will not come cheaply, the program offers a chance for adventuresome investors to relive the past. So far, more than 100 investors have acquired homes for free or for prices well below market value. 

"The housing initiative, (the mayor) said, instead “set in motion a mechanism that was previously unthinkable for a city in the center of Sicily,” where towns have shrunk in tandem with the region’s dwindling economic prospects....Many family homes left behind were the so-called pagglialore typical of this town. The squat, tower-like structures housed donkeys on the ground floor with the paglia, or straw. Chickens and goats were kept on the middle floor. The farmer’s family lived on top."

"These structures are now among those that the city has made available, with the local government acting as real estate broker of sorts, facilitating the convergence of the town’s considerable supply of abandoned dwellings and the growing demand. Some have been given away, others sold for a nominal price. The owners decide....The community has gone one crucial step further, radically streamlining the intricate and often convoluted bureaucracy that accompanies buying and renovating a home in Italy."