Italian region, Trentino, offering up to €100,000 to people relocating to area

Trentino, a region in Italy, has announced that it will be offering €100,000 (roughly equivalent to £83,595) to people who are willing to relocate to the area and renovate their abandoned houses. 

There is plenty to do in the northern region of Italy, including visiting vineyards, lakes, ski slopes and hiking destinations. This is the most recent place in Italy to offer people a financial incentive to repopulate their more rural towns with relatively dwindling populations.

33 towns are currently being considered for the project. In each town, abandoned houses outnumber occupied houses. 

The €100,000 that people would receive should they move to the Italian region and is split up into two payments. The first €20,000 will go towards purchasing one of the abandoned properties, while €80,000 can be spent on renovations to the property. 

People will still need to contribute some of their own money to the properties; however, the €100,000 grant should cover up to 40 per cent of the expenses for buying and renovating the building. 

There are conditions to receiving the grant, one of which is that those who sign up for it also agree to either live in or rent the property for at least 10 years. If they fail to do this, they could be liable to pay back the grant they received.

Individuals are allowed to ask for a maximum of three grants for three properties in each village. Any properties rented out need to be rented at a “moderate” rate. The amount that can be spent on renovations is also capped at €200,000, so people can only use up to €120,000 of their own money for the renovations. 

“It is a measure aimed at creating an identity community network in contexts of strong depopulation,” confirmed the Trentino province in a statement they released about the scheme.