International- Calabria in southern
Italy is offering millennials up to $33,000 to repopulate its sleepyvillages . - You must be under 40 and able to move there within 90 days of your application being approved.
- Last year, the Calabrian village of Cinquefrondi made the
news for putting empty homes on the market for $1.
How does getting paid $1,000 every month to sip wine and bask in the Italian sunshine sound?
This may not be a distant dream if you're a millennial or younger, because the southern Italian region of Calabria desperately wants people to move in and repopulate its fast-emptying towns. And to make the deal sweeter, the region's authorities say they'll pay you up to $33,000 to make the move - if you're under 40 and willing to fly there within 90 days.
CNN first reported on the program this week, speaking to Gianluca Gallo, a regional councilor in the region of Calabria. Gallo said the program was looking to fill up the region's villages with young people willing to work there.
Gallo told CNN applicants could be given a monthly "active residency income" of around $1,100 for around two to three years. Alternatively, the payment could come in a one-time lump sum to kick-start a business, like a bed and breakfast, bar, or shop.
There are currently nine locales across Calabria offering this program - including the cliffside village of Civita and the coastal beach town of Aieta - all of which have under 2,000 residents. CNN estimated that more than 75% of the region's towns, which amounts to around 320 villages, have less than 5,000 residents and might be empty in a few years.
"We're honing the technical details, the exact monthly amount and duration of the funds, and whether to include also slightly larger villages with up to 3,000 residents," he told CNN. "We've had so far a huge interest from villages and hopefully, if this first scheme works, more are likely to follow in coming years."
"The goal is to boost the local economy and breathe new life into small-scale communities," Gallo said. "We want to make the demand for jobs meet supply, that's why we've asked villages to tell us what type of professionals they're missing to attract specific workers."
According to the Calabrian regional administration's website, the cash for potential residents will come from some $820,000 in funds for regional repopulation secured by the region's economic development board.
The region of Calabria also made the news last year for offering homes for $1.14 in the village of Cinquefrondi. Dubbed "Operation Beauty" by the village's mayor, 12 homes were put on sale at that price.
Insider's Will Martin reported in 2019 about a central Sicilian town called Cammarata that was giving away properties for free to lure residents to live there. However, Insider's Tom Murray visited some of the homes and found that many of them were in disrepair, and needed serious fixing-up and extensive renovations to be livable.