(CNN) — Looking for a holiday gift but still not found the perfect one? Here’s a last-minute idea: a home in Italy, yours for less than the price of a cup of coffee.
Yes, another month, another set of idyllic Italian village cottages up for sale — and yes, it’s all part of the bid to breathe new life into remote rural locations that have been quietly dying off.
However, if you’re used to the usual model — town authorities wanting to attract new residents and offering cut-price houses or subsidized living to entice them — this is a little different.
In the regular schemes, buyers generally have to put together a proposal for what they’ll do with the property and lay down a deposit that will be refunded only if they finish the renovations within a specified time. Renovating a house in Italy, it must be said, is not without its challenges — especially when it comes to taking…
