LA STAMPA/Worldcrunch*
STIA - It's time to add “Tuscan village” to the list of stuff you can buy on eBay. Facing a stalled Italian real estate market, the owners of the small village of Pratariccia are hoping to sell it to the highest bidder on the US-based online auction exchange website.
For 50 years, Pratariccia, a hamlet in the municipality of Stia, located 40 kilometers away from Florence, has stood abandoned -- see the video below for proof. Now, you can buy its 25 deserted houses on the edge of wooded countryside and near historical abbeys. Original starting price: 2.5 million euros.
“The village is property of several owners who live in Tuscany and who have tried to sell it for years. Maybe this time they'll finally succeed,” said the Mayor of Stia, Luca Santini. Several businessmen have already been in touch with the municipality and have pitched projects to renovate the village. Despite being badly rundown, a village in the heart of Tuscany is attractive property. But as usual for this well-protected region, strict zoning laws will apply.
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Selling villages or small towns online is not that uncommon anymore. In the U.S. it happened, among others, for Waucunda, Washington, and Albert, Texas. In 2010 in Italy, the managers of San Basile, a village in the Calabria region, launched a website to sell vacant houses with asking prices that started from 5,000 Euros. Thousands of people from Italy and abroad made offers on that village. The bids are just now coming in for Pratariccia.
Read more from La Stampa in Italian.
*This is a digest, not a direct translation. Original article by Pierangelo Sapegno
