This town in Italy is auctioning off abandoned homes for Rs 86

There’s something curious about small but picturesque Italian towns and insanely cheap homes.

A small town located on the south-west side of Sicily is offering abandoned houses at a price that is cheaper than a cup of coffee.

In the past few years, several small Italian towns, that are facing the problem of depopulation, have been offering homes at prices that are hard to believe.

Now, the island of Sicily has joined the bandwagon and have started offering dwellings for very cheap prices.

Dilapidated properties in the picturesque town of Salemi are being put up for sale at only €1 (Rs 86), due to depopulation. According to reports, locals were already finding it hard to sell off the abandoned properties. And the COVID-19 pandemic has made the situation even worse.

Left with no other option, town management has now decided to sell the houses at throwaway prices.Salemi is a historic location on the island of Sicily. it is surrounded by vineyards and olive groves. Some of its homes are enclosed by ancient town walls that date back to the 1600s.

But after the 1968 Belice Valley earthquake, the town suffered both physical and cultural aftershocks, as more than 4,000 residents fled. Since then, Salemi has been a deserted place.“All buildings belong to the city council, which speeds up the sale and reduces red tape. Before launching the scheme we first had to recover the old parts of Salemi where the houses are located, upgrading infrastructures and services from roads to electric grids and sewage pipes. Now the town is ready for the next step,” Sameli's mayor, Domenico Venuti, told CNN Travel.