Locana
An Italian town is currently offering to pay people a large amount of money for them to move there and have babies.
An Italian town with a dwindling population is offering new residents $10,000 (about N3.6 million) to relocate and have a baby.
The mayor of Locana in the north west of Italy is offering the cash
in order to attract more families back to the shrinking community.
Anyone wanting to relocate to the picturesque Alpine commune in the
mountainous Piedmont region could be paid up to $10,000 (€9,000) over
three years to make Locana their home.
Giovanni Bruno Mattiet, Locana's mayor, has made the offer in the
hope of reversing the exodus of residents leaving the beleaguered hamlet
and save the community from dying out.
He first appealed to Italians or foreigners already living in Italy
but after a disappointing response is now extending it to non-Italians
living abroad as well.
As the number of young couples and children has decreased, the
community has seen shops, restaurants and amenities shut and its only
school is facing closure.
In the early 1900s over 7,000 residents lived in Locana, but that figure has shrunk to less than 1,500 today.
Last year there were 40 deaths in the town but just 10 births, with a similar ratio in previous years.
Another Piedmont town also trying to draw in new residents is
offering to give $1,144 (€1,000) to anyone who has a baby there, and
another $2,288 (€2,000) to anyone willing to start and register a
business.
Borgomezzavalle on the Italian/Swiss border is also offering
abandoned cottages, barns and stables for just €1, which is 87p, and the
crumbling buildings have to be refurbished within two years.
The picturesque Sicilian village of Sambuca is also offering
properties for less than 90p, with the caveat that prospective buyers
have three years to refurbish the homes.
Sambuca, which was named Italy's most beautiful village in 2016,
has been suffering from depopulation, with several homes in the village
left empty.
Locana mayor, Mr Mattiet, told CNN: 'People left looking for a
job at Turin's big factories. Our school each year faces the risk of
shutting down due to few pupils. I can't allow this to happen.
'We're looking to draw mostly young people and professionals who work remotely or are willing to start an activity here.
'There are dozens of closed shops, bars, restaurants and boutiques just waiting for new people to run them.
'Locana offers a healthy lifestyle, great food and folklore fairs all-year round.'
Locana's territory spreads across 51 square miles (132sq km) in the
snowy peaks of the Gran Paradiso mountain reserve, offering fresh air
and outdoor activities like ice-skating fishing, trekking, rock
climbing, swimming, soccer and tennis.
Houses in the stunning mountain town are made of stone and wood
with typical pointed tile roofs and frescoed walls covered with
flowers.
Old bridges cross clear streams as the valleys and chestnut
forests, solitary chapels, abandoned lodges, crumbling dairy farms,
mills and copper mines in need of refurbishment.
Although the town is small, it makes a lot of money by selling hydroelectric energy back to the Italian state.
Two tiny nearby 'ghost hamlets' are also accessible by foot only on mule paths covered by overgrown cherry shrubs from Locana.
Low taxes, great quality of life, cheap services and rentals have turned many dying areas into havens for foreign retirees.
In the Sicilian towns of Partanna, Caltabellotta, Giuliana,
Siculiana and Cianciana renting a 50-square-meter apartment costs just
$172 (€150) per month.
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Source: Daily Mail UK
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