- Tuscan officials have created a $3 million fund to incentivize people to move to the countryside.
- The fund will pay grants to people of up to $32,000 to move to Tuscany and repair a home there.
- The grants will cover 50% of the renovation costs. Applicants must make the property their primary home.
Imagine waking up every morning to views of the Tuscan countryside, making your home in the romantic Italian region known for its dry red wines, medieval architecture and olive tree groves.
Now imagine you’re getting paid to do that.
Tuscan officials launched a new program called “Mountain Stay” in June. The program has created a €2.8 million, or $3,001,740, fund to encourage people to move to the countryside.
The fund, part of an effort to stabilize the country’s dwindling population, will pay people grants ranging from 10,000 euros to 30,000 euros (about $10,720 to about $32,161) to move to Tuscany and repair a house there.
“The purpose of the intervention is to promote and encourage the resettlement and social and economic revitalization of mountainous areas, and to work to reverse the marginalization of these areas,” according to the programme. website States.
The grants will pay 50% of the costs of renovating a home in one of 76 Tuscan towns with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants – including San Cassiano dei Bagni, known for its thermal baths; Caprese Michelangelo, birthplace of the Renaissance artist of the same name; And the island of Capraia Isola.
The program is open to Italians, EU residents and non-EU citizens – as long as they have obtained long-term residency of at least 10 years. Eligible applicants must commit to making the Tuscan estate their primary home.
Applications for the program will close on July 27.
Representatives for Tuscany’s public relations office did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
Italy has tried various schemes for years to attract new residents to its rural areas. The country, which has the smallest share of children under 15 in Europe, is facing a population crisis so great that nearly 2,500 towns are on the verge of collapse and will not survive more than 25 years, according to a 2016 study published by the Pew Foundation. Italian Ministry of Environment.
CNN Last year I reported that there were more than 6,000 ghost villages across the country, abandoned due to migration and natural disasters.
In 2018, new residents of Molise were offered $27,500 to move to abandoned towns in the mountainous region on the country’s east coast. The following year, officials in the town of Olulaye put 200 homes on the market for one euro ($1.25) each to avoid the same fate.
Likewise, Sicily went viral for offering $1 homes for sale, which, despite being in desperate need of repair, attracted crowds of expatriates who flocked to the country to snap up an abandoned property.
Business Insider previously reported that in Sicily, there were time limits on completing the repairs, officials required buyers to work with specific contractors to finish the work, and renovations cost up to $30,000 to complete — but some buyers found it worth every penny.