If you have ever dreamed of getting away from the busy city and retiring to an Italian villa, now might be your chance! You see, the picturesque region of Molise in Italy is now offering to pay new residents $1128 a month to move to the region and start a business in one of the villages of the region.
This is all part of the region’s campaign to bolster the region’s population. The villages in the area are centuries old and dot the hilly countryside along the seashore. Some of the villages boast medieval churches and centuries old village squares. Molise is a mountainous and hilly region tucked close to the Adriatic sea and to the southeast of Rome. The bucolic scenery of the area showcases olive groves and vineyards with the occasional cliffside views.
It really is a beautiful place to live. So why then are officials willing to pay new residents to move to the area? Well, it seems that over the last decade large numbers of younger generations have left Italy in search of new job opportunities. The situation is so bad that in recent years nine of Molise’s towns had no new births to report and Italy’s population of resident citizens fell by 677,000 between 2014 and 2018. As a result, these quaint rural villages in beautiful mountainous areas are dying and Molise has suffered huge population drops. In an effort to combat this, the regions politicians hope that by paying people to move there and open a business it will breathe new life into the economy and the population.
This newcomer program implemented in Molise has started to show results with many coming to the region to open small businesses like bookshops, restaurants and bakeries. Some of the region’s towns are so underpopulated that entire villages are now empty. In fact, one very inventive businessman decided to buy an entire intimate village and converted it into a hotel, with each home forming a separate villa. If you are in the hotel business this is the perfect area for it. The landscape is beautiful and large villas and vineyard, or olive farms are available. If you are more ambitious than that the area even has a handfulof historic castles that are up for grabs. Given Italy’s popularity as a tourist destination, this could be quite a success! if Molise doesn’t appeal to you, some villas in Sicily are being sold for $1!