The Italian Village of Bormida Won't Actually Pay You $2,100 to Move There

have you tried to live in such places,

you nead legs of goat, and pneumones of a whale.

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usually 1 main road with asphalt,
and plenty narrow stairways,

imagine to return from market.

fantastic to travel and have holidays,

just think to be 60 years old,
snowing, and you have to climp the slippery stairs of the street.


but when you wake, you open window and smell pine, or flowers, not gasoline
and your hears are trained to listen everything, not just motor noise.
ok maybe a mule sometimes.

oh and,
350 people, 350 goodmorning you have to say,
but, 350 people, also wish you goodmorning everyday
 
have you tried to live in such places,

you nead legs of goat, and pneumones of a whale.

720_152286_efa9cb88ee-8e977287c2afce46.jpg



usually 1 main road with asphalt,
and plenty narrow stairways,

imagine to return from market.

fantastic to travel and have holidays,

just think to be 60 years old,
snowing, and you have to climp the slippery stairs of the street.


but when you wake, you open window and smell pine, or flowers, not gasoline
and your hears are trained to listen everything, not just motor noise.
ok maybe a mule sometimes.

oh and,
350 people, 350 goodmorning you have to say,
but, 350 people, also wish you goodmorning everyday

Indeed you do. It keeps you young. :) My 94 year old great aunt went up and these streets till the day she died. She was still as slim and supple as a girl. Snow is not really a problem. It snows maybe once every 20 years.

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The houses don't give you a break either.

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Yours for 70,000 Euro...Of course it would cost probably 200,000 Euro or more to fix it up.
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It's worth it, imo, and not just for health reasons.
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^^
@Bicicleur,

A lot of the smaller hamlets in both Liguria and the Lunigiana and even up into Emilia are virtually deserted. Unfortunately, quite a few squatters have moved in.

I think they backed out when they got 17,000 applications. HORROR!

You can still rent there for virtually nothing, though. (It pays to read the whole article.)
"Bormida had only 390 residents when Mayor Daniele Galliano took office in 2014, as Il Secolo XIX notes. Since then, 54 residents have either passed away or moved to other places, with only four births to counteract the losses. To combat that downsizing, Galliano began renting out municipal houses for $50 a month for small homes, and up to $130 for larger homes to attract people to move to his small town. And the move worked."

""Instead of seeing a heavy demographic deficit, the situation is stable thanks to the initiatives of the municipal administration to encourage those who, by necessity or pleasure, wish to live in a small mountain community like ours," Galliano told Il Vostro GiornaleNow Bormida has 394 residents, despite having only one main street and four restaurants. "

"As for what life looks like in an Italian village with fewer than 400 residents, well, suffice it to say you'd get plenty of clean, mountain air, but not a lot of action.

"There is nothing much to do here," the manager of Oddone Giuseppe, one of the town’s restaurants, told 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.”"

And no, I don't want these places inundated by a bunch of foreigners of any variety. Better they molder away then change out of recognition. I don't even want them to turn into Chianti Shire like Tuscany. Even my own area is pricing locals out of the real estate market. Sorry.
 
@ Angela,

there are a lot of such villages in Meditterenean,

the fantastic is when you search someone,

for the conomy of Human power, and land developement,
no street is straight, usually make a big circle, or a have a snake form,
you can climb better a snake form road with a slope. a clination of 5% than straight with 10%,

so a distance of 100 m is usually 200,

and the eternal funny,

How can I go to Nikolas house?

you take this road straight ahead (but the road is not straight)
then you meet Petros tavern, (oh boy noone knows the name of tavern, but all know Petros, who I am supposed to know also)
you will recogn cause it has a bbq outside, (as all houses in village)

then you go till you find an opening, a road 6-7 m with a lime tree in center (wow that is something)
Kostas has a old market there, has a green door.
and you turn right, against kostas market, at 200 m you will find Nikolas house,

it has a big corridor, to pass under the Giannis house, it has red door.

fantastic GPS.

Notice,
better watch, not to take the right upper road, it will lead you to St John church, (and eventually to Rome, as all roads drive to Rome :grin:)
you will get lost.


BTW
what these 2 mules are doing?
they carry the Maria's new closet.
she bought a new one?
yes she burned the old one last year when the snow close the road,
to get warm,



I love such places,
I try to live many times in old village which is more flat,
but not for a life.


this is not for sale,
Morna-700x366.jpg


the sign says,
WARNING
DANGER
DEATH (Thanatos)

an abbandoned village with 1 habitant at 2017.
the wood cutters moved elsewhere,
the village is dying,
only the mamories of the elders

the old tracteur, burried under autmn leaves
-24-3-07-040-e1451995714964.jpg
 
And no, I don't want these places inundated by a bunch of foreigners of any variety. Better they molder away then change out of recognition. I don't even want them to turn into Chianti Shire like Tuscany. Even my own area is pricing locals out of the real estate market. Sorry.

the place where I grew up, it is a highway now, they put it there because there where very few houses, it was a swamp, but a nice one, they drained it before constructing the highway
but 17.000 new inhabitants would do the job too for this village
 
@Yetos,
We have the same thing. We say "sempre diritto", always straight, when the road is anything but straight. :) It always amuses my American friends who come to visit me when I'm there.

@Bicicleur,
Yes, it would destroy it. They'd have to have a lottery or something for a much smaller number of people. I still don't like it. With rents that low, get yourself there and fix it up if you like that kind of life. Just not too many of you. :)

My various ancestral villages are still ok, mostly because they're either municipal centers or have easy access to roads, and so the people commute to La Spezia, etc. for work. If you want a mall, movie theaters, a bit of night life, you still have to go to either La Spezia or Sarzana, but frankly, if you're retired, as I would be if I make the move, that doesn't sound too bad to me. It's only about a twenty to thirty minute drive.

Caprigliola_Luca_Andreetti_03_0.jpg



We even still have our young people, and they're very enthusiastic about preserving our heritage.

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Some Italian places (villages) are so beautiful, that someone is wondering how such a prettiness is possible. Everything is in the
right place, nature and what humans have created, every brick, every stone, every color. I love live in megalopolises (bigger better) but when it comes to such fairytales villages someone should not be surprised that 17000 people wanted to live in a such place.
 
Some Italian places (villages) are so beautiful, that someone is wondering how such a prettiness is possible. Everything is in the
right place, nature and what humans have created, every brick, every stone, every color. I love live in megalopolises (bigger better) but when it comes to such fairytales villages someone should not be surprised that 17000 people wanted to live in a such place.

Brian Boitano went back to his ancestral village in the Ligurian Alps and refurbished a family home there, which while not as lovely as Bormida, is still in a lovely setting.

http://www.eupedia.com/forum/thread...his-ancestral-village?highlight=Brian+Boitano

@Garrick,
You have to feed your soul as well as your stomach, yes? You feed your soul with beauty and love.
 
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And any couch groover who fills his stomach with potato chips and beer can climb those hills.
Seriously, they don't seem strenuous to me.
But the village is gorgeous
 
Does that village have internet? Lack of internet would be the ultimate deal killer, sadly :/.
 
That's wonderful, picturesque and romantic. I would love to visit and stay there for some time. However, for our modern style of living these old homes create problems. They are small, often one or no bathrooms. The rooms are dark, because of small windows. They ceilings are low and very low often, because people were much shorter than new generations. There is no A/C installed. Lack of modern wiring for networks and TV, even electricity cables are very limited with one plug per room, sometimes nothing.
To really attract young people to live there, or well off people looking for a cottage, building regulations should be more lax allowing some sort of mixture of modern elements incorporated in stone character of homes. I would go so far that demolition of old structures should be allowed, and building new structure in place of modern standards but old character. We would get better insulated walls, more and bigger windows, taller ceilings, more bathrooms and even a swimming pool. It is much easier and cheaper to build a new house than trying to renovate very old house and make it livable.
 
That's wonderful, picturesque and romantic. I would love to visit and stay there for some time. However, for our modern style of living these old homes create problems. They are small, often one or no bathrooms. The rooms are dark, because of small windows. They ceilings are low and very low often, because people were much shorter than new generations. There is no A/C installed. Lack of modern wiring for networks and TV, even electricity cables are very limited with one plug per room, sometimes nothing.
To really attract young people to live there, or well off people looking for a cottage, building regulations should be more lax allowing some sort of mixture of modern elements incorporated in stone character of homes. I would go so far that demolition of old structures should be allowed, and building new structure in place of modern standards but old character. We would get better insulated walls, more and bigger windows, taller ceilings, more bathrooms and even a swimming pool. It is much easier and cheaper to build a new house than trying to renovate very old house and make it livable.

I absolutely agree with most of that. You sound like someone with experience with these old buildings. The 80,000 Euro abandoned "rustico" can wind up costing 300,000 Euro or more when you're finished, sometimes much more if the building is larger. It would indeed be cheaper in some cases to knock it down and build a new home.

However, from my experience there is absolutely no chance you'd ever be permitted to do that in Italy. They are all protected by law, even the most run down of them. You can do as you wish on the inside, within reason, gutting it all to make a more modern floor plan, etc., so long as you keep certain distinctive features, but all you're allowed to do to the exterior is maintain it, except for things like doors and shutters. That extends to plastering. If you had re-plastered before the law went into effect, you're "grand-fathered in" as we say, but that's it...no one else can replaster the exterior. So, in my village you have some brightly plastered houses in between stone front ones. That's a step way too far, imo. They used to be plastered at some point. Why the heck can't you do it now? Forget about central air, no Italian would install it because of the cost of fuel. They also use only radiators for heating, or sometimes even pellet stoves, which I have to admit are very efficient and do the job, given our climate.

Anyway, this is what can be done with them.

The prices range from one million euros or more on down, depending on size, property, location, the type of restoration etc.

http://larchitrave.com/property/la-veduta/382

This one is a steal in my opinion.
http://larchitrave.com/property/il-fiordaliso/593

Mulazzzo is a very nice town, close to Pontremoli and near the autostrada to Sarzana and LaSpezia (only 15 miles from La Spezia).
65099491.jpg


Cena%20Mulazzo%202010%201.jpg


A lot of the more reasonably priced ones are two bedrooms. Unfortunately, you're not allowed to exceed the "footprint" of the original rustico.
http://larchitrave.com/property/la-veduta/382
 
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Actually most of the Americans who buys a house in Italy in those villages in north-central Italy are usually of British/German descent, or even just European British or Germans.
Thanks, interesting stats! I wrote that as a joke thinking the place was deserted, so I'd have to start the population anew so to speak. ;)
 
That's wonderful, picturesque and romantic. I would love to visit and stay there for some time. However, for our modern style of living these old homes create problems. They are small, often one or no bathrooms. The rooms are dark, because of small windows. They ceilings are low and very low often, because people were much shorter than new generations. There is no A/C installed. Lack of modern wiring for networks and TV, even electricity cables are very limited with one plug per room, sometimes nothing.
To really attract young people to live there, or well off people looking for a cottage, building regulations should be more lax allowing some sort of mixture of modern elements incorporated in stone character of homes. I would go so far that demolition of old structures should be allowed, and building new structure in place of modern standards but old character. We would get better insulated walls, more and bigger windows, taller ceilings, more bathrooms and even a swimming pool. It is much easier and cheaper to build a new house than trying to renovate very old house and make it livable.

lebrok we speak about Meditterenean villages,
Windows are big, very big,
all have a toilet, and even they don't you can cretae cause due to inclination it is easy very easy to make a simple sewer system
80-90% have electricity,
AND all except the ground floor have high rooms, usually 3.20 m meter heighth,
axcept the floor on the ground or the benieth,
one was for animals, the others for storage,
sometimes yoy see a housefrom the street and you believe is 1or 2 floors, and from the oposite site is 3and 4 floors high,

it is a labyrinth system, but in meditterenean, the old ones had tottaly different architecture than North Europe were the heighth pf a room, especially in sweden is 2.60 m
my old house is a3.40 m height inside, 2.20 in the front basement( storage) 3.40 at the other side of basement for the mules, and always build in Γ α A typical Makedonian architecture,
windows had a height of 1.50 m

BUT always windows are fortified with iron bars outside or inside.

that is a typical house in meditterenean,
i do not believe that in Italy is much different, in basic, rather in architectural decoration

lchouse3.jpg


see the small and short down floor, and see the big and tall second floor,

see the heighth of window,

office-1.jpg



the above is from the house of L Cohen

a typical building in high soil inclination.
perigrafi-klisis-edafous.png


most of meditterenean old architecture is mix of land economy inside the town walls and Palazzo,
Palazzo have very high rooms and windows.

the more south, the more tower-like buildings,
 
Does that village have internet? Lack of internet would be the ultimate deal killer, sadly :/.

i do not know about Italy,
but in some places in Greece in such villages they use mobile internet, mi-fi.
 
The houses that are renovated in the most remote villages or isolated out in the countryside are indeed often purchased and renovated by foreigners, usually British or in some cases German, or by Americans of what you could call "Anglo" stock who use them as summer homes, or, more rarely, if they basically work online. It's rare to find Italian-Americans doing it in our area, but then most Italian-Americans didn't come from our area.

Italians do renovate their old family houses, even if they've moved away. That's the case in both my mother's and father's families. Almost everyone has renovated old family houses and uses them for the summer and holidays.

Even Italians who have not immigrated do it for full time use if the house is close enough to their work, and has good enough roads that they can commute.

Like these:
privato_casa_indipendente_in_lunigiana_localita_gabbiana_8390111421117666237.jpg


house_300_m2_licciana_nardi_107864150093783388.jpg



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@Yetos,
It depends on the age of the house. If it hasn't been touched since the 1930s it may have no electricity, no real heating, nothing. Or, sometimes people renovate barns. Even if it exists, it may have to be redone to accommodate all the modern appliances we use. Likewise, as you can see from the above houses, people do tend to blow out the windows on the lowest floor, but even if they don't, the windows have to be replaced because they're not energy efficient. People usually want more insulation too, so they'll take down the plaster, insulate and then replaster. It's a tremendous amount of work, trust me.

It's true that if the windows are small it's the "ground floor" floor where the animals or farm implements or cantina was located

If it's not drastically changed, that's where we normally put the "rough" kitchen, because of course there are two. The second refrigerator is there too, the washing machine, etc.
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If Italians have renovated it there's still a cantina.

The upper floors do normally have very high ceilings.
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When I do it, I just may steal a lot from Brian Boitano, use one of the small houses, not change it too much, not even the bottom floor more low ceilinged rooms.
0089VX.jpg


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IMG_81071.jpg

6f2632495dfaa7099229a80b1f2a1064--italian-style-brian-boitano.jpg




Most houses do only have one bathroom, or one and a half, but that's the case in many places in Europe when you're talking about a two or three bedroom house.

I've been planning a bucket list trip to England, and have considered renting a cottage in the Cotswalds, and that's the case there as well.

Honey-Pot-Cottage-in-the-Cotswolds-Unique-Home-Stays-1.jpg


The whole English countryside looks stunning. My experience so far has unfortunately been confined to London.
 
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@ Aγγελα

I think it mostly depends if the electric corporation expand the 'net' there,

many villages were abandoned at 1960-70's due to that,

in my last trip in August, i was at Rodope mountains,
13 small villages were abandoned due to that,
today electricity reach some,
an effort is done, but the damage was done,
noone will go to live back to village at 1180 m from sea.

on the other hand, 2 villages in my area gain back some life,
one was burned 3 times, at '21 revolt, at Olympos revolt, and at WW2,
only the east part of church remained,
today at summer time is quite full, and at winter has enough population, so not to feel lonely,
but build new houses,

on the other they reconstruct the old ones,
they used modern technics to make the 50cm stone wall able enough, plusthey manage to fit concrete plates, were once wood existed,
the result is that they revived a village from 1400 AD having more 1500 habitants at summer time,
offcourse, after electricity corporation expand her 'net' there.
 

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