‘I bought a rural cottage in an old-fashioned gem of an Italian village for just £7,800’
A British pharmaceutical worker has told of how she bought a rural cottage in an old-fashioned village in southern Italy for just €9,000 (£7,800).
Angela Nicole Ristow, a 39-year-old project manager from Sevenoaks in Kent, purchased the one-bedroom farmhouse just outside Latronico in April, and plans to completely overhaul it.
“When it will be done there will be three rooms,” Ms Ristow, a divorced professional who works remotely for a pharmaceutical company, told i.
“The attic and ground floor are already fine but the middle floor is just livable. In terms of immediate money to spend, electricity light fixtures and a new hot-cold system are needed.”
She’ll be using the cottage as a holiday home with her father and brother. It boasts original tile floors and a 600-square-metre garden with playground shed for her two boys, aged seven and eight.
Latronico, once roamed by outlaws, is set in the beautiful and historic region of Basilicata and is less than two hours’ drive from the ancient cave city of Matera, but locals have fled in recent years, seeking jobs elsewhere in Italy and abroad.
Ms Ristow says she fell in love with the friendly locals and the mountain views and was blessed with deputy mayor Vincenzo Castellano’s help in making the purchase process run smoothly.
“Vincenzo took us out to see the village, I did not know the area,” she said. “It is clean and I love the old-style living, it brings me back in time to what I imagine Italians used to live like in the past. Latronico is a gem, like a lost village.
“It’s a case of trust, he did everything for me, I gave him power of attorney.”
Mr Castellano is thrilled and admits that having studied law, although he is not a lawyer, comes in handy. “I don’t get paid for it, I just want to see my town flourish again,” he says.
In an effort to attract foreigners to buy in the area, the village has introduced a policy under which those who purchase a cheap turnkey dwelling as a holiday home do not have to pay property tax. In Italy, owners pay property taxes on all holiday and second houses: they’re exempted only if they take up permanent residency, turning it into their first home.
“Anyone who purchases an old shepherd or farmer dwelling as a holiday home is exempted from paying property and waste disposal taxes for five years; if they also decide to spruce it up with a minimal restyle, the exemption is for 10 years. That equals to saving roughly some €2,000-€3,000 (£1,727-£2,591) per year,” Mr Castellano tells i.
Latronico is one of many abandoned villages and towns in Italy that are offering special deals such as “one-euro homes” to revive their dwindling populations.
The depopulating village is now being brought back from the grave by buyers from the UK and other foreign countries, lured by the year-round warm weather, slower pace of life and low prices.
Latronico is an under-the-radar village that not many Italians even know. Located in the pristine Pollino national park and founded by the ancient Greeks, locals here speak a faintly Greek-sounding dialect. Tourists adore the hiking trails, fresh air, thermal baths and indulging in unique dishes such as milk-filled baby lamb sweetbreads and chocolate puddings with pig blood.
Mr Castellano is proud to say that while 5,000 locals leave Basilicata each year in search of a brighter future elsewhere, Latronico is experiencing an opposite trend, a revival fuelled by foreign property hunters. Although there is no region-wide data on new arrivals, in the past two years more than 150 people have landed in Latronico from across the world, from as far away as Trinidad and El Salvador, in something of a “miracle”, according to Mr Castellano.
To lure expats, Mr Castellano has set up a clever scheme of placing on the market, and online, all empty houses for new occupants and tenants. Affordable, abandoned homes that are ready for occupancy start at €10,000 (£8,600), while villas with a patch of land and olive groves start at €20,000 (£17,300). Studios are available to rent from as little as €200 (£170) per month.
In the past two years, 40 foreign buyers have grabbed one of these forsaken dwellings, and are benefitting from the tax exemptions.
Mr Castellano has become a local hero, liaising between old and new buyers and sellers, helping foreigners negotiate the red tape and even translating for them.