If you’ve ever had a few too many glasses of wine while watching Diane Lane live her best life in Under The Tuscan Sun and promised yourself you’d run away to a small Italian village if you ever had the opportunity, now is your chance.
The mayor of a mountain village of Bormida (which is not in Tuscany) wants to add more residents to the current population of 394, and is dangling some attractive bait: He’s offering new residents €2,000 (about $2,175) in cash.
But wait, there’s more, says Mayor Daniele Galliano in a Facebook post: Rent is cheap, at just €50 per month for a small room. Larger accommodations are still pretty darn reasonable at €120 monthly.
The town has four restaurants, a library, a pharmacy, a post office, a corner shop, and a B&B. Need a doctor? A physician visits three times a week. And that’s about it — the village’s population has shrunk in recent decade as young people have left for the big cities.
“There is nothing much to do here,” the manager of one of the town’s restaurants tells The Guardian. “But life is so simple and natural, we have forests, goats, the church, and plenty of good food. Life would definitely be free of stress.”
Don’t run to the airport just yet, however, as the mayor says the cash reward needs to be proposed and approved by the local board. Affordable rent will be on the table in about two months, however.
“We’re still working out the plan, but anyone is welcome to come and live here,” a local councilor told The Guardian. “We’re a small community but very welcoming. We’re high up in a mountain area but also not far from the sea – it’s a healthy lifestyle, the air is very clean.”
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist