Cinquefrondi is selling homes in the village for 1 euro.
Who hasn’t thought about what it’d be like to own a home in a small European village in the countryside? Whether for retirement, or the potential to have a summer home — where you could spend holidays and vacations un-bothered by the burdens of city life? A place that ensures a change of pace and a simpler way of life.
This vision may seem wayward, an impossibility, yet in Cinquefrondi Italy, you can buy your own home for less than what you’d spend at Starbucks.
The town of Cinquefrondi, a small village in the southeastern part of the Calabria region of the country. On a map, the village appears to be located on the toe of the Italian ‘boot’.
In an effort to attract more long-term residents to the town, Cinquefrondi is now offering homes in the village for the low cost of 1 euro, or $1.14 in the US dollar. If the costs aren’t low enough, new residents would be apprised to know that the village is ostensibly “Covid-free”.
This plan, called “Operation Beauty” was put forth to replace the young residents who often move off to larger cities after getting their academic degrees.
“Finding new owners for the many abandoned houses we have is a key part of Operation Beauty that I have launched to recover degraded, lost parts of the town,” Mayor Michele Conia told CNN.
“Too many people have fled from here over the decades, leaving behind empty houses. We can’t succumb to resignation.”
Cinquefrondi is located a little over an hour’s drive from the picturesque, coastal, and cliffside town of Tropea. A longer drive, 5 hours give or take, would land you in the vicinity of Sorrento, Pompeii, Capri, and the lovely towns of the Amalfi Coast.
As to Cinquefrondi itself, Conia describes its glowingly: “We rise between the refreshing hills and two warm seas, a pristine river runs nearby and the beaches are just 15 minutes away by car.”
Operation Beauty are asking buyers for a €1 euro downpayment, with an annual €250 policy insurance until the buyers renovate the “cozy and tiny” homes.
Since the onset of the pandemic, Cinquefrondi hasn’t seen a single case of coronavirus. Which is quite a different story for the rest of the country. While some parts of Italy were hit harder, the country has since seen a big drop off of cases. As such, Italy has already opened its borders to EU countries for tourism. US citizens can visit as well, but at this moment, those traveling from the US are subject to a 14-day quarantine.
See also: Greece Is Hoping To Welcome Tourists Back By The Start Of July
[Featured image via comune.cinquefrondi.rc.it]