The tranquility and nature characterize Ollolai, a village in Sardinia where the Town Hall has put 200 abandoned houses up for sale at a symbolic price of 1 euro. The goal of this initiative is to repopulate the village and preserve the beauty of its houses; therefore, the buyer is required to meet one condition: to completely renovate the homes, as their foundations and stone facades are damaged. One of the clauses within this condition is that the remodeling must be completed within a period of less than three years.
Additionally, the Town Hall of Ollolai seeks to ensure jobs for the nearly 1,300 villagers in the area, who are mostly engaged in agriculture, weaving wicker, and cheese production.
The mayor of Ollolai, Efisio Arbau, approved a special decree in 2017 to sell the 200 properties, which can be requested at the Town Hall of Ollolai before 2:00 PM on February 7. The local administration has already received more than 100 applications, and three sales have been completed, as the official confirmed in an interview with CNN.
A retired builder named Vito Casula was the first to purchase one of these properties with the intention of preserving the original facade and recycling old furniture, in addition to renovating the interior with eco-friendly materials. "This quiet village seems frozen in time. It offers a peaceful and healthy life," he asserts, and recommends it to anyone who "is overwhelmed by too much stress and needs a break."
The Barbagia area, where this Sardinian village is located, has not yet been exploited by the tourism sector. That is why the mayor of Ollolai hopes to attract investors to enhance rural tourism, especially in the summer months.
"Pride in our past is our strength. We have always been tough people and we will not let our town die," Arbau has stated, referring to the resistance the barbarians of these hills exerted against the Romans.
In this way, the village of Ollolai joins the Italian government's "1 Euro Houses" initiative, a state project aimed at selling abandoned houses in small villages on the brink of disappearance. Some municipalities in Sicily, Tuscany, and Abruzzo have also joined this initiative.