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The mayor of a small town in Sardinia has said thousands of Americans keen to escape Donald Trump have expressed an interest in moving there after he offered homes to them for as little as €1.
Francesco Columbu, the mayor of Ollolai, has staged similarly enticing initiatives in the past as a way to combat depopulation. He released more homes for sale after sensing he was on to a winner when Trump clinched a second term as US president in elections earlier this month.
On Tuesday, Columbu launched a website mainly targeted at disgruntled Americans, inviting them to start planning their “European escape in the splendid paradise of Sardinia”.
Colombu said: “Within a day, we had 30,000 requests [from would-be residents] and over 156,000 visitors to the site.” . He said the objective was not to interfere in US political issues but to create investment and jobs in Ollolai, a town in the mountainous Barbagia region of the Italian island with a population of roughly 1,150.
The project is open to other nationalities too, although US applications would be fast-tracked, he added.
Ollolai claims to be the “birthplace of the global €1 homes phenomenon”, having first offered dilapidated homes for sale in 2018. The scheme attracted a flurry of buyers who then spent thousands on doing the properties up, but rarely do the owners take up year-round residency.
A project to lure digital nomads called Work from Ollolai has been more successful in that respect, with 10 American professionals moving to the village last year and paying just €1 a month in rent. Americans were also picked on that occasion because of the village being the birthplace of a former Mr Universe who was a close friend of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Columbu is hoping that the latest plea for new residents will attract more people able to work remotely. As part of the deal, Ollolai will offer three types of accommodation: free homes to certain categories of digital nomads, €1 properties in need of renovations and habitable ones for up to €100,000 (£83,230).
A team of experts would be on hand to help guide people through the process of buying a property, dealing with paperwork or finding contractors for renovation works.
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“The whole point is to revitalise the town and improve the life of inhabitants,” Columbu said. “We are a population of mostly elderly people in a town which is depopulating and we need to invest in our future. We can’t resolve the issue with these initiatives, but at least we are creating a bit of activity.”
Surrounded by nature and blessed with plenty of sunshine, Columbu said any new resident to Ollolai “would want for nothing”. What’s more, the village is part of an area in Sardinia designated a “blue zone” – one of five regions of the world where people live much longer than average.
On top of that, Columbu said the village boasts great culture and delicious food. He joked that if Trump wanted to invest in the village, he would be welcome, although that might defeat the object of his plan.
