Mayor sells houses in Sicily for €1 each

A mayor in Sicily is selling off historic houses for €1 each. Salemi's "eccentric" new mayor feels that selling the houses for €1 could be the best way to save Salemi's historic old quarter.

The €1 houses in Salemi, a town south of Palermo in Sicily , will need a lot of work done to them, reports The Guardian. Following an earthquake in 1968, Salemi's ancient centre has become depopulated, but the town's new mayor, the former art-critic Vittorio Sgarbi , now wants to turn this around.

"There are 3,700 houses owned by the council, almost all in the old town, that are in danger of falling down, of crumbling and dying," Sgarbi told the Corriere della Sera.

"We're thinking of people who have the sensibility and economic resources to embark on this adventure. In exchange for a token payment of one euro , we will offer them one of these houses and ask that they undertake to restore them within two years while respecting their original characteristics."

Sgarbi originally offered the houses for free to anyone from Salemi who was willing to do the renovations, according to The Guardian. The mayor is today expected to hand the first of the houses to Massimo Moratti, the chairman of Inter Milan. As well as offering the houses for €1 , Sgarbi has also appointed a prince in charge of heritage and town planning.

Sgarbi is described by the paper as being a former anarchist who later became a fan of Silvio Berlusconi, going on to gain a post in the government in 2001. He was removed a year later and went on to found his own "Beauty Party" before rejoining mainstream politics.

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