Italian towns vie to attract celebrity renovators like Alan Carr to drive British demand for one-euro homes
msn.comItalian towns fighting for survival as local populations plummet, celebrity attention can be the difference between life and death.
Local administrations in Italy have been trying for years to lure newcomers by putting dilapidated houses on the market for €1, and now a growing number vying to snare celebrity buyers to drive demand for the run-down homes.
In a recent eight-part BBC documentary series, TV personalities Amanda Holden and Alan Carr renovated houses they had bought in the picturesque Sicilian town of Salemi for a euro each.
Amanda & Alan’s Italian Job hit screens in January and has catapulted the once obscure town that was partially ruined by an earthquake in 1968 to international fame. “The project has put us on the map,” Domenico Venuti, Mayor of Salemi, tells i. “More Brits are already arriving here, staying in our hotels and visiting our museums. ”About an hour’s drive from Palermo, Salemi has a population of roughly 10,000, down from around 11,500 in 2001, according to official figures.
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