Group of Arab investors says they are willing to buy all the houses for sale
The town of Sambuca di Sicilia, in southern Italy, has already received more than 40 emails asking for information about its offer to sell houses for the symbolic price of one euro (R$4,28).
The initiative, launched in April last year, became a rage after being the subject of a program on the broadcaster “CNN” and aims to revitalize the urban and architectural heritage of the historic center, in addition to preventing the city's depopulation.
Sambuca di Sicilia won the title of the most beautiful village in Italy in 2016 and was also publicized by other international media outlets, such as the newspaper “The Guardian”. The City Hall call center had its channels jammed and received calls mainly from the United States.
The program dedicated to Sambuca di Sicilia on CNN, called “Italian town of Sambuca in Sicily sells homes for a dollar”, promoted a real hunt to buy these homes. The city's mayor, Leo Ciaccio, even created a task force with local residents to answer the thousands of questions.
“We want to provide all the necessary information and invite these people to visit Sambuca to understand the beauty of our village, which we want to enhance with this initiative”, he declared.
The city has already experienced a kind of renaissance thanks to the purchase and restructuring of properties in the alleys of its historic center by some foreign citizens. The local community is made up of Swiss, Germans, French, English and Lithuanians and wants to expand its borders beyond Europe.
“I just received a call from Dubai, from a group of Arab investors who say they are willing to buy all the houses for sale”, said Culture Secretary Giuseppe Cacciopo, who coordinates the “Houses for 1 Euro” project.
This initiative was seen for the first time in 2010, in the city of Salemi, also in Sicily, and was successively imitated by other cities in the south of the country. Despite the symbolic cost of the houses, there are specific conditions that must be respected for the purchase, such as depositing a deposit of 5 thousand euros, which will be refunded after the renovation and restructuring of the properties, which cost at least 15 thousand euros.
By Ansa Agency
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