A beautiful town in South-Western Sicily, Salemi, has become the latest Italian locality to see its abandoned homes auctioned off for €1 each to reverse a trend of depopulation. Spectacular Salemi will sell some of its dilapidated properties for a pittance in a bid to bring people back to the hillside area. Over the past half a century, the town has seen its population shrink considerably, especially following the 1968 earthquake in the Belice Valley, where it is situated.
The town mayor, Domenico Venuti, told CNN: ‘All buildings belong to the city council, which speeds up the sale and reduces red tape. Before launching the scheme we first had to recover the old parts of Salemi where the houses are located, upgrading infrastructures and services from roads to electric grids and sewage pipes. Now the town is ready for the next step.'
Salemi follows the ‘one-euro-home’ trend kick-started by the Sicilian towns of Mussomeli and Bivona who tried it last year, and Cinquefrondi in Calabria. Houses will go up on sale at a starting price of €1 and will be sold to the highest bidder. The gloriously situated houses are located in the town’s historic centre that is enclosed by the ancient town walls that date back to the 1600s. Some have panoramic balconies and, according to the MailOnline , those on Belvedere Street, overlooking a green valley, are the most attractive. The town’s main piazza is a crumbled church, with the ruins of its stone apse still standing after the earthquake which is thought to have killed at least 231 people.
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